Greece and Macedonia

I'm trying to wrap my mind around the insanity that is the argument between Greece and Macedonia.

I guess the argument is about heritage. Each group wants the right to be named Macedonians.

I guess I could try to imagine a scenario that might apply to me. I live on what was Carrier, or Leidli Tenneh, territory. So I can sort of imagine what might happen to me if I started calling myself Carrier. People would think I was daft, and some would actually be angry at me, thinking I was trying to steal someone else's heritage. But overall I don't think the effect would be very big. What I do think would be problematic is if we decided to separate British Columbia into several smaller provinces, and we named the Northern BC province Carrierland. Some might like it, some would be indifferent, but I think the leadership and the majority would oppose it. Northern BC isn't Carrierland, and no amount of wishing by whites or Indians will make it so. Certainly a name change won't fool anybody. Or will it?

Or what if the tables were turned? What if someone else wanted to steal my identity? What am I anyways? Canadian I guess. What if a bunch of Minnesotans suddenly decided they were going to call themselves Canadian? Well, that wouldn't bother me much, because Minnesota might as well already be part of Canada. They're so much like us already, it wouldn't bother me a bit. But the parallel doesn't compare to the Balkans. In order to have something like that, you need the infringing group to have a different language and culture. So, hmm? Are there any different linguo-culturistic groups around that might bother me if they decided they were going to take the name Canada? Well, there's the Quebecois, who I think would rather die than turn into English-speaking Canadians. There's Mexicans. What if a whole bunch of Mexicans decided to settle in Northwestern Washington, and name their new state Canada? That would only bother me insofar as it's absurd and it would be really annoying to have two countries with the same name side by side.

Part of the weird thing about Greece and Macedonia is that Greece already has a name. Several, in fact. Macedonia has none. If Greeks really wanted to be the true Macedonians, then they should rename their country Macedonia.

"But Macedonia is a region within Greece. It doesn't define the whole country. It's a sub-nation, like Quebec."

Hmm, okay, would I be bothered if a state set itself up on the border between Washington and British Columbia, calling itself Columbia? Not really.

Maybe the problem is that I simply lack a strong enough national identity to compare myself to the Greeks. What else defines me? Well, I already mentioned language. I speak English and I have white skin. I guess that makes me some kind of race. Would I be upset if a nation of Francophone black people moved into Alberta and called themselves WASP-land? What if a bunch of Koreans did this?

Nope. It just doesn't have an effect on me. I mean, I would think it was absurd, but I wouldn't feel the need to stop them from calling themselves whatever they wanted. I guess I would just have to ask them, "what's the point?" Maybe I would argue that, for their own good, they should come up with a slightly more sustainable thing to build their nation on. And perhaps that is the basis of the Greek criticism of Macedonia. It's a bad idea to just make things up in order to build your nation, because those things can then be undermined.

Still, the name itself I can find no objection in. After all, I live in British Columbia. On the opposite side of the world from Britain, and there is no such thing as any other Columbia. Colombia doesn't count; it's spelled different.

Actually, come to think of it, the name of our own province really stinks. Canada got a cool name. So did Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Labrador, Nunavut, and The Yukon Territory. (Sorry Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and The Northwest Territories, but your names are even worse than BC's.)

I think BC should change its name to Macedonia.