PolishForums LIVE  /  Archives [3]    
   
Posts by MareGaea  

Joined: 6 Feb 2008 / Male ♂
Last Post: 3 Apr 2011
Threads: Total: 29 / In This Archive: 14
Posts: Total: 2751 / In This Archive: 1225
From: Netherlands/Ireland, Dublin
Speaks Polish?: No, but I am trying to learn
Interests: Music

Displayed posts: 1239 / page 2 of 42
sort: Latest first   Oldest first   |
MareGaea   
10 Sep 2010
News / Poland hosts lowest proportion of foreigners in the EU [115]

Future threat

That very well may be, as nobody can see in the future. There is a chance that they will start to influence govts of respective countries, but this doesn't necessary mean a bad influence. Say that they want more mosks as the number is low. I wouldn't have a particular problem with that.

I'm not a big fan of sharia law and all that jazz as I am not a fan of religion as such, but maybe it's just a way of profiling themselves. The more Europe is bashing on them, the more fanatic they will get. It's a natural response, you should know that as Poles under the Communist yoke turned massively to the Catholic Church.

What I think will happen, and neither I can look in the future, so it will all remain a guess, is that the numbers will level eventually and the Muslims will become so Westernized that they kinda automatically will adhere to the various standards of life we maintain.

Like I said in some previous post, in the big cities of NL there are certain small-scaled projects taking place in order to bring the diverse ethnic groups closer to each other. They are still in their infancy, so it's too soon to draw any conclusions, but the response is positive so far, both from the local inhabitants of the neighbourhood as well as from the immigrants in the area.

One particular project is especially successful: in a relatively small neighbourhood in Rotterdam live app. 5000 ppl, of which about 3/4 is immigrant and the rest locals. There were lots of troubles going on in that area, especially between locals and immigrants. The area has a small police station which often had to call in help from the bigger ones. Then one officer, familiar with the locals and the immigrants, had an idea. He went talking to both groups and it turned out that most of the locals were unhappy with the fact that there were so many immigrants. Not that they were immigrants, but because they had taken over local shops and bars and so on. The shops had turned into Turkish shops with Turkish stuff to sell, Pakistani shops and so on. They had to go to far away to buy the stuff they wanted. The immigrants were complaining about the closedness of the locals - never allowing to make contact on a loosely basis. Also they complained about the lack of customers, which made them hardly survive.

Then the officer went to discuss the outcome with his superiors and together they came up with another idea: they took a group of about 200 locals and immigrants, put them on a bus and drove them to a small village in Frisia (a Northern province of the Netherlands) as there were no foreigners at all living there. There they talked with the villagers, who complained that they had to drive 10 kms to a nearby town to do their shopping and how they missed the village shop and all. Also they talked about the social dynamics in the village. What the idea was: to show that they themselves are a little village within a bigger city and that they should act like one.

They returned and the officer convinced the immigrants to start carrying Dutch articles besides their original stock. On the other hand he showed the locals that the shops were now selling stuff they need and the neighbourhood shops were accessible for them too. What has happened since then is that the locals have start buying in the local shops, run by immigrants, the son of the Turkish vegetable shop keeper is doing twice a week his rounds past the elderly to take up the list of vegetables and fruit they want to have, the Moroccan butcher started carrying non-Halal pork, beef and chicken and gets Dutch clientele. Contacts have been made and both groups are now involved in neighbourhood parties, invite each other over for dinner and so on. There is nearly zero crime in the area.

In a recent interview the elderly who had been complaining about foreigners merely a year before, were now very happy with the services provided and the son of the vegetable guy has become a sort of friend of them. They won't vote on hate parties like the PVV in NL anymore. On the other hand, the Turkish and Moroccan shopkeepers don't need to listen to radical imams anymore and are becoming Westernized in high speed.

Sorry about the long story, but I just wanted to mention this as it shows that positive things can and will happen, as long as both parties are willing. It may be a small example, but it gives hope for a better future without hatred.

Edit: about the low birth rates in Europe: that's an ongoing problem within all Western countries - you can't hardly blame the rise of Islam for that.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)
MareGaea   
10 Sep 2010
News / Poland hosts lowest proportion of foreigners in the EU [115]

So I guess we could safely say that muslims make up 10% of the population in europe, on a worst case scenario.

10 per cent, so that would be in WCS 50 mln. That still leaves 90 per cent, 450 mln in the EU who are non-Muslim. You could say the same about the Chinese. Officially there are perhaps a mln or so, but unofficially there are dozens of mlns of them.

>^..^<

M-G (minorities - they are in less numbers than we are, why are they considered a threat in that case?)
MareGaea   
9 Sep 2010
News / Poland hosts lowest proportion of foreigners in the EU [115]

Islam who's dictating all aspects of citizen's life regardless of their personal preferences

That used to be in the Christian world as well - some time ago, true, but still, not even that long ago, the preacher said what was best for you and if you didn't fit in, you were an outcast as well. In the very old days you would be branded as a witch and burned, drowned or whatever, later on it became less deadly, but one was still an outcast.

Not surprisingly, Obama came out and denounced it. Muslims will feel better as a result. Constant engineering!

How can any politician react to this other than denouncing it? I mean, of course the Muslims would be upset if he were to pull this plan through - Christians, heck, any follower of any religion would be severely upset when sb announced their Holy Book to be burned.

The problem with Muslims is not that they have a different religion, nor that they have a religion at all. The problem is that this religion defines their point of view on everything, and this point of view is definitely what most people in Europe wouldn't want to live.

But isn't (or wasn't) our way of life until relatively recently also dictated by either the Catholic or the Prostestant Churches? I mean, they had a set of rules as well to which every sheep of the flock had to adhere or else they'd be no longer part of that flock? Isn't the way a lot of ppl look now, for example, at homosexuality also dictated by the Church in earlier days?

I mean, I agree that Islam runs a little behind on Christianity, but that's also because it's about 700 years younger than Christendom. If you go back in time 700 years we had our witch hunts too and killing of ppl who didn't fit the description the Church gave of how the ideal sheep in the flock had to live.

But to put up some sort of hate campaign simply goes too far imo.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)
MareGaea   
9 Sep 2010
News / Poland hosts lowest proportion of foreigners in the EU [115]

You do realise I'm not referring to muslims in general?

I do - however the impression was a bit different. But let it be.

Maybe because Islam is not religion but a lifestyle?

If Islam is not a religion but a lifestyle, then Catholicism, Protestantism and Judaism is also a lifestyle and not a religion. How is the situation in Quebec btw, jadis? Many Muslims in Montreal or Quebec City?

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)
MareGaea   
9 Sep 2010
News / Poland hosts lowest proportion of foreigners in the EU [115]

do you have some beef with christians, m-g? ;D

No I don't, I don't care about them, I just hate their hypocritism.

So, there won't be much little ZY's in the future? :) Anyway, I think the numbers of Muslims will level in due time, it all depends on how we treat them, accept them and start to see them as normal part of society. There are plenty of examples that show that it's very well pssbl to have a fruitful and harmonious society where Muslims and non-Muslims live together in peace.

Besides, what all these hate-vids fail to tell you, is that Muslims are not robots as they are presented to be, they do have a choice which passages of the Koran to follow and I was really annoyed during that second vid, not only by the Australian hideous accent, but also by the fact that they completely leave out that the Bible as well as the Torah have their very violent passages.

There seems to be a habit on this site of people jumping to all sorts of conclusions and turning a splinter into an oak tree!

Just read back the first line of your previous post. And think real hard: which group in this line is projected as the worst group?

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)
MareGaea   
9 Sep 2010
News / Poland hosts lowest proportion of foreigners in the EU [115]

Just adding fuel to the fire for "radical" (read, mad) muslim clerics

So, some deranged Christian preacher burns the Holy Book of another religion and it's STILL that other religion's fault? Is that what you're saying?

NO, it's not! It's deranged and looks suspiciously like Nazi and KKK. So much for Christian tolerance and peace-loving.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)
MareGaea   
9 Sep 2010
News / Poland hosts lowest proportion of foreigners in the EU [115]

I would also like to know why the "good Christians" who are so "upset" about the numbers of Muslims in the world, are completely silent about the work of Terry Jones, the guy who announced to burn Korans in public, a good Christian act, resembling the Nazis, against the so hated Muslims. Talk about respectful, peace-loving and complacent ppl! Bunch of hypocrites, that's what they are.

I wonder why they have focused on religion so much?

These are Christian hate-videos, made by Christian hategroups. No need to take them seriously. The number of Muslims in the EU is 16 mln against 500 mln non-Muslims. Hardly a threat I would say.

>^..^<

M-G (book-burning a typical Nazi practice, now a typical Christian practice?)
MareGaea   
9 Sep 2010
News / Poland hosts lowest proportion of foreigners in the EU [115]

Don't you just love those hate-videos? Christian Americans that worry about the EU with all her 31 states. :))

Of course the video is all nonsense and scaremongering. A few true facts, not from this Christian clip:

the total number of Muslims in Europe in 2007 was about 53 million, including 16 million in the European Union

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Europe

According to the clip, they all live in the EU, all 31 memberstates :) The 53 mln includes of course Islamic countries like Bosnia, Azarbeidjan and others.

16 mln of the nearly 500 mln ppl living in the EU are Muslim. No, we've got nothing to fear about. None of these hate- and fearmongering videos will be able to change that.

Edit: just wondering, are the Catholics/Christians afraid they won't have the dominant religion anymore so they cannot harrass that many ppl?

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)
MareGaea   
9 Sep 2010
News / Poland hosts lowest proportion of foreigners in the EU [115]

Though Polish migrants are a common feature in many EU countries, Poland, and Romania, have the fewest number of foreigners living and working within their borders, finds a new survey.

Well then it's time this changes: from now on, we're gonna direct all streams of incoming foreigners straight to Poland and Romania.

Whereas 31.9 million foreigners are living in the EU - or 6.4 percent of the total population in the 27-nation bloc - just 0.1 of those living in Poland (35,000) are not Polish citizens, shows Eurostat, the EU's statistical office.

Whoa, this makes the whiners about too many foreigners in Europe look really, really bad. Whining about nothing, I see. They should crawl in their corner and be very ashamed of themselves.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens - some bloc)
MareGaea   
9 Sep 2010
Life / Before 1980 family in Poland was friendly towards immigrants; now they are not [11]

What's your family like?

I call my parents twice a week or they call me a few times per week. We have a rather good contact. They're getting a bit older now, so in a year or 2,3 I will move back to the Netherlands to take care of them.

>^..^<

M-G (respects and honours his parents deeply)
MareGaea   
8 Sep 2010
Life / Poland, maybe the world's last bastion of faith [67]

Do you know how long the average homosexual relationship (which you seem to so admire and glamourise) lasts? Why not check it out and get back to us on this when you do.

I don't glamourize or admire them, I just don't demonize them like you do. I just accept them, unlike you. And since I don't care about homosexuals having a relationship and it's you who's making those statements, the burden of finding out how long the "average" homosexual affair lasts lies naturally with you, not me. But I can tell you this: a few very famous gay couples have been together for 30 or more years. And a few couples that I personally know have been together for over a decade. Just like heterosexual couples. Some switch partners fast, some stick with one partner their entire life. There's no difference in that respect.

You have a way of avoiding direct answers like the typical politcian. You did not say whether you think things will be really great when at least one-half of society is in oen of the dysfucntional sitatuons situation described in my previous post. And while you're at it, why not add your view on where the Muslims will be at that time.

That situation will never occur and you know darn well it never will. You point out the exceptions as being the mainstream - a crucial error in your way of thinking. The vast majority of the ppl will remain in heterosexual, stable relationships. There will always be dysfunctional situations, but they will never be the majority. And I don't see the relevance of Muslims to this story.

You just want us all to go to the Church every Sunday and once we're all Christians all will be well, is that right? Guess what, ppl are free to choose now. Whole wars have been fought in order to gain that right. And now you want to turn it all back to the very opposite of free choice?

>^..^<

M-G (how old are you?)
MareGaea   
7 Sep 2010
Life / Poland, maybe the world's last bastion of faith [67]

Polonius3

Some freedom you talk about. Freedom of choice - yes, but only if it's the traditional form. Whoa, you have no clue, it seems: did you know that most dysfunctional families are to be found in the traditional form? By far the most child abuse, alcoholism, leading to physical abuse, emotional detachment and so on.

Dysfunctional families have to be looked upon case per case, not like you do, as a group and saying that by default homosexual parents, single mums, ex-jailbird (which I didn't even mention, but ok) and so on, will cause dysfunctional families. Because that is plain nonsense.

Ppl make the choices they want to make these days and if this doesn't cause any problems, then this is fine with me. But since you are a homophobe as you have been proven yourself repeatedly, to you a homosexual couple with an adoption child, or in case of two Lesbian women, with a father that is not part of the family, is per definition bad. And that's not only an ignorant statement. It's also dangerous.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)
MareGaea   
7 Sep 2010
History / In Memory of victims, who had their lives cruelly taken at Treblinka Death Camp in Poland [104]

Well the Nazis considered that what they were doing was the right thing , and each camp had to keep good records to show they were doing their job well and keeping up with the good work for the good of the Reich...

They did keep books, but as I found out, they somehow didn't add up to eachother - they weren't linked. For example: if a record from Bergen Belsen stated that, say on the 1st of May 1943 a shipment with so and so many ppl with these and these numbers, names and so on left for Treblinka, you can calculate how long that train at the longest will take to reach Treblinka. But since the Nazis didn't keep records of those who went into the gaschamber upon arrival, only numbers, anything coming into Treblinka from Bergen Belsen is to be based on data coming from Bergen Belsen and compare them with the numbers that were gassed in Treblinka on the projected arrival day of the train to come up with an educated guess. That's the hard part of it all and that makes you feel like a bookkeeper when you're doing this.

This may not be such a good example as in Treblinka hardly anybody who arrived there lived longer than 2 or 3 hours, but even in Auschwitz, the books don't connect to the others. Just read my previous posts on how I got to educated guesses on times of arrival and death.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)
MareGaea   
6 Sep 2010
Food / Is Polish food still more natural than in the West? [142]

healthy natural food is still available in Poland

As it is in Germany, NL, and nearly all other countries in Europe. You have a choice too in the West.

>^..^<

M-G (thinks it's nonsense to state that all food in the West is somehow processed)
MareGaea   
6 Sep 2010
Food / Is Polish food still more natural than in the West? [142]

I meant you not me. I am in a good shape:). It's all about me:) me, moi!!!!!!!

Jajajaja :)

Slowly but surely I'm getting back in the shape that I had a few years ago, actually before I came to Ireland. But you know why I couldn't go suddenly from almost nothing to full time...

>^..^<

M-G (doesn't need that much weightloss actually)
MareGaea   
6 Sep 2010
Food / Is Polish food still more natural than in the West? [142]

yah, that and lots of exercise as well

True, but don't go from hardly any movement to massive movement all at once as that is bad for your body too.

>^..^<

M-G (is not going to run today because of the torrential rain all day long)
MareGaea   
6 Sep 2010
Food / Is Polish food still more natural than in the West? [142]

Thanks NorthManc. In the meantime I've found out already :) And we call it Reuzel, Spek or Spekvet.

>^..^<

M-G (I don't think there is actually an English name for it besides fat bacon)
MareGaea   
6 Sep 2010
Food / Is Polish food still more natural than in the West? [142]

Oh, it's bacon. Thanks, Marek.

Oh ok, pork fat/bacon. We call that either Reuzel, Spek or Spekvet. Amazing how Dutch, German and Polish food is basically the same.

I don't know what it does, but I know that anything sour/fermented, including sour kraut is good for the digestion since it contains the natural bacteria

I just happen to have read a lot about these things recently and since then I know that it splits up the fat in your stomach and makes it harder for the body to absorb fat out of the food you eat. Best food without a doubt however is tomatoes. Good thing about them is that they actually get healthier when processed into ketchup, purée or sauce. The vitamins have gone, however, but that's not the most important element of them - the liposomes or sth like that. They are good for just about anything; they make you look younger, prevents (in men's cases) prostate cancer, are good for the blood and heart and loads of other things. The reason why they are even better when they're processed into sth is that the skin has disappeared and the skin is kinda hard to digest without it, your body can absorp all the goodies, which it can't when you eat a tomato raw.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)
MareGaea   
6 Sep 2010
Food / Is Polish food still more natural than in the West? [142]

Are you joking? There's plenty of research that shows that pickled and fermented foods are amazingly good for you.

True, pickled stuff is pretty good for you. Luckily I like pickled food :) Fermented food I don't know about. Probably Zurek is good for you, I only had that 3 times in my life and I loved it :)

true. Great for digestion among other things.

Also true. You could also use a little mustard with your food or have a spoon of Balsamic vinegar before you start eating. Balsamic you can actually drink like that. Important feature is that it seperates fat in your stomach into little balls which cannot be absorbed by the body, so if you take a spoon of Balsamic before you eat, you get less fat from that dinner. Same goes for any sour(y) condiment.

Edit: that's how Megan Fox got so hot :)

slonina

What is slonina? Salmon?

>^..^<

M-G (eating a pickle before dinner, dipping your meat into a spoon of Dijon mustard, not the sweet mustard)
MareGaea   
6 Sep 2010
Life / Poland, maybe the world's last bastion of faith [67]

So this is turning yet again into an "us Christians = good - you Muslims = bad"?

Besides, I watched it and knowing it's from this hardcore Christian nutters group, I didn't expect anything else than this outcome.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)
MareGaea   
6 Sep 2010
Life / Poland, maybe the world's last bastion of faith [67]

What I see here is a bunch of old women whining of "how the US and Europe have all gone to the dogs and Poland is the only beacon that is left in the world". Gimme a break, will ya? Because not everybody agrees to YOUR choices and YOUR way of life, doesn't mean that a country goes down the drain.

P3, you really have to quit spouting this nonsense about homosexuals. Really. You start to sound like a cartoonesque Catholic: aahw poor dysfunctional homosexuals, single moms, druggies, ppl who like to switch partners, divorcees....G.I.V.E. M.E. A F.R.E.A.K.I.N.G. B.R.E.A.K.

You know, in NL we have an Evangelical Channel. They used to broadcast these "Christian" TV-movies: help! help! I used to be going down, I am a black drug addict homosexual with 15 adopted kiddos (no not Jewish as the good Christians don't help Jews), which I support by prostituting myself, which has as nasty side-effect that it fulfills my psychotic nymphomaniac disorder as well! But then I met God and everything suddenly went ok. Suddenly I'm not homosexual anymore with no psychotic nymphomaniac disorder, my adoption kiddos have all disappeared and guess what? I'm suddenly not black anymore either! My life is fine now and I owe it all to the Church.

You know, this is the feeling that I get when reading this stuff. If you are so resentful of the Western world, why don't you go join the Amish? Then you can party like it's 1699. But don't use the benefits of the Western world and complain that it's going downhill. You use the result of its progression, remember that.

>^..^<

M-G (you sound like a bunch of old women, really)
MareGaea   
6 Sep 2010
Life / Poland, maybe the world's last bastion of faith [67]

Well, here the next one comes. First he says this:

Growing up a child of the sixties in America it was natural for me to abandon my ethnic roots in an attempt to fit in with the cultural and sexual revolution.

Then come the doubts:

As our nation proceeds toward revolution I try hard to understand what events and attitudes have precipitated our demise. Ironically, I look back to the sixties and recognize there that the seeds planted have sprouted into a jungle of corruption and vices against which I was warned as a child.

Then follows a lot of blahblah...Muslims bad...blahblahblah...US down the drain...And so forth. Then comes the redemption:

In Poland I felt as if I had returned to my childhood. There was evidence of an influential church everywhere I went. From seeing priests and nuns walking down the street to rosaries hanging next to the bus driver, evidence of a vibrant faith were indisputable. To me those were some of the most comforting experiences of the past decades of my life.

And now the evil lefties and progressives, which joys he claims to have enjoyed as a child, have turned into evil Golgothans and get their turn as they want to destroy the Church, but look at all the thing the Church has done for us:

I realize that in Poland, just as in every nation, there are those whose hatred toward the Church, and toward Christian faith is relentless as is their determination to destroy both.

I could respond to all this, but I get too much of a "Touched By An Angel"-feeling with this post of yet another individual who wants to turn the clock back some 200 years. So I won't.

>^..^<

M-G (busy - afternoon coffee-break)
MareGaea   
5 Sep 2010
Genealogy / Polish nationality? Which of the following (if any) determine being Polish. [231]

Those folks are prolly planning to return to Netherlands, but are waiting till they can go dutch ;)

They're waiting all their lifetime, their parent's lifetime and their kids' lifetime, eh? :) It's just folklore, at least, that's how I look at it. I don't look at them being Dutch - it makes nice conversation, but that's it. I think the Americans of Polish descent have the same folkloristic idea about Poland and probably will have the same effect on a visitor from Poland.

M-G (you planning to take over the US? You and what army?:) )
MareGaea   
5 Sep 2010
Genealogy / Polish nationality? Which of the following (if any) determine being Polish. [231]

Best description I heard was American of Polish descent. Don't get me wrong, I say this too to the Americans I meet that claim to be Dutch when it was their great-grandparents who came from NL to the US and they usually have never set foot in NL, but do have a kitschy windmill in their garden or living room :S
MareGaea   
5 Sep 2010
Genealogy / Polish nationality? Which of the following (if any) determine being Polish. [231]

We are the Polish nation within a nation.

But where do you draw the line? Because your great- great- great-grandfather was Polish, you are Polish too, even if you yourself, your parents and grandparents have never set foot in Poland? I think there comes a point where you have to say that you're American and again, in my opinion that is the place where you were born, not the place where your parents or grandparents were born. If I take this to my own situation, I would be Portugese, because my great- great- great- (...) great-grandparents came from there?

your birthplace could be accidental (aka 'where your parents had sex').

If the parents have already American citizenship and the child was conceived in Poland, but born back home in the US, then the child is an American citizen. It could be accidental, but often it isn't.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)
MareGaea   
5 Sep 2010
History / In Memory of victims, who had their lives cruelly taken at Treblinka Death Camp in Poland [104]

Did you lost relatives in the Holocaust?

I did, but it should matter to all of us as these were ppl and if we start denying it en masse, we start to be co-guilty. Like the Germans who watched and did nothing. Saw "Road To Treblinka", which is on YouTube as well, it's a pretty decent documentary. It's in five parts. Just do a search for Road To Treblinka. It should pop up. It's in English :)

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)