I agree that it's bizarr, I disagree that it doesn't have anything to do with what you've said. As I've said, you're using the same kind of logic, but if you don't want to see that, I can't make you.

I'm also emplyoing Occam's Razor: History shows that political capital can be made out of demonizing convenient scape-goats + marginalized minorities don't have the same access to vital resources for economic success as others + crime tends to correlate with entrenched/multi-generational poverty, regardless of…

Racists, anti-abortion groups and religious fundamentalists actively campaign against those whose rights they want to curtail and are given a voice and (often quite-well funded) platform in public discourse (although the racists might have to be a bit more subtle about it at this point). The more extreme cases may get…

Exactly. Because that would be stupid. And it would be stupid to say that about the Roma too, even though there_ is_ a high crime rate among that demographic. Because that high crime crime rate can be more plausibly explained by third factor - poverty - instead of their Roma-ness.

The point is, "oppression" is certainly not a reliable indicator of anything other than the oppressive tendencies of the oppressors. As to the crime rates and the conclusions to be drawn from them I'll refer you to the excellent point Lord Lucan made when crimboween brought them up upthread. I would also like to point…

Because the flames of xenophobia are never fanned for nefarious purposes. Surely, the jews had it coming too.

But you hopefully wouldn't conclude that all Jews are thiefs either and that thievery is something intrinsic to Jewishness and that even under optimal conditions, Jews would always resort to thievery, because it's just in their blood/culture or something.

"Choice" is a complicated issue in such contexts. Assimiliation to the point of losing your initial identity was (and probably is) certainly a fear among the more orthodox Jewish communities and would be discouraged. You say "at least econimically and legally", but the fear is that what's actually expected is quite a…

The Non-Roma, in this case.

Which doesn't surprise me too much, honestly, since they have little reason to assume that what we call "human rights" would include them. We don't have the best track record in that regard. (There is also ample historic evidence that assimilation is no guaranteed protection against prosecution, as anyone could see…

Yes, fraud is a thing that happens - it also happens with all other kinds of goods and services and all other kind of ethnicities. Your insinuation that fraud and thievery is the only possible lifestyle choice for someone who doesn't want to disown their Roma culture is rather….. specious though.

Poverty breeds crime, news at eleven. Roma traditionally used to be traders, horse-breeders, tinkers, etc., providing valueable services to isolated rural communities who would often have no other access to certain goods due to a lack of infrastructure before the industrial revolution.

Don't marry her husband's sister, marry hers! Of course you'll first have to talk her into poisoining her current husband and blame it on your first love's husband's rivals at court, so that you can kick off a little succession crisis/civil war, in the course of which you might arrange for your competition to get sent…

But that's the thing - it's necessarily a matter of belief, because no one can have any certain knowledge in these matters.

Oh honey, that person's feeling of "actually being worthless" isn't any more "objective" either. High probablity of rejection doesn't translate to certainty of rejection and he surely won't have asked any single person of the desired gender out there. Also, people might reject you for all kinds of reasons (sometimes…

I tend to let my hopeless crushes run their natural course, even if that may take a while, and generally don't regret it. But I also don't feel I have very high opportunity costs (= it's not as if I'd be rejecting more promising suitors left and right in favour of pining for someone unavailable). I also suspect that I…

It's a real thing in Austria, it's called a Krampus.

Well, he's at least Ray-curious.

To be fair, once the nipple is off, even Bob Benson's interpersonal skills would meet their limits.

coming late to the comments - thank you for the summary!