News / Man taken to court for abusing Poland's president [35]



Very emotional.


See that often do you?


You still haven't defined what you mean by that.


Everything?


Does the existence of open, happy gay and lesbian people threaten this for you?


Your post both starts and ends with emotion. If the sight of something affects you so much, don't look at it. And this is the crux. You've hinted before on here that you've had issues to deal with about sexuality. It seems that you feel threatened somehow. I wonder why.

History / Do Silesia people consider themselves to be Silesians, not Poles nor Germans? [15]


It's both. Quite near Bielsko. And exactly on the boundary between Śląsk and Małoplska.

One problem is that most of the speakers are elderly. It never really recovered from the post-war ban.

History / Do Silesia people consider themselves to be Silesians, not Poles nor Germans? [15]

Endangered languages spoken in Poland. Wymysorys, spoken in a small area between Śląsk and Małopolska is probably too far gone, but Silesian German certainly isn't.

History / Do Silesia people consider themselves to be Silesians, not Poles nor Germans? [15]

Perhaps time for a revival and some legal protection.

News / Man taken to court for abusing Poland's president [35]


Define that.

And who decides what is


, and who is the arbiter of


??

History / Do Silesia people consider themselves to be Silesians, not Poles nor Germans? [15]

So do, though it isn't quite so simple. There is a Silesian dialect of German as well as a Silesian dialect of Polish. It is mostly used in those parts of Silesia across the border, in Germany, though some use it on the Polish side.

ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=sli

News / Man taken to court for abusing Poland's president [35]


Did I say that people who think parades are not necessary are extremists? Of course someone who would try to use the law to ban a peaceful, happy and positive gathering is pretty extreme.


Then all I can say is that you don't pay much attention to politics. Two parties (admittedly "nutters on the fringe of reality") were in coalition with the failed PiS administration a few years ago.


How would you define "force ideas down their throat"?


Buy a dictionary.

Travel / Is it safe to travel to Poland? [194]

In Warsaw it's no worse than in London (perhaps even a bit better) and much safer than Paris. Worth being extra careful on the trams between Dworzec Centralny and Rondo De Gaulle'a.


Small local trains just outside Warsaw can be risky at night, but nowadays they often have security guards in the first carriage.

Travel / Watch out for airport personnel stealing stuff on regional Polish airports. [64]


It happened once to a friend, and LOT paid for a new suitcase. Nothing stolen.

News / Poland is the source of horsemeat in burgers? [169]


Who's accusing? The company involved have traced the horsemeat to Poland. The article also makes it clear that it isn't the ABP plant in Poznan.


Very sure. It isn't the ABP Poznan factory and in any case, it's irrelevant what else they make. If they're producing a product for a customer, the customer has a right to get exactly what they have paid for. Meaning, if they're buying beef burgers, they expect beef burgers. Not petfood.


Apart from the drunks bit, it seems that in this case your comment is true about certainPoles who were making money from exporting contaminated meat and trying to pass it off as beef!

People in better-run factories in Ireland and the UK are out of work because of this. I really hope the lawsuit is so big that the culprits are ruined.


That's precisely what they did. And traced the contaminated meat to a Polish supplier. Nothing you say can change that. ;-)

The sad thing is, that most Polish producers are probably OK - but will people see Polish meat products in quite the same light any more?

Real Estate / Help on choosing the best neighborhood to live in Warsaw.. [20]


Agreed. Though its slowly getting better around there. Another possibility is somewhere round Rakowiecka station - just one stop to Marynarska. Pulawska (the bit by Stary Mokotow) is good, because there's the tram, but not so cheap.

News / Poland is the source of horsemeat in burgers? [169]


Supply chain.


So are lemons, but if you buy a lime, you want a lime. Not a lemon.

Besides, if their suppliers in Poland lie and cheat about something as basic as what animal it is, what else are they lying and cheating about?

News / Man taken to court for abusing Poland's president [35]


Actually you can have it both ways, where legal systems do not discriminate on the basis of things people cannot or do not wish to change about themselves, where the morality of the most conservative is not the barometer for legislation.

Poland has something of a history of this - though many have tried to drag it back into the dark ages.


There are such people and there are such political parties, as well you know.


There you go again.


Ditto.


Indeed - and my opinion is that I am happy with the secular liberal democracy that we have right now. Would you really prefer to create some sort of 'fourth republic' like the ducky brothers wanted?


And this from the guy who uses phrases like:





LOL!

News / Man taken to court for abusing Poland's president [35]


As certain tendencies in society - i.e. the most conservative and religious people - get upset if they can't legalise and propagate their "little ways".



No shortage of either ultra-conservatives or religious fundamentalists wherever you go Fortunately as a secular liberal democracy , in Poland their aims are thwarted.

Real Estate / Help on choosing the best neighborhood to live in Warsaw.. [20]

Nowolazurowa will certainly help with the very first part of the journey - though the really long jams on £opuszczańska and Marynarska may prove more of a problem for travellers by bus and car.

News / Man taken to court for abusing Poland's president [35]

You seem to be concerned about what is 'correct' or not. But in a plural society we can't talk about 'correct' - because there isn't one single standard to judge what is 'correct'..

A country like Poland, a secular democracy with a centuries-old liberal tradition, a respect for freedom of speech and behaviour and a legal system that doesn't moralise, actually gives equal rights to all and is an environment where freedoms are cherished. What one person thinks 'correct' or 'incorrect' is a matter for them only - not society as a whole.

Real Estate / Help on choosing the best neighborhood to live in Warsaw.. [20]

Not during the rush hour, and to Domaniewska the roads are blocked solid right from Kleszczowa.

Having said that, that street is walking distance to Wlochy Station, so not bad by train - and only aboout 15/20 mins walk to al. Jerozolimskie Station for WKD and SKM.

News / Man taken to court for abusing Poland's president [35]


That isn't really a basis for legislative policy, is it?





Fortunately, in Poland we live in a secular democracy - people are free to believe all this stuff (or indeed anything else they want) however we are fortunate that laws are not based on that.

Real Estate / Help on choosing the best neighborhood to live in Warsaw.. [20]

A long way from anywhere and in the most traffic-jam prone part of town.

News / Man taken to court for abusing Poland's president [35]


A bizarre comment. What makes you think that? And what on earth is 'righteousness'? Sounds like something Al-Qaida would talk about.

Language / When is speaking Polish showing off and when is it ok? [46]


In Poland, it's never showing off, unless you're talking with people who have the same first language as you or who speak your own language better than Polish.

If your in a mixed group of native speakers of Polish and foreigners whose Polish is, say, only intermediate standard it can feel like showing off, but really it isn't - unless you feel a conversation should be dumbed down.

Life / Polish vs British vs American - Clash of cultures [390]

Quite convenient, for women of a certain age to get some flowers and drink champagne without drawing attention to their age ;-)

Worth mentioning that I know Poles (even older ladies) who publicly celebrate their birthday. And other people who refuse to celebrate name days.

News / Man taken to court for abusing Poland's president [35]


From posts you've made here, it may well be your biggest problem, on a personal level, that is. If you think however that human sexuality is "the World's biggest problem" I suggest you reassess your priorities and reflect on the food crisis, overpopulation, the growing wealth-gap, the economic rise of China, man-made climate change and the North Korean and Iranian defence programmes.

Yet conservative politicians in Poland still find time to launch show-trials against satirists and complex-ridden frumps still find time to obsess about people's love lives.

News / Man taken to court for abusing Poland's president [35]


More about several prosecutions detailed here in threads past than the topic that you seem fixated on. Though one of their 'ministers' condemning the teletubbies does come to mind.

However banning parades is nevertheless a symptom of something more common in less tolerant parts of the world.

UK, Ireland / Why are Brits so left-wing? [60]


So do I, though the Daily Mail comments page can be amusing for the Alf Garnetts that post there.People in the UK, as a rule, are reasonable and fair and open-minded.

News / Man taken to court for abusing Poland's president [35]


Uptight and conservative though they may be, freedom of expression was much worse under the failed regime that preceded them.

Hard to imagine Ruch Palikota bothering.

News / Man taken to court for abusing Poland's president [35]


That's quite disturbing - whatever happened to satire?

I remember when the duck brothers' regime was talking (a futile exercise fortunately) about suing a German magazine who described them rather aptly as potatoes.

Travel / Is it safe to travel to Poland? [194]


Extremely safe!


That's quite funny. Or would be if it wasn't so sad.

Travel / Is it safe to travel to Poland? [194]

It's so safe there's no need for a guide. A total waste of money.

Real Estate / The current property boom in Poland is a bubble [342]


Exactly - where there's a will there's a way.