1.3% birth rate = Poland's slow death

That must be one of the most frequently propagated myths. While it is true that some of the non French immigrants have many children, the "Françaises de souche" also have high fertility rates, thanks in part to a system which favours families (taxation, special discounts.); they are the ones who are responsible for the high overall rate

this is so bizarre. Poland's got an abysmal birth rate and the first thing you bring up is Hollywood?

If they abolished celibacy of priests, the birth rate would rise sharply.

bullfrog
Comment traduisez-vous "Françaises de souche" en anglais?
True, genuine, ethnically pure, honest-to-goodness, dyed-in-the-wool, red-blooded, pure-blooded, full-blooded Frenchwomen?
In Polish you could say (with tongue in cheek): Francuzica z krwi i przy kości, although Frenchwomen are actually quite svelte.

well, you've answered it yourself:

Not bizarre at all: he's just applying his Tea Party worldview to Poland because he lacks any knowledge as to the realities of modern-day Poland.

Hollywood is the world's most effectvie propaganda machine, whose ability to influence would put Hitler and Stalin to shame. The more so that unlike ideologically recognisable propaganda, most people don't perceive it as a brain-washing behemoth. The glitter, glamour and sugar-coating obscures the fact that it is not just pure entertianment but shapes the way people think, act and dress, what they like and dislike and how they live their lives. This applies to feature films as well as soap operas as well as reality shows and other cheap and tacky pop culture including MTV-style fare, computer games and the lot.

Interesting. Could you perhaps go into detail as to how many computer games are made in the Hollywood region?


Why do you have to project your American viewpoints onto our Poland? The reality here is that Polish films account for more than 30% of all cinema tickets sold and the majority of tickets sold to films which are opinion forming.

And the majority ofr Poles rarely go to the cinema. It's TV and entertianmernt on the net that rule the day. Hollywood is a coded-name for the entiire cheap, tacky and downdumbing entertianment industry. Ever see a computer game? What positive things do they show a young person? How to pursue your foe and zap, riddle with bullets, blow up, destroy, incinerate, hack to pieces,etc ASAP. Who cares if a game is manufactured in Seattle or Atlanta -- it's all part of the same crapola!

Although I am not in full agreement with your views, Polonius, I cannot say that I 100% disagree with them!

Clearly you are the one who has never seen a computer game.

So as an ardent apologist for pop-culture crapola, what positive and valuable things do you think they convey to youngsters?

They help the young to fly jets so they can shoot commies out of the sky

Interesting to see you're in this thread (as with pretty much all others) having to resort to simply lying about those who refuse to share your bigoted worldview.


Off the top of my head:
team work;
deductive reasoning;
problem solving;
hand-eye co-ordination;
English language skills;
communication skills;
general knowledge;
social skills;
information processing and retention skills;
etc.

All those alleged 'assets' and 'skills' would also be a boon to a Gestapo or KGB agent. What about ethical values? That's what really counts, innit?.

Isn't chess the same? a bloody game, the aim of which is to beat your opponent as soon as possible?

As would all the alleged 'assets' and 'skills' needed to be a Catholic priest (although I'm not entirely sure that Gestapo or KGB agents needed to know how to bugger small children and get away with it, or how to cover up for their fellow agents who indulged in such behavior).


You consider that neither social skills nor the ability work together with other individuals are of ethical value?

I personally find computer games completely useless and cannot see the attraction...(but I am a bit oldfashioned), but what is the relation between declining birthrates in Poland and PC games?

Radio Maryja says both are ruining Poland? And doubtless are the work of Jews....

If ones studys carefully the evolution of Poland's birth rate over the past 30-40 years, one cannot help but to notice that:

- it was higher than today during PRL times and at its peak during the "state of war" post 1981
- it collapsed following the demaise of PRL in 1990.

So to bring it back up, there is only one answer: bring back PRL and state of war!!

bingo!

How often do you listen to Radio Maryja? You seem to be an expert on the subject.

So what is according to you the connection between PC games and declining birthrates in Poland?
Because you still did not answer that one.

Btw, to know what RM thinks/says there is no need to listen to that crap. You can read "Nasz Dziennik" or "Gazeta Polska", it is the same.

Computer games are but a tiny part of the huge consumerist popculture cauldron into which Poles plunged headlong after the collapse of PRL, acting exactly like 'burek spuszczony z łańcucha'. The religion of 'consume and excrete (spożywaj i wydalaj), shop till you drop, live beyond your means on credit because you were born to buy' is not necessarily superior to Christian or Buddhist values or even plain ol' common sense. But one hell of a lot of Poles swallowed the whole shebang - hook, line nad sinker.

What's the difference between computer games and chess, monopoly, card games?

Polonius, I agree with your assessment, but that is not specific to the Poles; I would argue that in their case it is all the more understanble since they were deprived of all those 'consumerist' goods for 45 years..

Yes, it happened all over. I recall at the start of freedom, someone in then Czechoslovakia asked how to get Czechs buy a product. The answer: they will buy hovno if it's brightly packaged and has German writing on it. (They still hadn't graduated to the Anglo-phase of developemt in the very early '90s.)

But on this forum we are mainly discussing Poles, Poladn and things Polish.

Chess is about bloody war and defeating your enemy as soon as possible.
Monopoly, a consumer capitalist game if ever there was one.
And card games, in which ones like Poker, you are supposed to in effect lie (not mentioning gambling).

All these games were played before the big bad evil computer games, so I ask you again PS3, what's the difference?

Every heard of chess-addiction therapy or support groups? One can be a tennis or fishing devotee but comptuer games are actually regarded as addictive. And to the very young virtual reality is real and everything else is unreal. So, yes, there is a difference.

If you are only going to answer part of my question, then I will have to repeat myself, which in written form makes us both look very stupid.


If you are going to blanket bomb all computer games, then I will do the same to the aforementioned.
Gambling addiction, check out Las Vegas but to answer your selective answering due to the awkward position and lack of an answer, as requested: Chess: managing the addiction, Tips for dealing with people with chess addiction.


is this your own opinion or do you have anything, anything at all to back up any of your statements?

I can, here's a documentary on the subject: