Work / New Job at Warsaw International School as an English teacher - Advice? What should I expect? [26]


Very very true. Also, if you set out firm boundaries in the beginning you can occasionally, when the situation warrants it, be more lax, while if you start off to lax it's much harder to establish discipline later on.

News / Political life of Poland [135]


They recently won elections in Austria and Italy... and every new deal that Merkel makes to not stop migration into Germany strengthens AfD...

It should be noted that in the US the leadership of both parties wants permanent massive levels of unskilled migration into the country although a solid majority of the country is against that.

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


In SovietSpeak 'nationality' is roughly 'ethnic group' but historically in Russian speaking lands if Jews who converted to christianity were still Jews and never Russians.

In Poland there was never such a clear national policy and lots of folks in modern Poland have some Jewish ancestry they're unaware of. the communist period probably strengthened the idea that Jewishness had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with ancestry.

And if you were really Polish you'd know that 'nationality' in the Soviet Union is normally translated as 'narodowość' because (among other reasons) there were obligatory Russian classes when you supposedly lived here..

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

In the Soviet Union "Jewish" was a 'nationality' and not a religion.

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


Ie individuals, the country of Poland is not responsible and bears no guilt for the actions of some individuals at a time when the country was under hostile military occupation by two foreign powers.


They were trying to stay alive when that was very, very difficult?

Again, they were individuals acting on their own and the current government of Poland bears no responsibility for what they did then (if any are still alvie)

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


And what role was that (considering there was no functioning Polish state at the time)?

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


The radio show This American Life had a show on a young Jewish woman who went to Poland (actually she was in a couple of episodes). Anyhoo, at one point she decides to visit the people who concealed her mother. Her mother had never spoken well of them saying they only did it for money and when she visited them they spoke of how much they had like her mother and were sad she never tried to contact them after leaving.

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

Poland played no role in the holocaust. Period. Israeli (and more broadly Jewish) opposition to the law was based on the fact that Poles feel no collective guilt over the holocaust and that drives them insane with rage.

I was against the law from the beginning, but I'm also against holocaust denial laws, the truth has nothing to fear from open discussion.

Life / Understanding Poland's Birthday Tradition [67]


During the communist period artists could say things in comedies they never could otherwise, "ile jest cukru w cukrze" is a jab at the poor quality of almost everything made during the communist period (due to, among other factors, the lack of incentives for improvement)

The first time I was in Poland (mid 80s) there were lots of drunks lying around the city passed out on sidewalks or parks or at bus stops etc. That still happens occasionally but nothing remotely like back then.

History / Whom do the people in Poland hate more: Germans or Russians? [871]


What about all the muslim immigration to Moscow (from Central Asia and the Caucasus?)

History / Whom do the people in Poland hate more: Germans or Russians? [871]


It's the same overall system, a Big Man in charge with the power of life and death over the citizenry, a coterie of treacherous suckups and the great unwashed placid mass of serfs. In structural terms Russia hasn't changed it's form or functioning since the Tsar, the labels change but the strucutre remains the same

History / Whom do the people in Poland hate more: Germans or Russians? [871]


No. Germany is not the same country it was in 1939... Russia however is still essentially the same country as the CCCP just with different labels.


It gets lonely being the only non-Polish Russian suck up here?

History / Whom do the people in Poland hate more: Germans or Russians? [871]


Russia doesn't do "reasonably good relationships" it does "Master and servant" relationships and Poland has no ambitions to be a Russian vassal state.

History / Whom do the people in Poland hate more: Germans or Russians? [871]

That's a nuance that Rysiek just can't get, all he can do is barge into rooms and shout questions at people. So his limited emotional repertoire gets limited and 'doesn't trust' is conflated with 'hates'.

History / Whom do the people in Poland hate more: Germans or Russians? [871]

So given the hundreds of years of history there's no need for Polish people to like or trust any Russian government. That's what.

Poland and Russia are not going to be allies unless Russia drastically changes and starts to become a civilized, civil society (like Germany has done).

History / Whom do the people in Poland hate more: Germans or Russians? [871]


You count something that doesn't exist.... Russia has never done anything to benefit Poland. That's an objective fact.


And Polish people have always been free to talk about, whereas during the PRL they were not free to talk about predations from Russia. The stifling of free expression made the resentment greater than it might have been had they been able to talk about Russian theft of Polish land, or Katyn, or Russian treachery during the Warsaw Uprising etc etc etc

History / Whom do the people in Poland hate more: Germans or Russians? [871]

1. Mostly not
2. Is Western Europe trying to weaken Russia? Weaken the current government.
3. How do you know what the Russians "wish"? Gueswork

Let's look at track records, Russia has never done one single thing that was to Poland's benefit. Why would that start to change now?

History / Whom do the people in Poland hate more: Germans or Russians? [871]


Yes, given that 'it's own version is a kleptocratic autocracy backed up by occasional killings of civilians who are insufficiently appreciative of the tsar's goodness (he only whips them when they deserve it)


Not yet, but not for want of help of non-Polish paid trolls (take a bow, Rich!)

History / Whom do the people in Poland hate more: Germans or Russians? [871]


Damn straight. It's impossible to be polite to the Russian government. You step on their toes until they apologize for putting their foot under yours. They are a half-step away from total savagery (not the placid sheep like population, the rapacious kleptocratic tinfoil dictators and concrete military).

Russia has not done a single positive thing for any country (that wasn't cancelled out by later Russian actions) in.... forever.

History / Whom do the people in Poland hate more: Germans or Russians? [871]


Too many, you old, unamusing, not Polish fraud. Go pick up your check from Vova and begone from here!

History / Whom do the people in Poland hate more: Germans or Russians? [871]


Think of how many times that has been said in the past....

Life / Polish and Czechs [191]

What I've heard (from a couple of different Slovaks) is that Slovaks still understand Czech (when I've been in hotels there at least 50% of the TV channels were Czech and newstands display Czech and Slovak magazines and newspapers together) but Czechs are losing their ability to understand Slovak. When it was one country there was always a Slovak presence on state radio and TV and now in Czech it's all Czech all the time.

Genealogy / Anyone from Berezka / Brzuska near the Ukrainian border ? [53]

No, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is a separate thing

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Greek_Catholic_Church

Life / Americanization of Poland - good or bad? [49]


See that's your problem, not being Polish you're relying on third hand information (repeating old stereotypes) that's completely wrong and trying to pass as native. What a silly, old, unconvincing fraud you are (see? no Pan!)

Law / Poland's citizenship by descent question. Polish great-great grandfather arrived in the USA as a kid. [76]


Applies to citizens which you're not. I understand that you enjoy complaining about how your rights are being violated more than you would enjoy actually moving to Poland in order to get citizenship but.... boy, is it tiresome.

You're not a citizen and have no way to bully the authorities into making you one. If you can prove some connection you could move to Poland and obtain citizenship if you really wanted it. If you're not doing that it's because you don't want to be a Polish citizen.

Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]

Apparently, for many men, it's not the physical presence - the smell just doesn't go away no matter how much they shower and clean.

Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]


IIRC surveys among those who deal with the business end of male members (straight women, gay men) show a strong preference for circumcision (and apparently women report achieving climax more with circumsized men).

News / Poland's economics and education against the background of the world [27]


In theory, yes. In practice, not always. Third generation Mexican Americans have worse education and economic outcomes than do the first generation. What are the statistics of third and fourth generation Middle Easterners and North Africans brought to Europe to be cheap labor?


What's the steady state end game?

News / Poland's economics and education against the background of the world [27]


neoliberalism can only exist with some large group of people being cosisgned to the 'low cost labor' bin, neoliberals are very enthusiastic about low cost labor (but somehow don't want to be that themselves)

News / Do we finally see that Russia doing something positive for Poland, by successfully resisting to EU ? [57]


More fools them.


that the neoliberal consensus absolutely depends on a large pool of interchangeable disposable worker bees who don't have much rights...

this is where democracy dies - when all major parties agree with each other and against the citizenry