[Nowy]

Hi!

I'm not sure if this subforum is the proper one to put this topic. If not, please tell me and take it to the proper place.
I would like to know, what opinion you have on Poland and the Polish Nation.

Some media (especially the so called Western media) keep slandering Poland and the Poles, as "homophobes" or "antisemites", sometimes as "thieves". It's an enormous scandal, it's a shame.

Homophobia? What homophobia? There are some people who don't accept the homosexualists and it doesn't vary among nations. Poles are not more homophobic than any other nation, actually. It is just the media, who make noise about isolated cases and exacerbate their medial "echo". You know what I mean, I hope.

Antisemitism? What antisemitism? There are some people who don't accept the Jews and it doesn't vary among nations. Poles are not more antisemitist than any other nation. Inversely! It was Poland, where the Jews had their rights guaranteed already in the 1573! In other parts of Europe, Jews were exorcised from the countries, there citizen laws were actually none - not in Poland! The law act called "Warsaw Confederation" guaranteed the Jews and the other minorities in Poland their rights.

It was Poland, where there was no religion war, no antisemitist incidents, no extermination of the Jews!

It was politically weakened Poland, which had been partitioned - and almost nobody has protested then. Only the Ottoman Empire had never accepted the partitions of Poland. Also Denmark has reacted diplomatically.

Not Poles, but German N a z i s have killed the people in occupied Poland (not only the Jews, but many Poles have died due to the Nazi terror, many other people: Russians, Ukrainians, Romanians and others - every number more is one life more)! There were no "Polish death camps" - this name is a terrible scandal! There were only "Nazi/Hitlerist death camps".

People, the history of Poland is so complicated, that it is impossible to solidly and reliably tell it to you in one short forum topic. But believe me, please. I don't lie, I don't want to lie anyhow, I only want Poland not to be so shamefully slandered.

Some people who say, that Poland was/has been/is an antisemitist country, are liars. They slander Poland and Poles shamefully. The Poles actually helped the Jews commonly in occupied Poland during the 2. World War.

The Poles were the 4th army, who have fighted in the war - the Polish aviators have saved England in 1940 when Hitler wanted to overtake it - the Poles got "as a reward" the communist regime for the next 45 years, due to the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences. Isn't it a shameful scandal?...

Please only read the first sentence from the article:
"Polish Righteous among the Nations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"
(I'm not able to post any URL address yet)...

Polish citizens have the highest count of Righteous among the Nations in the world, at 6,066,[1] despite the fact that in German-occupied Poland all household members were punished by death if a Jew were found concealed in their home or on their property.

People! Please, think on your own! Do not overtake every thought, which the media give you!

Please, tell your family, friends, acquaintances what I have told you here. Do not let the liars slander Poland and the Polish Nation.

And if you do not agree with me - then tell me, in which point of the above text I am wrong. Tell me freely.

Thanks for reading the whole text and for your patience. All the good to you!

Nowy

P.S. I'm not sure if I'll be able to post in the nearest future, but feel free to write.

[ejmaztec]

Can't say as I noticed any vitriolic media attacks on Poland, or the Polish people, past or present.

[sink]

I'm not sure where you got the impression that the Irish are anti-polish. The vast majority of Irish seem to like the Polish who have come over here for honest work. As anywhere you get the odd xenophobe.

As far as I'm concerned the Poles are generally very nice people. However I do not like the Kaczyński brothers they are anti-German homophobes and are possibly the source behind the media giving your country a bad reputation. So far Tusk seems much easier to work with.

[Pride Fighter]

I have seen the news and recall them saying the Kazinski (sp) twins were anti-semite, homophobic etc..
So I agree with the OP.

[ejmaztec]

Until I saw the furore over a Media Markt tv ad in March 2006, I never knew that the Germans had a stereo-typical view of the Poles. Is the OP referring to this?

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...408650,00.html

German-Polish relations, difficult at best since World War II, haven't been helped by a German TV commercial implying Poles are thieves. Consumer goods retailer Mediamarkt, whose advertising slogan is "I'm Not Stupid", withdrew the ad after a storm of Polish protest.

German consumer electronics retailer Mediamarkt has withdrawn a TV commercial -- depecting its staff having their trousers stolen by Poles -- after a barrage of complaints and a stern letter from the Polish ambassador to Berlin.

Mediamarkt, known for its cheeky ads, said it had overstepped the mark and apologized for offending Poles. "We deeply regret this and would like to apologize sincerely to all those who were insulted or even hurt by this," the company said in a statement.

The ad was playing on a widespread prejudice in Germany that Poles steal anything not nailed down. There are many German jokes about Poles stealing cars and travelling to the country is seen by many as dangerous. Most of the complaints came from Poles living in Germany, where the ad was screened.

"Poles are decent people," says a Mediamarkt salesman in the ad before being left trouserless by a group of Polish customers.

[lostexpectation]

isn't there a significant catholic right with lots of media and radio, who denegrate various groups on a daily basis like your leaders did.

[Kama]

Only time have heard anyone slagging Poles, its been drunks who were ragging on about 'farrahners' in general, most everyone else seems to be quite a fan of our Polish cousins. Kaczynski does seem a bit of a prejudiced creature, but reports of him don't equate to a general Polish stereotype.

[Victor]

Interesting

http://www.socialphobiaworld.com/postp152018.html

[ejmaztec]

Originally Posted by Victor

Interesting

http://www.socialphobiaworld.com/postp152018.html

Yes, methinks that "InsaneGuyX" at the top of page 2 gives an interesting response, but doesn't seem to have been banned.

[cabinteelytom]

Welcome. Can't say I've seen much of this anti-Polish slander in the media-we are all terribly well schooled to avoid all that nowadays. Just which country or countries did you have in mind?
Prejudice in Germany I could believe. The 'Westies' were reported to think of the 'Osties' as some kind of country bumpkins, and the peoples further east are unlikely to be exempt. Utterly condemnable of course.
I am touched by your genuine emotion, and fear that you may not get another chance to express yourself. Let's hope you do. You will ,however, need a thick skin if you are going to log onto these boards, and many others. In Ireland there is no debate other than robust debate.
You are correct that our ignorance of Poland is abysmal.
[Likewise, Rumanians, Hungarians, Slovenians, Comeherians, Whosethattherians etc. Maybe we need a little break in 'enlargeissement' ; just to catch up on what we should reasonably know about our fellow european partners. A bit of 'getting to know you'.] Today our Minister of Foreign Affairs is sitting with his 26 colleagues deciding what to do about the Georgia-Russia conflict .It's all very flattering, but I doubt if his knowledge of the ethnic groups of the Caucasus is really up to that level of debate.

[McArmalite]

Originally Posted by Kama

Only time have heard anyone slagging Poles, its been drunks who were ragging on about 'farrahners' in general, most everyone else seems to be quite a fan of our Polish cousins. Kaczynski does seem a bit of a prejudiced creature, but reports of him don't equate to a general Polish stereotype.

I can honestly say I don't think I've ever met a bad Polish person yet, honest. Yeah ofcourse we'll have the layabout who props up a bar complining about the 'farrahners' - but sure their's always one. It's a great irony that a country like ours where millions of people emigrated to America etc and recieve an extremely hostile greeting there from many of the locals should begrudge people coming to work and contribute to society here.
Besides, and I know some will say this is sexist ( which it is ), but some of the best looking women I've ever seen are Polish chicks

Originally Posted by cabinteelytom

Welcome. Can't say I've seen much of this anti-Polish slander in the media-we are all terribly well schooled to avoid all that nowadays. Just which country or countries did you have in mind?
Prejudice in Germany I could believe. The 'Westies' were reported to think of the 'Osties' as some kind of country bumpkins, and the peoples further east are unlikely to be exempt. Utterly condemnable of course.
I am touched by your genuine emotion, and fear that you may not get another chance to express yourself. Let's hope you do. You will ,however, need a thick skin if you are going to log onto these boards, and many others. In Ireland there is no debate other than robust debate.
You are correct that our ignorance of Poland is abysmal.
[Likewise, Rumanians, Hungarians, Slovenians, Comeherians, Whosethattherians etc. Maybe we need a little break in 'enlargeissement' ; just to catch up on what we should reasonably know about our fellow european partners. A bit of 'getting to know you'.] Today our Minister of Foreign Affairs is sitting with his 26 colleagues deciding what to do about the Georgia-Russia conflict .It's all very flattering, but I doubt if his knowledge of the ethnic groups of the Caucasus is really up to that level of debate.

" The 'Westies' were reported to think of the 'Osties' as some kind of country bumpkins " - Yes, a bit like the Dubs slagging off the culchies, ( up here taking your jobs and your women as us country boys reply )

As for the rest of your sarcastic posting - " I am touched by your genuine emotion, and fear that you may not get another chance to express yourself........ knowledge of the ethnic groups of the Caucasus is really up to that level of debate." Well I wouldn't expect anything better from a trite, smug Ross Carroll O'Kelly from Cabinteely - Roight.

[Sand]

McArmalite

Yeah ofcourse we'll have the layabout who props up a bar complining about the 'farrahners' - but sure their's always one.

Thats nearly sig worthy. Nearly.

As for the Polish image in the media, Ive always had the impression that the view is overwhelmingly positive actually. I work and have worked with several Polish people and theyve all been excellent to work with and good people as well. I managed to survive for several weeks in Poland with zero Polish which says more for the patience and friendliness I encountered.

As for the negative images - my criticism would be for the Kaczyński twins and that far right catholic radio station. Neither of which present a good image of themselves [ anti liberal views, whole aggressive posturing in the EU etc etc], but from the Polish people I have encountered, the twins and their ilk arent popular whatsoever.

As for Yalta it was shameful, but having spent 5 and half years in total war with tens of millions dead, there wasnt much stomach for starting a war with the USSR when they had vastly more troops, planes and tanks than the UK [ which was effectively broken by the war effort ] and USA. It was a minor miracle West Berlin was maintained, let alone liberating Poland.

[santry_goonshow]

People are reacting to this with their personal view of the Poles, which if off-topic. However, I would agree that Polish immigrants in Ireland have recieved an overwhelmingly good press (especially when compared to Nigerians and Muslims who just seem to be stereotyped in this country). Like all people they are, in general, fine folks.

However, the view was not of the Polish emigres, but rather of Polish society. And while no society is problem-free it does seem that there's a bit of a problem with the social conservatism and irrationalism of the Polish political culture. The pm is a joke, and there's racism at the football matches. It seems Poland also has a skinhead problem, and get this the wasters who prop up the bars in Poland HATE the ones who came to Ireland because they earned a bit of cash.

I also don't like the current Polish Govt because they are cheerleaders for George Bush and the Amerofascists. Nuff said.

[LordSutch]

Coulda sworn I posted a very genuine question here this morning, but its disappeared

Anyway, on another point, I find the Poles a breath of fresh air, along with most of the other newcomers to Ireland, but the Poles in particular seem to fit right in, even to the extent of their Catholicism which goes down very well . . .

Havent noticed any Anti-Pole sigs either.

[djpbarry]

Originally Posted by Camelot

...but the Poles in particular seem to fit right in...

Really? Even more so than the British?

Originally Posted by Camelot

...even to the extent of their Catholicism which goes down very well...

Eh, ok.