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Posts by masks98  

Joined: 10 Apr 2008 / Male ♂
Last Post: 6 Sep 2013
Threads: Total: 27 / In This Archive: 9
Posts: Total: 289 / In This Archive: 38

Speaks Polish?: no

Displayed posts: 47 / page 1 of 2
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masks98   
11 Apr 2013
History / How I blew a 6 figure grant for my charity because of my appreciation of Polish history... [77]

I don't post here as much as I used to but something happened yesterday and I just need to vent.

I'm a New Yorker, I spent over a year teaching English in Poland living there with my ex girlfriend, but I've been back in NYC since 2009 and I work at an anti-racism charity.

Yesterday I attended a very fancy dinner, got to chat with some big shots in NYC philanthropy, and at my table there happened to be a couple. They introduced themselves to me, and spoke about their daughter who is mentally disabled, and their charity, which they are setting up to speak out on behalf of disabled people across the country. We got along great, and then the husband started telling me about racism in the US and how bad it is. I mentioned that it's not that bad, it's a minority that "hates blacks" (to use his words), and that people who complain here should know that there's much worse.

Now I'm not a hater of Poland, but I had to relate to him how living in Warsaw opened up my eyes to how good I have it in NYC. In Warsaw, while most of my students were super nice to me, and my girlfriends family were amazing (though it took some convincing to win over babcia) the racist minority is much bigger than in the US, and way more vocal. If I walked the streets alone I would merely get stares, which could be annoying but even the ones that were menacing from the street kids didn't bother me too much. But when I would hold my girlfriends hand, and the three times we made out in public, we got an earful. I'll always remember right in the centrum some guy in his car at the red light screaming "czarnuch" at me while we were holding hands. And another time, again in the centrum, when some hooligans walked by and cursed my gf out in Polish calling her a slut.

My point was that America is pretty good. Then he says:

MAN: "Yeah...Poland...they didn't really put on a good show during WW2..."

ME: You mean for losing..? Kind of hard to put on a good show when you're being double teamed by Hitler and Stalin..

MAN: No I don't mean militarily, I mean for their participation in the killing of the Jews..

ME: Oh well... I've heard that opinion before...and I believe it's based on a misreading of history...the jews and the poles were twin victims of the holocaust, almost 3 million non Jewish Poles were killed and the entire nation was to be completely annihilated after the war...yet the Polish never set up a collaborationist government like France, they fought tooth and nail, and some of the first reports about what was going on in the concentration camps came from people like Witold Pilecki and Jan Karski, Poles who volunteered to be taken to concentration camps like auschwitz, organized escapes, and tried to alert the allies about what was going on...you should also know that the Poles are the most represented group at Yad Vashem....so it's sad to hear people express that opinion about the poles, when in fact they're behavior during the holocaust was heroic."

The guy didn't even answer and turned away, seemingly restraining himself from attacking me with his butter knife.

I have so many American Jewish friends that believe this crap about Polish/Nazi collaboration, and then the whole world in general act like the holocaust was only about the jews which is ridiculous.

Anyway I later found out that that guy was a big shot philanthropist who gives millions to charities like mine. I probably blew a nice grant.
masks98   
29 Jan 2013
Life / Is sarcasm widespread in Poland? [27]

Jokes are considered inappropriate in Poland. Nobody jokes or smiles in public. It is a sign of weakness. Humour is not allowed.

Well I know that's not true, you can joke a lot without being sarcastic - but I always thought of polish culture as being more earnest than sarcastic.
masks98   
29 Jan 2013
Life / Is sarcasm widespread in Poland? [27]

I can't stand sarcasm anymore, it's so overused and abused here in New York by people that think they're being clever, and often used as a shield by the highly insecure and immature. I was telling someone how during my time living in Poland one of the refreshing things was the lack of sarcasm - I felt like conversation was more earnest and straightforward, but turns out that person is Polish-American and disagreed that in her family, sarcasm is out of control and that she always attributed that fact to being Polish....

Any thoughts?
masks98   
31 Jul 2012
News / Romney visits Poland: Gets support from Lech Walesa? [29]

Am I reading this right? That Lech Walesa supports Mitt Romney? Is Poland generally critical of Obama?

I'm only surprised that Lech Walesa would support Romney because, American conservatives love to say that Ronald Reagan took down the soviet union without even mentioning Lech Walesa and Solidarity, Pope John Paul, and Gorbachev. I would be very offended if I were him.

Sorry for misspelling Walesa
masks98   
12 May 2012
Love / Can Polish men date with Chinese women? [23]

This is kind of a silly question to be honest. BUT. If you and this guy are in Poland then I can understand better. I lived in Poland for a year and a half. I got used to the racism towards me and blacks but was SHOCKED at the widespread, shameless racism against asians. I had this lovely student in her late 30's that was very sweet and kind to me, and complained about how polish people treated her badly because she once had lunch at a restaurant with a black contractor from her job. Then later it came out by accident that she strongly disliked asians and she openly admitted without shame that she would hate to have asians live near her, or work in her workplace. I was so shocked I started asking around and a good majority of the people I had considered tolerant and liberal openly made fun of chinese people and admitted that they would rather not associate with any.
masks98   
2 May 2012
Travel / Anybody VERY familiar with bars in Warsaw? [22]

Man I wish I had seen this sooner! If you do get a chance please do check it out and let me know what you think! Is it really a brothel? Thanks!!
masks98   
25 Apr 2012
Travel / Anybody VERY familiar with bars in Warsaw? [22]

Thanks but I'm in NYC, I'm planning a surprise birthday visit this summer, that's why I needed to find out about the bar, but I actually just found out: It's called Pawilony. Thanks for your help guys!!

It's called Klaps in particular, in the pawilony
masks98   
24 Apr 2012
Travel / Anybody VERY familiar with bars in Warsaw? [22]

no that's all I got..I had another video that had something that said "Pruderia" on it, but when I googled it it was a club that looked nothing like this, I also saw something that said 'Diabel" on it but nothing comes up in google
masks98   
24 Apr 2012
Travel / Anybody VERY familiar with bars in Warsaw? [22]

cool, here it is:

i41.tinypic.com/246mo1y.jpg

and here's a video of the place (low quality)

tinypic.com/r/k976nl/5

ha I had to edit this post a bunch of times

video of the bar
masks98   
24 Apr 2012
Travel / Anybody VERY familiar with bars in Warsaw? [22]

I need help trying to identify a bar from a picture, hehe I know it's a long shot but I figured I'd ask here if anywhere...let me know and I'll post the picture!

Thanks
masks98   
24 Jan 2012
News / Poland now soft-pedalling ACTA signing [107]

shop-lifting and file sharing are not the same thing. ACTA allows the constant monitoring of all your internet activity by ISP's without initial suspicion, they can then hand over that information to any copyright holder that files a claim. Also, keep in mind that the entire point of the internet is the sharing of information ("the information superhighway") and try to picture the sheer amount of information being shared daily (much of which is copyrighted content/information) but this content is not shared illicitly but in the same way we share information from books, movies, music in the real world. ACTA is putting us all at risk.
masks98   
20 Dec 2011
History / Was the holocaust by Germans in Poland the worse genocide in history? [210]

isthatu2

Rubbish, "they" just went there and bought the slaves that one tribe had taken from another,as they had done for centuries and as they continue to do to this day.

Sorry but while true, that's only part of the story. You might have forgotten that the transatlantic slave trade went hand in hand with the colonization of Africa, the portuguese for example went in there at once and started conquering and conducting slave raids which were not peaceful. They would conquer islands and tribes and enslave the conquered. Also the slavery that existed before the transatlantic slave trade was more like indentured servitude, since many slaves were paid and could buy their own freedom and assimilate in the society or return home, unlike the trade to the americas where slaves would never return home and were shipped en masse like cattle to societies where there was little chance of them ever becoming free.
masks98   
16 Dec 2011
News / What part of Poland's image do you think is the most exportable? [90]

I've toyed with the idea of opening up a small shop here in NYC to sell clothing and other odd things that are either from Poland or inspired by it. Initially I thought of clothing with prints that evoke a sense of Poland's rebellious attitude under communism and other symbols from polands communism era. like cool, well designed prints of people or even just slogans in polish. But I'm having a hard time coming up with a list of things that can be associated with Poland. Such things can be objects, pictures or slogans that might inspire pride or admiration for poland, while also poking fun at it.

But in general this has got me thinking about the things about Poland (past and present) that can be exported in an appealing way, kind of like how apple pie is associated with USA, or Yankee caps, rock stars like hendrix, morrison or elvis, nike, wall street, hollywood, etc..

any ideas?
masks98   
16 Dec 2011
History / Was the holocaust by Germans in Poland the worse genocide in history? [210]

Slaves in America, very little causualities ( a dead slave isn't a working slave ) .

Wow very little casualties during slavery? Slavery is probably humanity's greatest crime. Do you know what it took to carry these slaves back to america (and other countries)? they had to go there and start numerous wars with african tribes where entire populations were decimated by fighting and disease..then they had to endure the middle passage where they were crammed into ships and piled on top of each other, causing mass deaths from disease(imagine being piled up in a room barely big enough to hold everyone while being pissed, shat and vomited on by healthy and diseased people alike..) slaves would be drowned at sea if there werent enough food to keep them alive or other reasons. Slaves also comitted mass suicides to escape their fate.

"When we found ourselves at last taken away, death was more preferable than life, and a plan was concerted amongst us, that we might burn and blow up the ship, and to perish all together in the flames."

If the goal of slavery was not slavery itself but to actually bring africans back to america and give them all 40 acres and a mule a woman and a sac of money, it would still be humanity's greatest crime, just because of the wars it took to capture them and the middle passage, which was a holocaust on the seas..

I don't need to prove that I think the holocaust was horrible but it's sickening how my own country uses that as a yardstick for evil when the extermination of native americans and mass murder/enslavement of blacks is just as bad.

One last point. Comparing Mao to Hitler is not as fitting as comparing hitler to say, Hirohito of Japan. Until I read a real book on the subject I can't speak with confidence, but I keep seeing wild figures on the internet that during WWII Japan killed between 10-30 million Chinese (although these figures might include all casualties from Japan's conquest of asian countries.) Why is Hirohito not demonized? Maybe because western leaders remained allied with him well after WWII and publicly honored him when he finally died of natural causes. (I think sparing the emperor was a condition of japanese surrender in WWII) DISGUSTING.
masks98   
4 Jul 2010
Travel / what are the average fares to Poland from USA? [10]

hey guys, My wife and I live in New York, she needs to go back to Poland sometime later July early August, and return a month later. I remember fares to Poland being pretty cheap, but when we go on expedia nowadays they're all $1000+?? (roundtrip). Are there any tricks to getting cheap flights? Or have the prices just gone up?
masks98   
11 May 2010
History / Thinking of changing Wikipedia's Holocaust article to include genocide of Poles. [78]

I hardly insult anybody, yet I get insulted plenty of time, because I don't support a racist view.

why do you say it's a racist view? what's racist about my view that we should acknowledge all the other people that were killed?

Also, I know that the jewish term for holocaust is Shoah, but you acted as if you had no idea before, thinking that the holocaust should be exclusively used for jews, you were clearly in error. Why else would 'holocaust' was the "correct description" for the mass murder of Jews, but not for Poles or other races?
masks98   
11 May 2010
History / Thinking of changing Wikipedia's Holocaust article to include genocide of Poles. [78]

MareGaea seems to think the word holocaust was invented specifically to describe the genocide of jews but he's wrong it goes back much further. He proposes "polonicide" for the massacre of poles, but that would be an alternative for "Judeocide" not for "holocaust" which has been used in various contexts.

Although MareGaea tried to be insulting in his post I don't think insulting him back is required, he's just misinformed and if he wants to be more informed than it's up to him to look it all up, no need to hate on him.
masks98   
11 May 2010
History / Thinking of changing Wikipedia's Holocaust article to include genocide of Poles. [78]

your title doesn't take into account other european jews.

True!

Which is the correct description. If you try to change it, you are dishonest towards history.

Why is it the correct description? The Nazis aimed to destroy poland and all ethnic poles, and killed 2million ethnic poles in the process while clearing almost 2 million Poles from annexed territories, that's genocide and ethnic cleansing, a holocaust.

Because the Holocaust is generally accepted as the Jewish genocide. Just like the term Porajmos stands for the Gypsie genocide. If you think it's necessary to keep nagging about it, invent your own term. Maybe Polonicide would be sth?

You're wrong, a holocaust is a word that has been used historically to describe various massacres, not just that of jews. There is talk of a holocaust in China for example during the Japanese occupation which resulted in the deaths of 20 million Chinese. An episode in history that is sadly ignored over here. There is also talk of holocaust for the fate of American indians, and africans during the slave trade. In the West, we tend to use it for the Nazi genocides during WWII and I think its should include the genocide of Poles and other groups as part of the official definition, not just a footnote. How is that historically dishonest since I'mm offering a more thorough definition as opposed to an exclusionary one?
masks98   
11 May 2010
History / Thinking of changing Wikipedia's Holocaust article to include genocide of Poles. [78]

Ever since my return from Poland It's pissed me off how much the holocaust is equated with the Jews, without even a token mention of Poles, 2 million of whom died at the hands of the Nazis, and whose culture and nationhood was the target for complete annihilation.

So I'm thinking of changing the wikipedia entry for "The Holocaust", which is defined there as

"the term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored extermination by Nazi Germany."

I want to change it to "The Nazi genocide of approximately 5 million Poles, of whom 3.1 million were Polish Jews, and 2 million were ethnic Poles." or something similar.

The Wikipedia article does mention the Nazi attack on Poles and other ethnicities, but nevertheless chooses to define the holocaust exclusively as the genocide of Jews in the first paragraph of the article.

Any caveats? Suggestions?
masks98   
31 Mar 2010
USA, Canada / Financial requirements for US greencard? [10]

no apparently you can find another "sponsor" to sign an affidavit of support, if the fiance can't prove sufficient income.
masks98   
31 Mar 2010
USA, Canada / Financial requirements for US greencard? [10]

Before asking an attorney i rather ask online since these are simple questions and and many poles deal with this. 18k+is 125%of the federal income poverty level for a family of two as per google. no need for the smart alecky answers.