UK, Ireland / Are Poles in UK really that big of a deal? [112]


It's called being a free rider, not very morally edifying (the US is also very guilty of this). It's no way to actually decrease the gap between the developed and developing worlds...

UK, Ireland / Are Poles in UK really that big of a deal? [112]


Doesn't make the education system of the UK sound very good if they can't produced programmers or engineers in the numbers needed....

UK, Ireland / Has racism towards Polish migrants increased in the UK since Brexit? [22]


Yeah, since when has Africa needed highly educated people? What do they need doctors or engineers or intellectuals for?

News / Poland's economic future? [294]


People who dislike beauty.... or who have none in their lives and don't want anyone else to have any?

A lot of posters here are essentially dogs in the manger (in Polish: psy ogrodnika)

News / Poland's economic future? [294]


Isn't it just the most charming thing ever?! They're like little teddy bears filled with army ants!

This is an old tactic, some people think if they never put anything out there and just relentlessly criticize those that do then that makes them look smart. It's commie bred cynicism (one of the worst and longest lasting legacies of the PRL).

News / Road deaths increase in Poland [43]

If you're referring to commie times there were plenty of accidents but they received no media coverage as the media were not supposed to spread news about unfortunate events.

News / Road deaths increase in Poland [43]


Surely a sophsiticate like yourself knows that crime (and other stats/habits) vary from one group to another.


Or black cops since they're even more disproportionately liable to kill black people than are white cops...

Racial profiling can be a useful tool if not carried to extremes. I understand that some people prefer policy based on ignorance...

News / Poland's economic future? [294]


That sounds.... oddd I thought the conventional wisdom is that around 4 to 5 % is optimal and anything more than that is 'overheating' which usually leads to cool downs (ie recessions or crashes)

Law / Polish girl does abortion in the UK, is it a crime in Poland? [8]

In other words, no one believes abortion is murder. In the case of real murder by hit man no one would wan to let the person that hired the hit man off.

Travel / Białowieża National Park in Poland [461]


You are one angry little cub scout, some therapy might get to the root of it which would spare you the trouble of projecting your unresolved feelings of rage onto the Polish nation (which has bigger fish to fry than being your emotional proxy).


It would be a very unwise person who ever signs a contract with you, as you'll feel entitled to ignore it the moment it becomes inconvenient.

Travel / Białowieża National Park in Poland [461]


In essence. It will be interesting to see the long term reaction of the PiS beton to this. if CM stays in the good graces of JK they'll have to invent a story where both Szyszko (and firing him) were right. Good thing that self-serving mental gymnastics are nothing new for them....

Travel / Białowieża National Park in Poland [461]


Crikey boy, you don't even live here and I'm sure you'll always find reasons to stay in the US. Polish politics is the vehicle of your own self-loathing and repressed rage. See? Saved you some money on therapy! You may thank me at your leisure.

Travel / Białowieża National Park in Poland [461]


he doesn't live in poland and probably never will (I'll believe it when it happens) what does he care?


yep. there's only so much good will you can throw away before it starts hurting. poland may escape sanctions but it won't have any allies in Europe if things get rough (Orban will dump Poland the second it becomes necessary for him).

Travel / Białowieża National Park in Poland [461]

Elect a government that appoints someone like Szyszko (who's never seen a tree he didn't want to cut down and sell) and that's the result.

Did lower Silesia vote for PiS? Is the loss of environment worth it?

Travel / Białowieża National Park in Poland [461]


That's what almost Polish people do on a daily basis, why wouldn't the government do so? Governments are representatives of the collective essence of the nation and in Poland that means flagrant disregard for any and all formal rules.


The only people I've heard defend it in the media are those with an economic interest in logging. In real life I haven't heard anyone defend it.

Travel / Help with a travel plan to Poland [72]

The thing about Polish weather is that it often changes throughout the day (often extremely). It's quite common to get weather that seems to be from different seasons in the same day. In March if you dress to not be cold in the morning you might be too hot in the afternoon, or it might be snowy, longterm (or sometimes shortterm) forecasts are often very inaccurate. The best advice is to be ready for almost anything weatherwise.

History / WWII - who really was the first to help Poland? [900]


Many people in Poland people cannot tell the difference between enemies and friends who disagree (they infest the political class and cause much unnecessary problems). The EU wants to be on Poland's side but PiS is all about unnecessary belligerence in the name of .... (more votes from low information voters?)

History / WWII - who really was the first to help Poland? [900]


Yes, it's not that big a deal, much less 'traitorous' than being a fan of Putin, a proven enemy of the western values Poland has historically aspired to.

Language / Why is Polish such an ugly language? [22]


Also, haven't universities dropped a lot of language requirements? I think I remember who a person can major in Indian (Asian) studies and not have to demonstrate any ability in any Indian langauge... (not to mention degree courses in 'translation' that are carried out entirely in English.... what the?)

IME Americans like the idea of learning and speaking another language but for different reasons have little idea about how to go about it. British people, on the whole, seem ideologically opposed to the very idea and think there's something unwholesome about the whole experience (there are individual exceptions but that's the trend). the Irish and Canadians (again just my experience) tend to be a little intellectually lazy and have to be semi-forced into learning but then they're often better than Brits or Americans.

Language / Why is Polish such an ugly language? [22]


Polish grammar only makes sense when you have a panoramic view of how it works and a fairly deep knowledge of the nuts and bolts.

English grammar only makes sense when...... never really, that's the price of so many semi-native and second langauge users, it's all but impossible to make generalizations.

Travel / Białowieża National Park in Poland [461]


birth size is usually determined by the size of the mother, so the question is more would the calf be developed enough to survive by the time it needs to eject?

News / Arrests made in Poland for Hitler birthday celebrations [35]


Huh? What post are you referring to, because none on this thread seem to fit...

News / Arrests made in Poland for Hitler birthday celebrations [35]


I would never say either is 'stupid', far from it. The results for socieites where either is too weak are not very good.

I think a moderate degree of nationalism is desirable and good and necessary for a society to survive.

Some kind of religious observance is also good, when either become too strong the results are pretty terrible.

I was venting at the moral hypocrisy who openly deride nationalism while giving religion a free ride.

News / Arrests made in Poland for Hitler birthday celebrations [35]


Is nationalism really more toxic than religion?

Fundamentalists of any religion seem at least as bad (probably worse) than most nationalism

These guys don't look very diverse or inclusive... maybe they should attend cultural sensitivity classes?



What type of primitive tribalism is this?



Or this?



Why encourage this kind of thing?

News / Arrests made in Poland for Hitler birthday celebrations [35]


I would hope they would have done a more convincing job of it. To me the footage looked like a bunch of not very good larpers (larp = live action role play) the one guy couldn't even goose step convincingly and the dialogue was very.... not so credible with big doses of 'ooooh listen to meeee I'm so eeeeevil' thrown in.

And lord knows I'm not a supporter of PiS but holding them responsible for a handful of weirdos playing dress up in the forest doesn't make any sense.

The whole thing is just stupid and watching reports about it and listening to politiicans blather about it makes me feel like I'm losing brain cells.

Life / Fellow expats: Polish people compared to Czechs/Slovaks? [23]


Probably more grumpy, no one in Poland walks down the street thinking "A stranger is just a friend I haven't met yet!"

Poles are much better in private than in public and they need to warm to you before they're friendly but then they're fine.

My limited experience with Czechs is that they have a bigger dose of Mitteleuropen brusqueness (bordering on German...) but not that they're grumpy, I've really enjoyed a lot of Czech series and movies and comedies and find them a lot warmer and.... humanist (for lack of a better word) than Polish.

My limited experience with Slovaks is that they're kind of in between Poland, Czech and Hungary in various ways with some of the faults of all three (and some of the virtues).

News / Arrests made in Poland for Hitler birthday celebrations [35]

To be perfectly honest, most of the filmed footage I saw looked staged, as if they were performing for a camera.

USA, Canada / Golota facing deportation back to Poland [30]

My favorite comment on the non-citizen doctor being returned to Poland

"Rowniez nie wierze w jego niewinnosc - kradziez, alkohol, przemoc domowa..., cwaniaczek. W naszym kraju bedzie mu dobrze"

"I don't think he's innocent either - theft, alcohol, domestic violence...., a con artist. He'll do just fine in this country"

Work / Poland is not the best country to get part time job with study? [59]


So the whole "Con foreign students into taking up 'studies' in Poland" is really a cover "let's try to keep wages for Polish people artificially low by importing in low information people who'll have to take what they can get".

That makes some sense at least (at least from the point of view of dishonest employers) while none of the rest of the stuff you cite does.

Work / Poland is not the best country to get part time job with study? [59]


For starvation wages (and no legal protections!) Yay? Poland really needs a low-wage no-rights working underclass? I understand that's normal in the UK but Poland? Not soooooo convinced that's sucher good idea.