The Identity of Czechs and Slovaks in the European Context (Identity‪)‬

I am a Slovak, a secular citizen with Czech citizenship, by origin a Jew, a husband, father and grandfather, a sociologist, publicist, businessman, veteran, and certainly not a leftist intellectual ... And all this at the same time and equally. I perceive my identity as a structured whole, which changes and develops in the course of my life. And in the course of my life, the themes associated with my self-identification have changed and developed. This also applies to the social world in which I live my life. the people around me are Slovaks, Czechs, Poles, Hungarians, Romany ..., secular citizens, Catholics, Jews ..., leftists, conservatives, liberals ..., members of different generations, sexes and sub-cultures. Some express their national, ethnic, religious or political identity more militantly, ostentatiously and often aggressively. In particular, I remember the quarrels about the character of the transformation of society after the fall of communism, the quarrels about the coexistence of the Czechs and Slovaks in a common state, but also the discussions about registered partnership, gene manipulation, minorities, European integration, globalization and many other themes. Quite often they "foamed at the mouth", but they might also think the same about me. Pragmatic power-political or economic motivations are very often hidden behind ostentatious waving of one of the dimensions of identity. the confrontation of identities may be very dramatic, but we never know whether it is really about identity, or whether identity is only a logo, marketing brand or weapon. The theme of identity is burdened by so many deposits or ballasts. For example: