Love the preggers lady and the faithful husband. When the lil ankle biter is born, maybe it too can vote for a party that eliminates classic novels from the high school literature curriculum deemed ‘unnecessary and controversial’. Goodbye Dostoyevsky, Goethe, Gombrowicz! Hello John Paul II with your “Identity and Remembrance” monograph.
"a strong family, a safe school, lower taxes" -yeah, and neo-nazi youth party support
On Friday Michal and I went to a friend’s place for a movie night screened via a projector (fun!). The movie night was scheduled right after the hugely anticipated debate between the PiS leader and prime minister short twin #2 Kaczynski and his opponent Donald Tusk, the PO leader and one of the few politicians in Poland who has a brain (and is not embarrassing to look at) – aired live on telly. I literally ran home from my, well, run to catch the debate, whilst Michal ran some red lights to make it on time from work. It was tops. The Kaczor got screwed and his dumbarsness was made even more prominent than usual by Tusk. After having analysed each response and rebuttal, Michal and I felt uplifted that maybe
I sometimes have the feeling Poles don’t know how to be opinionated, express their views in an assertive manner or be feisty in their stance, whether it be political or otherwise. People who are in their late 20s and early 30s, who have been raised in the ‘old system’ appear to have been deprived from experiencing the thrill that is ‘speaking one’s mind’. Keep quiet, or the neighbours will hear you – meant a lot more in
4 comments:
I must strongly disagree on the subject of the Poles being unopinionated and politically neutral. From my experience, it might, just might, be true only about the generation of the present 20 year-olds, i.e. those who have never even tasted what communism was all about. They do, sometimes, tend to be uncaring about the elections and not express their views in public. I belong to the slightly older generation (30 year-olds) who still do remember the queues, empty shelves and tapped telephones. All of my friends not only vote, but also are very expressive about their political sympathies, even to the extent of being overly enthusiastic in the political discussions. What is more, they are active BECAUSE (sorry for raising my voice) they remember the Good Old Days (for the foreigners: it was an example of typically Polish, crude sarcasm). The younger generation is, hopefully, active, but is less prone to express their political views while socializing. I would say that it sounds Anglo-Saxon rather than Polish, doesn't it...?
Ah, my dear Bartek I am happy that finally my thwarting and ranting has gotten a response out of a true blue local! I have been waiting for a rebuttal for quite some time. I am prone to fall into generalisations at times, but the movie night and the lack of political discussion so close to the elections gave me the utter shits. I know Poles have opinions, and they have strong ones too – it’s just that the ones I have met so far don’t like voicing them loudly. It’s like they are unsure of their own voice, whether it will carry their thoughts loudly enough. And as for your Anglo-Saxon comment, well you may be right. PC is in social events highly prized. But I was fortunate enough to have kick-arse friends back in Oz who loved to debate, discuss and convince without the fear of being disagreed with.
Stynk, you can't fight the moonlight. In a couple of years you'll be that woman on the poster.
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