History / Enemies, Strangers, Friends. Poles and Germans. [82]


What European country is now? In terms of popular culture (a big source of soft power) hardly any European country seems to be doing much....

Partly that's a question of fractured markets and atomized viewership/listening patterns...

There used to be a kind of common student culture in Poland (books, movies, music) that all students knew and had opinions about.... there's nothing remotely like that now.

Life / Do colored immigrants in Poland function better than in Western countries? [295]


I don't know the origins of the phrase, but it was used in the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) the main organization pushing for civil rights.....

You might hear it into the early 70s though IIRC Nеgro overtook it sometime in the 1950s...

Black and the Afro-American happened around the same time (late 1960s early 70s IIRC) not really sure which was first.....

Off-Topic / Russian Views On Poland and Vice Versa [414]

At the Saint Petersburg International Economics Forum russia debuted its new Lada!

In a rare bit of honest advertising.... it didn't start....

twitter.com/layoutdokter/status/1670104830222761987

Life / Do colored immigrants in Poland function better than in Western countries? [295]


In the US various expressions have been used over the years, they include (more or less in chronological order)

"Colored people"

"Nеgroеs"

"Afro-Americans"

"Black"

"African Americans"

The last two are now both in common usage, more or less interchangeable...

Off-Topic / What's your connection with Poland? Penpals. [595]


Unlike Tusk, Kaczyński speaks no foreign languages (that I know of) and has never spent a significant time outside of Poland and his whole frame of reference was built by the PRL (which is why so much of PiS 'reforms' end up copying/re-creating PRL type structures).

Off-Topic / What's your connection with Poland? Penpals. [595]


tell me you know nothing about modern Poland without telling me you know nothing of modern Poland....

my work has me around young Polish people all the time and none of them can stand PiS....

Life / Do colored immigrants in Poland function better than in Western countries? [295]


Ukraine is not a russian territory, fascist.

Life / The nature of Polish jokes? [128]


I think you have it backward... in general in PRL times Czechoslovakia was significantly better off materially but more repressive than Poland.

Life / Do colored immigrants in Poland function better than in Western countries? [295]


I can but the topic of the thread is specifically about non-whites....


cultures change but not fast and not in the same direction.... the case has been (I think convincingly) made that the muslim world (as a whole) has spent the last 50 or so years pulling away from 'western' values for a variety of reasons, some religious, some not... and one result is that urban citizens of those countries are in a fundamentally worse place in terms of citizens being able to adapt to European reality than they were in the 1960s or so....

I don't believe in the unidirectional theory of progress...


I meant Schengen type movement since the UK has never belonged...

Life / Do colored immigrants in Poland function better than in Western countries? [295]


agreed, skin color is less important than cultural values and those are often not compatible around the world....


the first two are fellow members of the EU (in which freedom of movement is a big thing), the third is different since the UK is no longer in the EU... and has never had visa free travel with Poland AFAICT

short story: Poland has little/no problem with non-white migrants who work and contribute to the economy, it has little interest in taking in those who don't have much prospect for ever being able to do that...

Africans and Middle Easterners are a known quantity in Europe and the results have not been very encouraging anywhere...

Life / Do colored immigrants in Poland function better than in Western countries? [295]


If you believe in the separation of church and state (as I do) then it's not a religious question.

National governments owe their primary allegiance to present citizens. Then legal residents.... people who just are disatisfied with life in Iraq or Pakistan or Nigeria and want to have a go in Europe without going through the bother of a visa.... should be at the bottom of the heap in terms of priorities....

Life / Do colored immigrants in Poland function better than in Western countries? [295]


Far too many of those arriving in Germany aren't immigrants (defined as a person who is transferring their political and cultural and linguistic loyalty to the new country).

As I wrote earlier far too many are resource seekers that Germany is unable to dislodge....

case in point (lots more where that came from)

twitter.com/AndrewHammel1/status/1634624198495617024

Life / Do colored immigrants in Poland function better than in Western countries? [295]


Which include lifelong support for anyone who can cross the border?

European migration laws are not fit for purpose and too dysfunctional to follow.

The AfD (personally I'm not a fan) is about to become the second biggest party in Germany because no party in the establishment even wants to recognize there is a problem....

Love / Relationship Issues with my polish girlfriend advice needed [76]


there's no real indication here that the relationship is bad or abusive.... the evidence points to a vaguely unhappy woman who probably thinks she can do better (maybe already doing better in her understanding).

It's the classic female infidelity model... which is why I think she's already got someone else. Most women don't leave non-abusive stable relationships without having a new partner in sight.....

Work / Are there any jobs for Americans in Poland? [46]


yes, it generally takes about a year to figure out how a place functions (and understanding that is crucial to thriving in Poland)....

Life / Do colored immigrants in Poland function better than in Western countries? [295]


What evidence do you have of this? For a few years before the pandemic (and now again) they were handing out work permits in places like Nepal and the Philippines like candy... there's a number of bus drivers where I live recruited from India...

The thing is using the word 'immigrant' makes things very muddy, what's needed is a taxonomy of people who move to other countries.

Non-whites who arrive in Poland are either gastarbeiters (want to work for more money temporarily and not necessarily integrate) or stepping stoners (my own term for those who come to Poland for work or study but ultimately want to move on to a richer country)

Almost all who end up in Germany are primarily resource seekers whose primary aim seems to be to receive social benefits unavailable in their country of origin... German migration policy is hopelessly broken (as Andrew Hammel frequently points out) since the state seems to be completely unable to remove those that is has ruled have no right to stay in Germany...

Love / Relationship Issues with my polish girlfriend advice needed [76]


And it's her choice, so she should take responsibility for the consequences...

Love / Relationship Issues with my polish girlfriend advice needed [76]


She's hit 29, feeling she's missing out on something (what? can she even articulate what she wants?)

That's a very poor reason for ending a stable relationship and possibly putting the child's emotional well-being at risk.... (for me even possibly doing that is reason enough to not go through with it).

And... it all seems a bit suspicious. My guess is she already has someone and has been using 'going out with her friend' as cover....

People who can't even bother to get married once they have a son tend to not be great decision makers (hate on me all you want for that...)

Life / In need of good Polish jokes about Polish culture, people, etc [239]


It's funnier if the punchline is "Except her!"

Love / Relationship Issues with my polish girlfriend advice needed [76]


again I'm thinking in terms of generalities... those in stable circumstances can safely engage in behavior that, when normalized, is catastrophic for the more precarious parts of the population (Kamilek....).


Nothing described really comes up to 'miserable'.... like you said, Lucy Jordan.... vague unease at the onset of middle age....


Children observe their parents like hawks and I'm sure he'll pick up on the meta-message of her behavior (whether she intends it or is conscience of it or not) "Mommy would have been happier without me...."

You think she can keep that from her son?

Love / Relationship Issues with my polish girlfriend advice needed [76]


Speaking in general.... the idea of the individual as perpetual consumer who should chase 'fulfillment' has done tremendous harm to any society that accepts it....

Once you have kids, they come first and just not loving a non-abusive, non-mentally ill or non-addicted spouse is not a good enough reason to inflict a parental separation on children.

Love / Relationship Issues with my polish girlfriend advice needed [76]


they have for centuries.... the thing is that also, in an extended family situation, a lot or even most of the care of the baby is done by older relatives....

Love / Relationship Issues with my polish girlfriend advice needed [76]


biologically from around 18-27 is ideal.... it does put a crimp in a career if that's important for a person...

My own opinion is that once you have a kid they come first, and some wishful thinking aside research shows kids really don't want their parents to split (except in situations involving things like physical abuse or destructive mental illness)

mommy feeling she's missing out and going out with random men will not make the son feel good...
neither will daddy hooking up with random bimbos because he's hit middle-aged crazy
if the parents can be civil and occasionally affectionate to each other... it's better for them to stay together.

Love / Relationship Issues with my polish girlfriend advice needed [76]


you need to check out this channel.... sort of manospheric stuff but more sober and less misogynistic than most, very unjudgemental too

youtube.com/@psychacks

esp this on monkey-branching

youtube.com/watch?v=OP9MOzNGxvM

or this (romance is a poor man's game....)

youtube.com/watch?v=W1cbqMhYMSo&list=PLbSa9Z40CfLtSsfRV68WgaZvWo8wR6gPv

Love / Relationship Issues with my polish girlfriend advice needed [76]


Nope! No! Nein! and Nie!

Your financial support is for your son, not for her. If she can't swing things on her own that's a her problem, not a you problem (kid can stay with you while she tries to establish herself)

If she doesn't love you then you don't owe her a penny. You will support your son but she never had a ring so she gets no pretend alimony.


That would work if women wanted decent men, but so many of them.... don't....

Love / Relationship Issues with my polish girlfriend advice needed [76]


The idea is to put her on the defensive... she needs to prove she's putting the son (and not some rando boyfriend) first....


to what precisely? it would be a very odd way of waking him up to anything except the idea that she thinks she can do better.... he should make it clear.... she can't (29 years old with a nine-year old son is not going to make her prize dating material.... which is why I think she already has someone).

Love / Relationship Issues with my polish girlfriend advice needed [76]

Almost no woman leaves a stable, non-abusive relationship with a child just because she "doesn't love (you) anymore" especially since Poland has a more.... stable, less giddy-romantic view of relationships in general....

She either has someone else already or is pretty sure she can tie a particular guy down once she's free of you. My bet is the first and the question is has she already been unfaithful or is she waiting to get you out of the picture.

There's also the idea that the 'friend' (married? single? what?) has been poisoning the well

Trying to win her back through romance will not work. Read that again. Trying to win her back by acting romantic will not work and will only make you seem weak and unappealing....

What might work is a tough and uncompromising approach. Begin treating her as an ex and make it clear you're ready to move on. Don't show emotion. Be firm and businesslike.

She doesn't love you? Fine. You're tired of her sh!t too. You need to make it clear that your priority is your son. Nothing is as dangerous to children as a single mother's new male partner. Make it clear you're not going to let her put your son in danger.

UK, Ireland / Should I worry going to Ireland as a Pole? [37]


Then where will beef come from?

For that matter, dairy products depend on calves being killed vor veal (and/or mostly separated from mothers and grown into beef cows)

Just being myself, a pedantic twit.....

UK, Ireland / Should I worry going to Ireland as a Pole? [37]

Let's hope not! Especially since any cutbacks in Ireland's dairy industry will simply be filled by other countries (the idiocy of the climate panickers doesn't seem to realize that).

UK, Ireland / Should I worry going to Ireland as a Pole? [37]


So why is the Irish government thinking of crippling the industry in the name of abstratc and unclear climate goals?

Will the people put up with that?