News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

In comparison with Germany, Poland, Turkey (though less perhaps in the modern era than the UK or France), I've got to go along with Rich, that the US indeed has free speech to the extent that one is totally free to make an ever lovin' ass of themselves and not risk gov't. reprisals.

On the other hand, in no country is "free" speech entirely free, meaning, that yelling FIRE! in a crowded theatre, overtly threatening someone's life before witnesses of sound mind, and so forth, won't be tolerated.

In Turkey, poking fun at Ataturk might well carry a stiff punishment of some sort. In Germany, joking openly about the Nazi Era ain't a good idea either, and of course as of February of 2018, slurring Poland's alleged involvement in the Holocaust is punishable as well. In the US, I can proclaim that the president is a jerk etc. and nothing will happen by contrast. Threaten the life of any public figure anywhere in the world, and there certainly will be reprisals.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Off topic, but kaprys has just hit the nail on the head in showing the difference between Israel and, say, Turkey, in this regard. Israel, for better or for worse, remains a secular state, whereas Erdogan resolutely maintains that Turkey is a theocracy, and proud.

By the way, before Ataturk, Turkey had had a long tradition of Jewish assimilation, many of whom lived side by side with their Muslim neighbors without incident!

:-)

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Exactly. In Israel when I was there, some eateries actually serve porkLOL

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Johnny, again you missed the point!

Being a Jews is much more than keeping kosher as being a Christian is sooooo much more than regular church attendance, then going out and committing sins.

As my late mother said, it's more important what comes out of your mouth than what you put into it.

Work / What Jobs are there in Poland for an Englishman besides teaching english? [70]

Amen, delph!

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

I would translate the first part as "Committee To Preserve Poland's Good Name", something along those lines.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Johnny, as one needn't call oneself a Christian and go to church regularly, so too I am a Jew in my heart, even if I don't keep kosher and/or go to temple every shabbesL0(

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Ironside, I've my own reasons for being Jewish. The most important is to procreate our children to compensate for the millions of our people so tragically, inexplicably, taken from us.

Work / What Jobs are there in Poland for an Englishman besides teaching english? [70]

@Ziemowit,

The kicker is though that most Dutch, even "bilingual" Poles I've encountered, don't see it that way on the whole; many feel their English is already good enough, especially for bare minimum practical contact purposes with foreigners, themselves not necessarily native Anglophones:-)

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

As throughout history, neither side is blameless here.

Work / What Jobs are there in Poland for an Englishman besides teaching english? [70]

Alex,

A colleague of mine went to Amsterdam to teach English at any one of their small to middle-sized language centers and introduced himself in Dutch which he thought to learn for his sojourn in the Netherlands! He'd hoped it might somehow break the ice.

As one might expect, contrary to Poland, he was greeted with howls of laughter from his charges (college age some of them) and his valiant attempts to communicate in their mother tongue were belittled no end:-)

Being a retiring sort of chap, he was cowed into submission and from then on, taught the course and was resigned to speaking nothing but English, so help him HeinekenLOL

Moral of the story, I guess, is that since English has become so "internationally" recognized as stop-gap lingo numero uno on this planet, most Europeans couldn't really seem to care less how good one's target language skills are, so long as everybody can communicate, so to speak, in English.

Not saying this is good, because I'm not sure it 'tis, I'm only relating my experience and that of my felllow academics abroad.

Asia, might be another story.

Work / What Jobs are there in Poland for an Englishman besides teaching english? [70]

"Prosze" is certainly a start, but I feel that the best (perhaps not the only) way to win the confidence of Polish ESLers is to address them in their beautiful native tongue.

Heaven knows, they've been so maligned lately, they do need a pick-me-up.

What better way then than a simple, sincere "Dzien dobry a witam! Mam __________na imie i zycze Wam........". The pupils probably are somewhat jaded already and expect an English teacher to know and speak only English. What a pleasant surpise when they discover that their teacher has taken the time to learn their language!!

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

The Jews are damned if they do and damned it they don't!

They try to defend themselves, they're dubbed racists, they turn the other cheek aka ceding land to the Arabs on the West Bank like the late Yitzak Rabin, their fellow

Israelis castigate them in public, excoriate them by calling them "peaceniks" and then turn their backs on them.

Geez, what a tribe. I'm only Jewish for the solidarity of the Shoah, other than that, I wouldn't wish what we've morphed into on a dog:-)

Work / What Jobs are there in Poland for an Englishman besides teaching english? [70]

Unlike throughout much of Europe, such as Germany, France, Spain, even Italy, "prosze" alone will scarcely get you much in Poland, other than a polite smile at your efforts! Best to enroll in a serious crash course BEFORE going over so that you're prepared, rather than frustrated upon arrival:-)

Powodzenia,

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

@Johnny, I'm not trying to bait anybody....I'VE SUCCEEDEDLOL

Just a wee bit tired of that ol' Archie Bunkeresque refrain "G-d, guns, and guts are what made American great!" malarky.
Any thinking person knows that what matters at least as much as brawn are brains:-) Seems some of us are lacking in the latter department.

How many more have to die for you people to get the message?

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

Johnny's dreamin' again, TheOther! One too many sudafeds in the morning:-)

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Correct, but without concession by Lord Rothschild, any land deed wouldn't have been worth a plug shekel!

Life / The Art of Complaining by Polish people [47]

"Psia krew!" or "Psa krew bydlo!" is rather a now somewhat old-fashioned curse, isn't it?

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Partially right, Dirk!

The English in fact ceded former Palestinian land to the Jews, living at that time in what would be after 1948, the State of Israel. Balfour and Allenby, while perhaps not "friends" of the Jews (any more than Abe Lincoln was a "friend" of the black man, per se), were imminently practical men who foresaw the possibility of a single Jewish state as but one way to attempt maintaining stability in the region.

Life / The Art of Complaining by Polish people [47]

One Pole said to me, "We Poles aren't complainers, we're merely suspicious of optimists!"

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

I only report the news, I don't edit it:-)

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Israel has the right to defend herself, her people, and to protect her borders just like any other country! Why was the State of Israel founded in the first place?

This double-standard is what angers Israelis no end.

On the other hand, Israel isn't perfect either and should be held just as accountable for provable wrong doing just like anybody else.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

It's always easy to ignore history by fitting it into one's own parochial weltanschauung. Polish Jews living and working in Poland have told me on several occasions that they were/are especially wary of revealing their Jewishness in public for fear of having their car tires slashed, being harrassed at work etc. I know each of these individuals and they blend into Polish society seamlessly.

Surely such warnings are not mere attention-getting devices and should be taken seriously.

So much for a harmonious relationship between Jews and gentiles in Poland across the board.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Katyn, in which innocent Poles were slaughtered by Russians, and the Holocaust, is like comparing apples and oranges.

@kaprys,
If you'd kindly allow me a private post in your native language, I'm sure we could straighten out your misunderstanding. If not, then I can't help you.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Trump's not a total loser.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

@kaprys, I have but your word that your family were "victims" as well. If they were, then of course, I am profoundly sorry.

The point here is that the sufferering of Polish gentiles was not quite on the same par as that of the Jews in Poland, as the former were nonetheless Christians, unburdened by the yoke of Jewishness which has plagued the Hebrews for centuries.

If the Polish resistance foolishly quit resisting the Nazis and conceded to living as their slaves, they would have been given the option of living as subjugated beings or dying as free people.

The run-of-the-mill shtettl Jew, Jewish on both sides of their family and without the capability of bribing their captors, was presented with no such option!

@Wizard, I agree. The entire situation IS terrible and should be addressed by Messrs. Morawiecki and Duda.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

@kaprys and company,

Ever heard the saying that the sins of the fathers are (sadly) visited upon their children? 'Course you and your generation are not responsible or guilty. However, in order to insure that those events never repeat themselves, one must be extra vigilant, that's all I'm saying.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

@Again, kaprys, you pretend not to understand my English!

I most certainly DO feel contrition for what happened to African-Americans during those Civil War days. Guilt though would mean that either I personally or my immediate family had some TRACEABLE link directly to slavery itself. I can only hope that I would never mistreat people of color in such a despicable fashion.

Can the same be said of you?

Study / Studying in Poland without speaking Polish? [15]

'Course, Alex, it's a no-brainer:-)

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

This means that only a minority of American Jews, namely a handful or so of major Hollywood moguls like Goldwyn, Mayer along with a few others, showed slaves and Native Americans in a stereotyped, disparaging manner. While this is unforgivable by today's standards, it's not the same as reminiscing with the family over Passover, say, and showing old photos of uncle so-and-so, or great-grandad shooting up a Native American village, for instance. America's Jews nowadays can only trace their heritage in this country to Ellis Island, at the earliest around 1889 and after.

US-born Jews do not have a common link to these atrocities that, for example, current rank-and-file Germans have with the crimes of their grandparents or even now great-grandparents! The latter can actually claim, "Look, grandpa in '44 with Jewish prisoners leading them off to be shot in open graves...!" etc.