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Posts by madparasol  

Joined: 25 Feb 2010 / Male ♂
Last Post: 5 Jun 2010
Threads: 2
Posts: 12
From: US
Speaks Polish?: Yea
Interests: everything (with some exceptions)

Displayed posts: 14
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madparasol   
5 Jun 2010
History / 'Poland: A Knight Among Nations' - Book about Poland by an American Author, dated 1907 [51]

Indeed the Poles are human and I'm sure over their history of ONE THOUSAND years, they made their share of mistakes and errors.

In the words of Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

"To err is human, to forgive divine"

I don't think there exist the "one and only truth" everybody has to agree with. Viewpoint and time matter.
History is no algebra!

I agree with what you say but do you refer to truth or opinion? Because when you say "viewpoint and time matter" that is very gray area...there rarely is a single viewpoint of an event whether historical or not (i realize that this may be an opening to some sort of a joke here :))

Lets say you have an event that was witnessed by 5 (random number, obviously 1 or 2 would have been useless to my point being given) parties, if you ask each of the 5 parties what they saw, they will tell you their individual versions of the event. Hence if you get all the 5 answers you can start piecing the jigsaw puzzle and get a more vivid and accurate picture of the issue as a whole. You would be much closer to the truth in that regard than if you simply took one version of the event as the truth.
madparasol   
5 Jun 2010
History / 'Poland: A Knight Among Nations' - Book about Poland by an American Author, dated 1907 [51]

Because there are a few folks here on PF who tend to insist that only the Polish version of history is correct. One has to challenge that occasionally.

Good point.

There is not a single country on the face of this planet that does not have its own version of its own history. Whether it be true or false or somewhere in the middle. Compare Japanese history through the eyes of the Chinese or American history through the eyes of a Native American Indian tribe...in each case you will hear two different historical versions.

Ultimately you come to "historical truth" when every angle of an issue is exposed, dissected and analyzed.
madparasol   
4 Jun 2010
History / 'Poland: A Knight Among Nations' - Book about Poland by an American Author, dated 1907 [51]

It's probably still true today, thus the Polish Diaspora.

I was referring to this portion of your comment...but I'm sure you don't seriously believe this. right?

Touché on your response.

I don't contend with what the author wrote in the book (to be honest I'm an amateur historian). One thing I know is that there wasn't simply a single thing that let Poland to its political fate but a conglomerate of serious political errors both internal and external starting about 100 years before its ultimate fate in the 18th century.
madparasol   
4 Jun 2010
History / 'Poland: A Knight Among Nations' - Book about Poland by an American Author, dated 1907 [51]

Annexation is a unilateral act where territory is seized and held by one state that tries to make its move legitimate by being recognised by the other international bodies (i.e. countries and intergovernmental organisations).

Well done! Great definition to a meaningless word in this case.

"seized and held by one state that tries to make its move legitimate by being recognised by the other international bodies"

Gee..i wonder how hard it would have been to convince the Royal Seeded Europe that a Democratic Poland was bad for business.

Lets take a step back and see what was happening at the time.

"Stanislaw August's process of renovation reached its climax on May 3, 1791, when, after three years of intense debate, the "Four Years' Sejm" produced Europe's first written constitution."

"Destruction of Poland-Lithuania

Passage of the constitution alarmed nobles who would lose considerable stature under the new order. In autocratic states such as Russia, the democratic ideals of the constitution also threatened the existing order, and the prospect of Polish recovery threatened to end domination of Polish affairs by its neighbors. In 1792 domestic and foreign reactionaries combined to end the democratization process. Polish conservative factions formed the Confederation of Targowica and appealed for Russian assistance in restoring the status quo. Catherine gladly used this opportunity; enlisting Prussian support, she invaded Poland under the pretext of defending Poland's ancient liberties. The irresolute Stanislaw August capitulated, defecting to the Targowica faction. Arguing that Poland had fallen prey to the radical Jacobinism then at high tide in France, Russia and Prussia abrogated the Constitution of May 3, carried out a second partition of Poland in 1793, and placed the remainder of the country under occupation by Russian troops." countrystudies.us/poland/11.htm

The Polish Partitions were systematic means for the Autocratic States to make sure that Poland did not become a democracy. They did not want to see a strong Poland because they feared it and knew that they couldn't control it to serve their ends.

BTW
The book mentions that it was during the last years of the Sobieski rule that the Commonwealth started to decline.
pg.152

archive.org/stream/polandknightamon00vannuoft#page/152/mode/2up
madparasol   
4 Jun 2010
History / 'Poland: A Knight Among Nations' - Book about Poland by an American Author, dated 1907 [51]

I don't get it. I post what I think is an interesting subject. Provide a link to the book which spotlights the Poles under the Partition years through American eyes. Yet somehow this thread has mutated into a bickering over semantics, neo-nazism and overall absolutely nothing that has to do with the topic.

All I ask for is some opinions on the book.
madparasol   
3 Jun 2010
History / 'Poland: A Knight Among Nations' - Book about Poland by an American Author, dated 1907 [51]

Wow! I mean...wow! you most certainly are a "pollack" polak...
so you think that it is still true today that there is no middle class in Poland? I must have missed something...there's still a divide between the nobles and the peasants? how embarrassing.

you may want to re-read the book. take it for what its worth, an American perspective on Poland and its people in the early 20th century.
madparasol   
3 Jun 2010
History / 'Poland: A Knight Among Nations' - Book about Poland by an American Author, dated 1907 [51]

ok...i get it, to be politically correct i respect the position of foreigners that Poland was partitioned by foreign powers, yes it was, in the eyes of the outside world. but the people of these lands remained, they were still Polish...so to an outsider it was a "partition" to a Pole it was an occupation. sorry if thats hard to understand.

anyways...
did you read any of the chapters in the book?
madparasol   
3 Jun 2010
History / 'Poland: A Knight Among Nations' - Book about Poland by an American Author, dated 1907 [51]

There seem to be many people who are currently interested in Poland, its history and its people. After some online digging I stumbled upon this gem.

Poland: A Knight Among Nations by Louis E. Van Norman (an American journalist)

What's very interesting about this book is that it was written (copyrighted 1907) before the Second Polish Republic (1918) and offers some insight on the lives of Poles in the partitioned areas occupied by Russia, Prussia and Austria.

I really love the unbiased description of the Polish (Slavic) character and spirit and I feel that its for the most part spot on.

enjoy!

archive.org/stream/polandknightamon00vannuoft#page/n0/mode/2up

p.s.
I'd like to hear some of your impressions on the book. I don't stop by here often but whenever i have free-time I stop by...(honestly, who can resist to check up on some of the crazy threads that tend to pop up here.)
madparasol   
1 Mar 2010
Life / COMBATING "POLACK" JOKES [460]

the thing with polish jokes is that they are about one subject (for the most part), and that is on how stupid Polish people are. Hardly will you hear anything else, thats whats insulting...the jokes aren't bad per say, but if you keep hearing the same joke over and over on how stupid your nation and people are, well...it just looses its comedic punch and becomes something that for some is taken personally.

don't worry peeps, with all the f'uck up the Americans have made in the last couple of decades the jokes 'bout them will ring louder then anyone else...

and its true....they're only jokes
madparasol   
25 Feb 2010
Genealogy / Polish-Ukranian roots and genes [72]

This is my first post.
Not too long ago i read a thread about how Ukranians are really Polish. I don't exactly believe this but found this interesting subject, Haplotype.

(wikipedia)
The term haplotype is a contraction of the term 'haploid genotype'. In genetics, a haplotype (from the Greek: ἁῦ, haploûs, "onefold, single, simple") is a combination of alleles at multiple loci that are transmitted together on the same chromosome. Haplotype may refer to as few as one locus or to an entire chromosome depending on the number of recombination events that have occurred between a given set of loci.

The genetic marker for most people of slavic origin is the Haplotype r1a1.

Anyways, it appears that Polish and Ukranian genes are pretty damn similar. As far as the frequency of this gene is concerned it appears very high in both Polish and Ukranian people.

I also found it interesting that this gene appears in our German cousins (not in high frequency but appears none the less) and goes as far as Iceland.

I'd like to hear some comments on this. Thanks.