The prior advice was from a friend. This time, it is from a previously unknown person who sent me an email:
I saw your advertisement on your website and I thought that you were a carefull person.
But if you claim thatyou are a carefull person who walks around,travel around the world you are not right because you dont write about negative things in the places you went and I always see you complaining about the things in Turkey I did not like the way you write everything as I think you write one sided .I want you to compare the things that is happening around Turkey and think about it firstly and than the reactions of the people and be brief please about what you want to mean .If you are in the aim of writing bad things at first think about the events in your country or another country of the world .if you add this e-mail on your website ı will be your sites member and in this way you may claim that you were optimistic about Turkey and show it to everybody .
To the guy who wrote the email:
I understand your point of view. No one likes to hear people make jokes about his country, even if he might make them himself. I’m an American, so believe me when I say that lately, people don’t say many positive things about my country. I mostly have to put up with it–sometimes they are right, after all. Sometimes I feel the need to defend my country. So I know where you’re coming from.
In Joe’s defense, I spent a decent amount of time with him while I was in Turkey, and I must say that he has a sincere love and appreciation for Turkey, Turkish culture, and the Turkish people. He could return to Australia if he wanted, but he has chosen to live in Mersin because he loves it there.
When he makes a joke about Turkey, he is doing something that is actually quite common in English-speaking culture. We enjoy writing and reading about our experiences as a “fish out of water”–that is, a person in a culture other than his own. This style of writing is a common form of humor in our cultures. If you pay attention, he makes as many jokes about Australia as he does about Turkey. But trust me when I say, he means no offense.