Life / Is it common for Polish people to speak English in Poland? [122]


And I lurve them to smithereens.


If you're living in the UK that seems appropriate.


I don't mind adjusting my communication when necessary, I do mind when people think that words or expressions like "they are discriminated" "I need some advices" or "mobbing" are correct and are convinced they know everything there is to know about English.

Life / Is it common for Polish people to speak English in Poland? [122]


I only care about American usage, other people can do what they want.

Life / Is it common for Polish people to speak English in Poland? [122]


At least three would be my preference

American,
English,
International

There's no way for a language to simultaneously be a vehicle of national identity and a culture free lingua franca (it will do one of the jobs very poorly).

Love / What should I do against racist family from Poland? (I am Turkish) [23]


I'm not saying it's the way I described but if it is then don't beat yourself up about it, a lot of guys have fallen for it. Just chalk it up to experience and move on.

Love / What should I do against racist family from Poland? (I am Turkish) [23]


Just putting this out there: There have been a few cases of foreigners with similar stories about families "preventing" them from contacting their boyfrien and eventually it turns out.... that that was a lie (ie she wanted to end the relationship and blamed parents).

This sounds like that. If a Polish woman really wants you she's not going to let parents get in the way.

Probably best to move on.

News / Poland to end state funding for IVF treatment [102]


Yeah, I don't like tobacco but tobacco taxes do more than pay for associated health costs.

Also there's an element of elective vs non-elective medical care. It's hard to see IVF as anything but elective and given the controversies I think not funding it by the state is reasonable until a consensus is formed on its ethical status (this is not necessarily my preference but a position a reasonable person can have).

News / Poland to end state funding for IVF treatment [102]


The problem is that parenthood is a negative right - if you can become parents the old-fashioned way no one can stop you. But i also means that people have no special moral right to coerce money from others to help them become parents.

Some people have real moral problems with IVF and I don't think they're right, but I also don't think they should be forced to support it through their tax money. It's sad for the people who want and can't afford IVF but it's a reasonable position imho.

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]


Let me clarify, distributing health related information on a dangerous disease is a legitimate function of government, throwing people in jail or hurting other peoples' feelings isn't.

Stick to the topic please

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]


government has lots of legitimate functions, micro-managing interpersonal relations is not one of them.

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]


I'm against almost any restriction of freedom of speech, but I'm not opposed to private individuals exercising their free speech to object to people using unsavory language. That's also more effective than calling on Nanny Government.

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]


More like none, no one. Maybe those in vegetative comas or extremely autistic or extremely retarded, but prejudice is part of pattern perception (noticing things) and to not have prejudices is to not be human.


The purpose of prejudice (aka pattern perception) is primarily self-preservation. It becomes toxic when the self-preservation aspect is retooled into strategic first strike capabilities. It also becomes dysfunctional when a person tries to fight their prejudice so hard that they do stupid things and then bad things happen to them (like the women volunteering in "refugee" work who get raped by the poor downtrodden folks they so desperately want to help.

To tie this to the topic here. Muslim immigration to Europe has basically been a failure everywhere it's tried (I can't find an example of a country where a majority of muslims are not on welfare or where a majority of muslim women are employed). Once this is noticed, it should influence ideas about immigration in general and from muslim majority countries in specific. It doesn't mean a person needs or should hate all muslims, but it does mean being realistic about the effects of muslim immigration on European economies (essentially, terrible everywhere).

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]

Good people are not afraid of their dark sides because they have them under control. It's _forced_ liberalism that is unnatural, by not acknowledging their prejudices they do far more harm than those who can face and control their prejudices.

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]


Yes it is. But a better translation of the relevant insult (parówa) into English would be "weiner" or "hot dog" or even "frankfurter" (which doesn't make it any better)

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]


Incitement is creating conditions that lead directly to physical harm and is the main category of unprotected speech. Yelling "fire!" in a crowded theater is incitement. Saying "Smite the necks of the unbelievers!" is incitement (although as a religious text is somewhat exempt from limits on expression).

Saying "White men are a destructive force" is not incitement. Tweeting "Kill all white men" is incitement.

Similarly, saying that (for example) Muslim majority societies are plagued by low levels of secular education and low social capital is not incitement. It's a subjective statement that others can agree or disagree with.

Is the difference clear?

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]


That is (or should be) your right. Intelligent people would soon realize that there is no worth to what you are saying and ignore you (or respond in kind). What's the problem? If someone attacks you then you should be able to press charges.


So you also are against Freedom of Expression. I am not surprised. So I am sure you will support any prospective legislation outlawing criticism of the government of Poland (since some would argue that it is harmful and divisive).

If you're not in favor of the right of people to say offensive things then you are no lover of freedom.

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]


The Atlantic slave trade was dwarfed by the Arab slave trade (both in terms of length of time and numbers of people).

And the Atlantic slave trade could not have existed without the enthusiastic cooperation of local African leaders (who were happy to capture and sell their enemies).

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]


No but I understand a core civilizational value, freedom of expression, is not allowed there.


What you want ritualized statements to make you feel better. The "comedian" in question is hate-filled-garbage disguised as a human being. I would think that's obvious. He should also be allowed to freely proclaim his utterly loathesome ideas. By outlawing "hate" you're not actually stopping any ideas, you're driving them underground where they will get far worse.


I'd like a cite for the 50 million. The crimes of the US are not greater than those of any other comprably sized country, the difference is that in the US past crimes are recognized and attempts have been made to rectify them to the degree that that is possible (to a far greater degree than any other comprably sized country).


Then why are the French so apologetic about French values? Don't lock up the nazi comic, debate him in public and deprive him of his audience.

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]


And who defines what HATRED is? Laws that outlaw offensive speech can be modified to outlaw talking about other things.


I think you don't talk to people with better arguments than yours.


More specifically, nobody is advocating that Europeans and/or Americans should be moving to the Middle East to shake up their stagnant cultures and make them more multicultural (bringing their better educational standards and better governing know how). Why not?

Egypt seems to be incapable of democratic rule but if a few million westerners moved there then maybe they could help them develop the knack for something besides military or religious dictatorships (cause Egyptians at present don't seem capable of that).

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]


In other words, freedom of speech is not a right recognized by the French government.

Not surprised.

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]


Opposing FGM = no common decency.

That's about what I'd expect from you.


I'm firmly against FGM and dont' want it in Poland. That is a morally superior position to those that tolerate FGM and who don't care if it happens in Poland. Me or my country (the USA) might have moral failings but regarding FGM as primitive savagery is not a moral failing.

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]


I take it then that you have no problem with FGM happening in Poland. I'm not surprised.


See my comment about your unreadable block of text. Summarize it with lots of paragraph breaks and I might read it. The club thing is just something I saw while moving my eyes across the giant wall of text.

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]



Men are talking, darling. The topic is the tragedy of an Egyptian man not allowed into a night club in Poland. No one here cares about hacking little girls' private parts with razor blades. If they did it would not be so widespread in the UK now (in the first place immigration by groups that practiced this particular form of barbarity wouldn't have been allowed in). But they were let in and now it's common in the UK.

One reason I don't want the Merkel youth settled in Poland is that I don't want FGM to gain a foothold here.

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]


Be glad that they outed themselves as racists so that you can avoid adding to their profit margins!

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]


Clubs want unaccompanied women. They work carefully to create the image that women can have fun if they come with their female friends (in order to draw men to buy them drinks) and women with male company are of lesser value and non-western men are box office poison (to their way of thinking).


Oh yeah, but in the grand scale of things it's probably not getting too worked up about.

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]


Because they think (probably due to previous experience) that your presence won't add enough value to the club. That you'll hit on women in an aggressive way that will scare them off.

Getting women in the door is an unending struggle for nightclubs (why many places let women in free and/or give them a free drink). Just a couple of guys from a minority group who hit on women in an aggressive way (and/or get angry when told to cool it) can spoil things for the more decent members of that group. That's just the way it is. If it's racism then Noticing Patterns is racism.

Life / Welcome to Poland ! (Stay away for your own sake) [239]

Why was my completely on topic comment removed? The mods here seriously need to chill a little.

To the original poster. No sane person wants to read your vast blocks of print. Summarize your original posting in about half the time in three times as many paragraphs and maybe it will be worth reading.

As to one of your complaints I did manage to pick out. People that run night clubs are out to make a profit and have obligation to make sure that every person that would like to get in does. If African/Middle Eastern men added to the profitability of a club then they would be welcome. But most evidence is that they don't. They don't spend enough to make up for the female repelling aspect of their aggressive behavior (on average).

If that means a few decent guys are kept out because most of their co-ethnics have already spoiled things then that's too bad, but take it up with other North African men.

Work / How to find work in Warsaw "if u don't speak Polish" ! [176]


It's going to be true of any mass-taught foreign language. Better foreign language teaching means more languages, not less.


I've never heard any language that's as boring as "International English". My loyalty is for American (I wish it had been declared a separate language long ago Daniel Webster wanted a lot more extensive spelling changes which I wish had passed). I understand most British but I don't have the idea that I'm listening to 'my' language when I hear it.

Work / How to find work in Warsaw "if u don't speak Polish" ! [176]


Actually, if you're talking about international radio communication for planes, isn't it a restricted/modified subset of "English" that English natives have to learn as well?


There's a difference between what native speakers want out of English (and that includes clear national differences) and what learners want (something practical they can use when necessary and then discard).

Most learners aren't interested in reading literature or entertainment in English, they aren't interested very much in richness or expressiveness (they have their own languages for that). Many learners don't much like native speaking teachers because they obsess about things that don't interest the students who want a clear grammatical structure they can rely on and vocabulary they can easily use.

Students of philology need to learn that "big" should often be replaced by "large" or "start" with "begin" in more formal written contexts (among hundreds of other things that aren't part of the general ESL curriculum). The vast majority of learners don't care and one one word to actively use (and maybe understand common alternates).

Work / How to find work in Warsaw "if u don't speak Polish" ! [176]


It makes sense for the front desk of a hotel (whose guests are probably mostly not Polish) to speak English (and have a few more languages on tap if needed). Expecting everyone you interact with in Poland to speak English is just dumb. Expecting to find a job without Polish is.... unrealistic.

Work / How to find work in Warsaw "if u don't speak Polish" ! [176]


Now I fully agree with this. Coming to live in Poland being upset or awkward about the necessity of learning Polish is a sign of laziness, stupidity and/or feeling of entitlement (or some weird combination of all three).