Why Slavs can’t stop fighting each other

Are Slavs just meme people?

According to a popular theory, there is a direct link between the ethnonym ‘Slav’ and the Greek word σκλάβος (sklabos), meaning ‘slave’. This has nothing to do with the Slavic character or will for independence but is rather a grim historical reminder: in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, the Slavs often fell prey to slave raids.

The markets were full of slaves from Eastern Europe, and the term supposedly became associated with an entire group of peoples.

Many criticize this theory and see the root of the word in Proto-Slavic [derived from ‘slovo’ (word)] or even Indo-European languages. However, some find it poetic that the victimized peoples who had faced oppression eventually established themselves as independent and (for the most part) respected nations.

To some extent, this story aligns with the memetic perception of the Slavs as proud, strange, sometimes uncivilized and gloomy peoples, always ready to fight each other and anyone who comes near them. 

We may ignore the part about ‘uncivilized’ Slavs – just look at any Slavic city or the achievements of Slavic scientists and cultural figures. The idea that the Slavs are perpetually gloomy is also far-fetched – some may find it hard to believe, but most of us are not characters out of Dostoevsky’s novels.

However, memes about the Slavs’ weird behavior and their habit of getting into fights with each other aren’t that far from truth.