National Geographic and FYROM propaganda

One of the funniest parts of Skopjan internet propaganda is the selective isolation of a few lines from one of the most famous magazines word-wide, National Geographic in early 20th century.

 Lets examine it carefully.

National Geographic in 1912 had an extensive mention to Macedonia and its different races.

The first pages of the article about Macedonia had:

*pictures taken from http://kroraina.com/knigi/en/ng_1912/NG_macedonia.html

In these two pages, we could read among others, the following:

“Had the population of Macedonia been homogeneous, the Macedonian problem would have been settled long ago, but the mixture of races has ever been a marked characteristic of the Balkan Peninsula, and of no part of it more so than of Macedonia.
It is necessary to begin by explaining what is meant by the term Macedonia. The country forms neither a racial, a linguistic, nor a political unit. Geographically it is a unit, being bounded by the Shar Dagh on the North, the Albanian mountains on the west, the river Bistritza and the Aegean Sea on the south, and the Rhodope mountains on the east[..]

In the next page we read:

The division of races in Macedonia is not based wholly on difference of origin or of anthropological type. We may find characteristically Greek types, Bulgarian types, or Turkish types, but among those who call themselves Greeks are many whose type and whose origin is not Greek; and so it is with the others. In certain districts we find members of three distinct races speaking their respective language but all very similar in type.

* From “The Balkan Question,” edited by Luigi Villari

However Skopjan propagandists seems not to be aware of the above and propagandising the following from National Geographic of 1917

So in the 1917 National Geographic we have a new, different account from the version of 1912. Naturally a question comes to mind. How is it possible two different accounts on the same subject in just 5 years?

The answer is simple and plain.  In 1917, the year the second article was published Bulgaria and  US were already at war. We all know during war every mean possible is used for propaganda, including of course magazines. In addition to that Macedonia was the front line. On the other side of it was the Bulgarian army fighting the very same people who took the interview. So what does anyone would expect a peasant to say? “Yes, I am a proud Bulgarian, no matter that my countrymen are killing your compatriots by the thousand just over the hill!” As a matter of fact there is no indication that the woman was a Slav at all.

The funniest part is that skopjan propagandists stick to this only sentence in the second article and pretend that the much more scientific earlier article does not exist… If their best argument for the existence of Macedonians is one line by an anonimous peasant then they must surely try harder!!

Thanks to Robert for pointing out the above.