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>These are still minor concerns, simply because there's so few immigrants here. But it will have to change, because of demography. And no, 500+ won't help, it's

>These are still minor concerns, simply because there's so few immigrants here. But it will have to change, because of demography. And no, 500+ won't help, it's simpe math. Even if every women in child-bearing age had 1 more kid than now - because of a demographic hole from 90s - the number of kids born will drop to record low in next decade. I am not Polish or anything close to it, but I would imagine that most Poles would have a hard time getting excited about this. "Our culture is dying, but it's OK because we can bring in some third-worlders to keep the population numbers up!" does not exactly inspire jubilance. Thinking about these two (fertility problems and anti-immigration sentiment) juxtaposed makes me wonder if they're connected. As an American, would I be as up-in-arms as I am about illegal immigration if I felt part of a strong, successful, viable culture that was by and for me? Probably not. One other thing: that Saudi Arabian kids know who Shakira is is not a sign that Western culture is winning---at least, not the good parts. The parts I care about are things like Christianity, the rule of law, and, candidly, people who look like me. I feel like sort of a provocateur writing this, but it would have been an entirely unremarkable statement two hundred years ago---and I suspect the Poles are channeling something like it. WTF do they care about Shakira?

ajuc 9y ago
> "Our culture is dying, but it's OK because we can bring in some third-worlders to keep the population numbers up!" Our culture isn't dying, our culture was created in one of the most multikulti countries of the world with about ~10 000 000 people, and now (thanks to wars, partitions, Holocaust, ethnic cleansings, forced displacement of millions of people) - we have almost 100% uniform population declining from 36 000 000, and will probably stabilize at around 25 - 30 000 000. The problems are economical - social system won't survive the transitional period, already retirement fund is over 20% of our budget, and if the prognosis is correct it will go up several times (now 2-3 working people pay for 1 retirement, it will invert when baby boomers retire, see https://www.populationpyramid.net/pl/polska/2016/ https://www.populationpyramid.net/pl/polska/2016/). It's not sustainable, and ~1 000 000 Ukrainians isn't enough (but it's still very helpful in the long run). > that Saudi Arabian kids know who Shakira is is not a sign that Western culture is winning---at least, not the good parts. You've choosen the least important part of my statement, but whatever. The fact that western culture is global is very important, culture is how cultural assimilation works. It's more important than any religious factors. Showing people that your way of life results in better quality of life matters more than any priests or ideologies. As for religion - it's already mostly cultural, very few people (even in theoretically 90%+ Catholic country like Poland) treat Christianity seriously and adhere to the rules, like going to Church and participating in communion each week, and confession each time you have a mortal sin (like masturbation). Most people visit churches several times a year, and don't consider chemical anticonception or masturbation sinful. Hell, half of them don't even believe in God as described in the Bible. And, we have a pretty good example of what atheist Poland would have looked like - Czech Republic :) I feel at home there, and wouldn't mind our culture changing to something like that. It's much more practical and honest culture. I think it will, eventually, simply because Catholic church is too involved with politics for the last 25 years. You can't preach meekness and routinely drive in limousines with highest level politicians or take millions from them in shaddy deals.

ajuc 9y ago

> "Our culture is dying, but it's OK because we can bring in some third-worlders to keep the population numbers up!" Our culture isn't dying, our culture was created in one of the most multikulti countries of the world with about ~10 000 000 people, and now (thanks to wars, partitions, Holocaust, ethnic cleansings, forced displacement of millions of people) - we have almost 100% uniform population declining from 36 000 000, and will probably stabilize at around 25 - 30 000 000. The problems are economical - social system won't survive the transitional period, already retirement fund is over 20% of our budget, and if the prognosis is correct it will go up several times (now 2-3 working people pay for 1 retirement, it will invert when baby boomers retire, see https://www.populationpyramid.net/pl/polska/2016/ https://www.populationpyramid.net/pl/polska/2016/). It's not sustainable, and ~1 000 000 Ukrainians isn't enough (but it's still very helpful in the long run). > that Saudi Arabian kids know who Shakira is is not a sign that Western culture is winning---at least, not the good parts. You've choosen the least important part of my statement, but whatever. The fact that western culture is global is very important, culture is how cultural assimilation works. It's more important than any religious factors. Showing people that your way of life results in better quality of life matters more than any priests or ideologies. As for religion - it's already mostly cultural, very few people (even in theoretically 90%+ Catholic country like Poland) treat Christianity seriously and adhere to the rules, like going to Church and participating in communion each week, and confession each time you have a mortal sin (like masturbation). Most people visit churches several times a year, and don't consider chemical anticonception or masturbation sinful. Hell, half of them don't even believe in God as described in the Bible. And, we have a pretty good example of what atheist Poland would have looked like - Czech Republic :) I feel at home there, and wouldn't mind our culture changing to something like that. It's much more practical and honest culture. I think it will, eventually, simply because Catholic church is too involved with politics for the last 25 years. You can't preach meekness and routinely drive in limousines with highest level politicians or take millions from them in shaddy deals.