Two years of the “North Macedonians”
Question: How long does it take to form the habit of, for instance, calling someone or something, by a name? One study in 2009 published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, noted that “it takes 18 to 254 days for a person to form a habit.”
I’m not sure if calling someone or something the same thing, repeatedly, counts as a habit, but I think it is useful for this column because once you start forming that habit, once you start repeating that name or thing, the repetition of a habit dictates that you will keep doing it and that it will become difficult to reverse course.
For the past two years, beginning in early April of 2019, I have been keeping a list of instances in which the media, mostly, but also prominent individuals in positions of power, have called the Macedonians “North Macedonians” or things that should be called “Macedonian” “North Macedonian.” In this list, I have merely relied mostly on news articles and columns that I have found on social media; occasionally, I do a Google news search for Macedonia to see what is being reported. And in all of this, I am looking only at English-language sources, so, inevitably, I am missing a great deal.
But what I have found is, frankly, shocking. I maintain and update this list, weekly, on the original column I published on the Medium website, and you can peruse the entire list at this link here (Medium says it is a 20 minute read!) But consider just a small sampling of what the world is now calling Macedonians, as a people, and things — nouns — as they relate to Macedonia. These include:
“…the future of North Macedonian Albanians…”
A2 (CNN affiliate), April 3, 2021
“…the disciplined North Macedonians…”
Reuters, April 1, 2021
“The North Macedonian national team…”
Sportex360.com, March 30, 2021
“North Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski…”
Tweet by NATO Joint Force Command Naples, March 27, 2021
“…to the North Macedonian Army.”
Overt Defense, March 11, 2021
“…North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev…”
RFE/RL, February 14, 2021
“North Macedonian Health Minister, Venko Filipče…”
Greek City Times, December 19, 2020
“North Macedonian Jews” (headline)
European Jewish Congress, December 11, 2020
“North Macedonian soldiers…”
Nicola Orlando, Italian Ambassador to Kosovo, Tweet, November 2, 2020
“North Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani…”
Balkaneu.com, November 16, 2020
And my personal favorite for the sheer number of times the outlet — in this case, the Atlantic Council — used the adjective “North Macedonian” to describe various things in Macedonia:
“…various North Macedonian news outlets…”
“…other North Macedonian news outlets…”
“The North Macedonian media landscape…”
“….North Macedonian Facebook pages…”
“…the North Macedonian company….”
“…three North Macedonian media companies…”
“…a 79-year-old North Macedonian…”
“…a North Macedonian phone number…”
“…10 North Macedonian media outlets…”
“…North Macedonian public…”
Atlantic Council, DFRLab, June 25, 2020
Again, my list consists of those I have managed to simply note in my daily perusal of the news. Imagine what I have missed. I encourage you to read through the list — it should make you angry.
And of course my point is this: Zoran Zaev and Nikola Dimitrov — who are primarily responsible for this — can insist all day long that “We are Macedonians” and that the adjective “Macedonian” should apply to all of these things. And they are correct in this. But the reality is something entirely different and because of their disastrous actions and policies — many of them criminal in my opinion — the world increasingly calls Macedonians “North Macedonians.”
I’m not entirely sure if they thought about this when they were galloping toward giving away Macedonia’s name, identity, culture, heritage, and history but whether they did or not, we are here and it is now and that is the only reality there is. And while there are plenty of reasons to throw these individuals out of office, this should lead that list.
