History / Poland and Britain started WW2 [356]

@amiga500, sorry, but most of your comment #141 doesn't make much sense, so I don't even know how to answer it.


No, we judge it both ways - from the perspective of our times and from the perspective of those times (or, rather, we may acknowledge the perspective of those times, while still holding our judgement from our modern perspective).


Well, if he f*cked a 9-year-old then he was a pedo - that's a fact. And I don't think there were ever times in the recorded history of humankind when having sex with a 9-year-old child was considered normal by the majority of the society. Besides, there are still places in this world where kids are being married off and even very young girls are forced to have sex with their husbands, so what times have to do with it?


Don't be ridiculous. You sound like some crazy RuSSian nationalist who can't take the criticism of the "holy" Soviet Army, etc.
Pawian acknowledges both the positive and the negative contribution of Piłsudski to Polish history. If you can't do both then you're a mental, intelectual and moral simpleton, imho.

History / Poland and Britain started WW2 [356]


Sorry, Milo, but your reasoning is pretty ridiculous... Are you saying that we also shouldn't judge the Holocaust, Hitler, the Nazis, Stalin, gulags, etc. by using "21st century morals"?

History / Poland and Britain started WW2 [356]


Actually, we can do both :)
Besides, there are always two sides of the coin, so if you're serious about "seeing history through the eyes of the people that lived in that time", you would have to view that history also from the side of Piłsudski's opponents and not only from the side of his supporters.

History / Poland and Britain started WW2 [356]


I disagree. We all have the right to have a critical view of history and historical figures. Without that we wouldn't learn anything.

Travel / Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland. [211]


Yeah... REALLY! lol I've seen it with my own eyes accompanied by the commentary of David Attenborough and the like.


I don't claim that it never happens that predators feed on prey that is still alive, I've also seen lions feeding on prey that was still breathing (not for long though, obviously).

As for that video you posted - those wolves weren't feeding on that deer yet - they were trying to kill it. They may have been afraid to go for the neck, because the deer could still attack them with it's antlers. Later you can't even see well what's happening, because the bushes obstruct the view. And once the deer is dead they don't even eat it, one goes away and lays down and the other just stands there. This is strange. I wouldn't say this is typical (at least judging by what I've seen).


Preferably more than that one, because I'm guessing that the wolves in that video were so cautious because there were only two of them and not the whole pack. Maybe also because of the size of the deer. I imagine they would go for the neck if it was a doe though.

So, johnny_reb, could you explain in what area wolves were "planted" in the US?

Travel / Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland. [211]


I don't consider myself an authority, but I've seen enough wildlife documentaries to know a thing or two about how predators hunt and kill, no matter whether they are lions in Africa or wolves in Poland. They usually either go for the throat to cut the artery, brake the prey's neck or put the prey's nose in their mouth in order to suffocate it.


And that's the type of prey wolves are likely to kill quickly:

"With medium-sized prey, such as roe deer or sheep, wolves kill by biting the throat, severing nerve tracks and the carotid artery, thus causing the animal to die within a few seconds to a minute."

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunting_behavior_of_gray_wolves

So there goes your theory about "saving" the deer from being eaten alive.


Are there any limits on how many deer, wolves, etc. hunters can kill in the US?

And in what area were wolves "planted"? In Michigan?:

wolf.org/wolf-recovery-in-michigan/

"At one time, all of what is now Michigan was home to wolves. However, the pattern of habitat destruction, wolf persecution and extirpation by humans which occurred in most of the eastern United States, continued into Michigan with European settlers. A bounty was established in 1838, at a time when wolves were already nearly eliminated from the southern Lower Peninsula of the state."

Travel / Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland. [211]


Sorry, but this sounds like a sweet... bullsh1t. Predators usually kill their prey before "tearing it apart" no matter whether they're canine or feline, or wait for it to die if it's a bigger and more dangerous prey, because it can hurt them.


That would mean human hunters aren't needed for controlling the deer population, because nature can do it on it's own.

By taking their natural prey from predators for your freezers you may be contributing to the dwindling of their population. And when there's not enough of wild predators, the deer will multiply to the extent that hunters are "needed".

Travel / Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland. [211]

@Przelotnyptak1, at least we're not those psychopathic butchers or psychopathic hunters who find what they're doing "elating". That's the difference.

Life / Do Polish women dislike Asian women? [14]


I wouldn't go that far, but I saw once through a kitchen window a guy wearing short sleeves during late autumn or early winter and I stared at him in shock and horror lol Btw, my uncle is like that - he's capable of wearing T-shirts during winter. That's rare though and we call such people "hot-blooded" :)


That's me *nods* ;D

Life / Do Polish women dislike Asian women? [14]


Yes, my insight is that you have some issues that you probably should work on.
You seem to have an issue with you being an Asian woman and with women in other countries. It looks to me that you're looking for a fault in the women in the country where you live - American women wear skimpy clothes when they shouldn't, Polish women hate Asian women, because they look at you... Is that all you have to say about American women after living in the US - that they wear skimpy outfits? lol Didn't you make any friends there?

Poles are a homogenic nation, so many Poles stare a lot at anyone who looks different, especially at people from different races - both men and women. That doesn't mean they're racist or that they hate you. Also, Poles aren't accustomed to smiling at strangers and many foreigners claim that they look sad or angry. That's not the case either - that's just our neutral, default look lol


Sorry, but this is the first I hear of it. Where Asian women are told such things?


But you encountered plenty of friendly Polish men?

Btw, here's a profile of a Japanese woman living in Kraków:

facebook.com/maruyamamiwa

Why don't you ask her whether Polish women hate Asian women?

Travel / Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland. [211]


Um, you don't kill a cow to get milk :)))
Yes, I do eat meat. I don't do it "for fun" though - I can't give up meat due to my health problems.

But I already wrote that I don't mind people eating meat and yes, I realise that you can't get meat without killing an animal. And I don't mind people who hunt for food solely or out of poverty.

The difference is that I'm not killing those animals personally and I DON'T WANT to be doing that personally and I'm GLAD that I don't have to do it. Taking animal's life wouldn't bring me "fun" or any pleasure. I don't have to do it, so I'm not doing it, because killing a living being, especially a mammal, would be traumatic for me. That's why for me the fact that someone can be hunting "for fun" is f*cked up.

Is it really so hard to understand? I feel like I'm explaining the same thing over and over again. Pawian understands it, jon357 understands what I'm talking about, so why don't you?


I see you don't understand...
It is not about eating meat, the death of the animal itself or what it looks like, but the act of killing done by a human. I don't understand people who WANT to kill, even though they don't have to (since they're doing it mainly for fun - they can buy meat at the store or at the butcher's). For me it's a sign that there may be something disturbing about this person. So, for me the issue is the motivation and the mentality of such a person. The same is with people working at a slaughterhouse - I wouldn't mind people working there, because there's no other job available where they live. I would mind however people who are working there... "for fun"... or find working there "elating" or "self-cleansing"...


I know! lol Do I claim that anyone is forcing me to socialize with them? I'm just trying to explain my point of view, because I see that you guys don't seem to understand what I'm talking about...

Maf, you probably eat meat, but have you ever killed an animal? Would you WANT to kill it? Would you consider it "fun"?

@jon357, cows can be pets too (they can be affectionate and playful). And pigs. And pretty much any farm animal really...

Life / Do Polish women dislike Asian women? [14]

@Somchai200, maybe Polish women simply think that you're not right in the head or that you're a prostitute, because you wear skimpy clothes during winter and hence you're getting looks?


Yeah, exactly, normally people don't wear skimpy outfits during winter time. It seems especially strange in case of someone coming from a country that has a hot climate, like Thailand.


Then you're wrong.

Life / Do Polish women dislike Asian women? [14]


Interesting, earlier in another thread you criticised American women for wearing skimpy outfits and now it turns out you wear such outfits yourself? lol:


So, Somchai200, are you a troll or just pathologically hypocritical? :D

Btw, a memo to all the trolls out there - I have a good memory lol 😎

Travel / Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland. [211]


That's stupid.


Not quite. Because how hunting can be fun if it's end goal is killing? For what kind of people it is "fun"? You can have fun without that last part - killing the animal by, for example, taking a photo instead of putting a bullet into the animal.

None of you so far commented on this - so I'm going to ask a direct question: considering that you don't have to do this, why do you choose to kill animals? Doesn't it bother you in any way that you're taking life?


1. I'm not pro-abortion on demand and I wrote about it more than once on this forum. I've also never had an abortion. But this is not the topic of this thread.

2. I'm not preventing anyone to take part in this discussion - anyone can join in if they wish. And I have the same right to participate in this thread as you, Ptak, PolAm and anyone else.

Travel / Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland. [211]

"fisherman"

I meant "angler", sorry.

Travel / Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland. [211]


I'm not making any demands, I'm presenting my point of view. The title of this thread is: "Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland." I don't like to hunt and I'm explaining why. I also don't know anyone in real life who likes to hunt or hunts at all. My cousin's husband likes to go fishing, but I don't know what he does with that fish after catching them. My mother also knows one fisherman - her former work colleague and that's it.

Travel / Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland. [211]


I'd argue that not so deep considering how many people (including men) aren't into hunting.
I understand that people have all kinds of drives and instincts that still linger despite years of evolution, but majority of people act out those drives and instincts in non-lethal ways. I prefer that kind of people. Like PolAm's vegan friends who hunt for animals with a photo camera. Those are my kind of people - I understand them. I don't understand people who have a choice and choose to kill instead of taking photos of those beautiful creatures. For me it's sad. "Very sad only." Because "they did not need to die".


Who in the right mind chooses to experience such trauma if they don't have to do it then? They are either masochists or they don't experience much of a trauma at all. And if they don't find killing to be a traumatic experience then my first thought is - what is wrong with them?

That's the thing - killing an animal would be a traumatic experience for me. No kind of "high" would compensate for that. And I find life of animals as more precious and important than following some primal instincts from Stone Age. That's why I don't like people who find this drive so irresistible that it trumps on their empathy towards animals and respect for their life.


But I'm not a deer :))) I'm writing from a perspective of a human being who doesn't want to be around people who don't have to hunt for food or out of poverty and yet they CHOOSE to do so. I love animals. They're wonderful and often better than humans. That's why I don't understand people who WANT to kill them.

Your arguments that for a deer it's better to be killed by a hunter than a predator are pointless, because you don't know whether that animal would get killed by a predator if it wasn't killed by a hunter. And hunters who hunt for fun aren't hunting in order to spare animals the suffering at the hands of their natural predators, so it doesn't change my view of what they're doing.

Travel / Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland. [211]


No, this thread is about hunting, in case you forgot.


You keep sidetracking this discussion - me, pawian and jon357 don't talk about hunting for food or for money (because poachers killing elephants for their tusks are doing it for money, not for "fun") by people in some poor countries. We're talking about hunting "for sport/fun".


Those are not "projected" opinions - my comments are based on what Ptak, PolAm and maf wrote.

Travel / Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland. [211]

@johnny reb, first of all it's silly to compare a child with an adult - children are still learning, while adults already know the difference between right and wrong.

Btw, I never killed anything for fun, not even when I was a kid. Even then - when I was a kid - when my brother caught a jellyfish when we were at the sea and started cutting it up into pieces with a stick, I asked him to stop it and I was trying to explain to him that he's hurting it and that it's wrong.


That's a Judeo-Christian take. Maybe this is where this arrogance towards nature from white people comes from.


Not "just" for the fun of it? But they still have fun killing nevertheless?

Travel / Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland. [211]

@johnny reb, that is your right - you don't have to be around them. Women who have an abortion don't do it for fun though, it's usually a difficult decision for them and I doubt they feel "elated" while having an abortion.


And how selfish is it to kill a living being just to have some fun?

Travel / Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland. [211]

This is my sentiment:

youtu.be/UiSlCJdWuQo

"The did not need to die."

The Na'vi from "Avatar" resemble to some extent Native Americans, including their attitude to all living things and their hunting rituals. Both are/were far less arrogant towards nature than the Sky people/white people and they have/had more respect for it. They view/viewed themselves as part of nature and not someone who should lord over it.

Travel / Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland. [211]

@mafketis, where did I write that I want to "dispose of it"? I have the same attitude towards hunting for "sport/fun" as pawian - better they kill animals to get that "thrill of a kill" than people (and I already wrote about it in this thread). It doesn't mean that I have to like it though and that I have to like people who view killing living beings as entertainment (and I explained it too in this thread already). It's similar with people working in a slaughterhouse - I wouldn't want to be around people who kill animals there for fun or they feel "elated" when they kill.


Times change, societies change, people change and I can defenitely exist without hunting for sport/fun nowadays.


One of parts, yes. Nature can do without humans though :)

History / Crazy 1990s in Poland - transition from communism to capitalism - stories [111]

@amiga500, yes, 116111.pl has been doing a great job for 14 years in this country and is very trustworthy and PiS government decided to not fund it anymore since 2022. Those government funds weren't big enough anyway.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as the problems of psychology and psychiatry in Poland in general, and child psychology and psychiatry in particular, are concerned. There was a case some time ago when a 15-year-old girl was raped in a psychiatric hospital in Poland by an adult male patient - she was put there because there was not enough space in a psychiatric ward for kids. Earlier two 13-year-old girls were raped in the same hospital. Is this what a rich, developed, civilised country looks like, according to you?:

uwaga.tvn.pl/reportaze,2671,n/15-latka-zgwalcona-w-szpitalu-wczesniej-zostaly-tam-skrzywdzone-dwie-13-latki-oficjalna-strona-progr,295572.html

Maybe you should start watching TVN after all?

History / Crazy 1990s in Poland - transition from communism to capitalism - stories [111]


Woaaah, wait a minute, but where is that "good change" that was promised by PiS?? :D


It is a given in rich Western countries that can afford this.


So, the state has enough money for PiS to sponsor your family's overseas holiday or TVP or Rydzyk's business plans or expensive furniture for the ministries, even more expensive planes for the government and raises and bonuses for politicians or over 4 mln for Black Eyed Peas at the New Year's Eve concert, but it doesn't have enough money to help Polish kids who want to kill themselves? Could you explain this to me?

Travel / Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland. [211]


I want there to be balance in nature. I didn't know that nature needs humans for that. Does it really?

Btw, foxes are lovely too. And cute and funny :) They're like a mix between a dog and a cat and give out the funniest noises when they are being petted :):

youtu.be/cFqLEwAvaHI

From the comments lol:

"foxes are cat software running on dog hardware with a dolphin soundboard."


Where did they advocate for a hunting ban? Pawian even wrote that he wouldn't support such a ban.


That's what I was talking about and that's what bothers me.

History / Crazy 1990s in Poland - transition from communism to capitalism - stories [111]

@amiga500, "the historical hallmark of PiS" is undermining democracy in Poland, internal Polish-Polish war, shameless nepotism and spending and giving away public money like no other party before.


I wouldn't mind that if that was all that was happening, but it wasn't. And they were giving away money not only to those "underprivileged and forgotten people", but to anyone with a kid. A lot of wasted money that could go, for example, to child and adolescent psychiatry in Poland, which is in tragic state. Do you know that PiS took away even the funding for suicide helplines for kids and teens now that the suicides among kids and teens increased on unprecedented scale? And at the same time they're spending a lot of money on TVP and Rydzyk. Doesn't that make you feel sick? And there's more of such crap, much more...

This is what PiS is like - buying votes in an easy way (by giving away public money), spending public money on their own party's interests and that of their allies, but not really solving Poland's problems.

Language / New Years wishes in Polish? [56]


So? :) Good grief, it's just three words... lol I realise that "Do siego roku" is easier for foreigners to pronounce, but the natives couldn't care less, I think...


There is - Boże Narodzenie:

pl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo%C5%BCe_Narodzenie


Well, people usually just say and often write "Wesołych Świąt!", so... *shrugs*

Language / New Years wishes in Polish? [56]


I've never used it in my entire life and I'm not sure if I've ever heard it being used in real life... This word "siego" comes from Old Polish and noone uses it anymore.


To be honest, "Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku!" makes more sense, because "Do siego roku!" was originally a Christmas greeting and can be translated more or less as "Till next year!", so it doesn't make much sense for me to say it once the New Year arrived already:

gazetaolsztynska.pl/896073,Z-okazji-nowego-roku-zyczymy-sobie-do-siego-roku-Ale-co-to-znaczy.html

Happy New Year, btw. 🥳🥂

Travel / Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland. [211]

@mafketis, I don't think it's the same. Majority of women get maternal instincts sooner or later, majority of them want to have kids. Majority of men sooner or later want to have kids too. However, I haven't noticed majority of people (including men) being into hunting. Many men like or love animals and don't want to hurt them, let alone kill them. My father can't even kill a carp for a Christmas Eve dinner and that's "just" a fish. There are many fishermen, btw, who catch fish and then they let them go back into the water.


Human societies somehow rather eagerly resigned from this primal instinct by turning to farming pretty early on.


That's because giving life is seen by humans as something positive and taking life as something neither good nor pleasant. It isn't seen as something negative if it's a necessity, but when someone is enjoying it then you wonder what is wrong with that person...

Travel / Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland. [211]


How about those "uncomfortable facts" that I raised in my comment #67?:

https://polishforums.com/travel/poland-poles-like-hunt-hunting-50176/3/#msg1890209

Could you respond to it?


I don't advocate for it to be legislated out of existence for the reason that you mentioned - it's better that they kill animals "for fun", rather than people. It doesn't mean though that I have to like it and that I have to like people who are hunting for "fun" and feel "elated" or "self-cleansed" (gross!) while doing so.


You can do that by going to the shooting range, playing paintball or camping in the mountains if you want contact with nature. None of that involves killing.