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Some countries including my home country Poland impose a ban on political agitation on the election day. It means that no political content may be published on
by stratocumulus0 3y ago
Some countries including my home country Poland impose a ban on political agitation on the election day. It means that no political content may be published on that day, but whatever has been published before that is allowed to stay. This is an old law which predates the Internet, so anything from social media posts to hanging up election posters is liable to be prosecuted and the authorities frequently do so. It's less drastic than in Pakistan, more drastic than in the West, but it certainly does cause a chilling effect on people when they know they may lose a few thousands if they get caught.
- hiAndrewQuinn 3y agoWait, do Polish people not consider themselves part of the West? Genuine question. I've met and worked with quite a few Poles since moving to the EU and my current takeaway is that it's in a really interesting fusion time between West, East, and some more mysterious third thing.
- yau8edq12i 3y agoI guess it was a shorthand for western Europe.
- bluefirebrand 3y ago"The West" is a very murky sort of definition. Arguably the colloquial "Cultural West" is what is on the Western side of what used to be called the Iron Curtain. Poland was definitely on the Eastern side of that.
- foobarian 3y agoI think being strongly Catholic draws Poland into the Western sphere in spite of the Cold War divisions.
- The_Colonel 3y agoIron Curtain was a political, not cultural border. Western civilization usually includes all European catholic countries, i. e. also Poland. (Huntington is a notorious example)
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago>Western civilization usually includes all European catholic countries, i. e. also Poland. (Huntington is a notorious example) What about European Orthodox countries? Does civilization only tie to catholic religion?
- jowea 3y agoOnly person I know to try to actually sit down and draw civilization borders was Huntington and put the Orthodox on a separate but linked civilization to the Western world, but even he admitted that's arguable. Although even then Poland counts as West.
- philwelch 3y agoIt’s no coincidence that the term “Eastern Orthodox” is widely used for that communion of churches; while the Orthodox world is still traditionally considered part of Christendom, it is still distinguished from the “West”.
- bluefirebrand 3y agoYeah of course it was a political border but it absolutely had cultural consequences. You can literally see the difference in Berlin on either side of the wall. The Eastern side is similar but still different to the Western, culturally. Even the architecture is still quite different between the two sides.
- The_Colonel 3y agoYou can see stronger cultural differences within western Germany (or any country, really), e.g. between Bavaria and North Germany.
- philwelch 3y agoOne of the classic dividing lines between East and West, the Hajnal line, goes straight through modern Poland. It’s closer to the historic border between Poland and Germany though.
- mikrl 3y agoHistorically, Poland was both and is a transition region between central and Eastern Europe. Even when Poland was conquered, it was still the interface between a central/western empire (Reich Germany) an eastern empire (Russia) and an in-between empire (Austria-Hungary) but I would certainly call a city like Białystok ‘eastern’, but not necessarily Warsaw, Krakow or Wrocław. The trouble is that what counts as ‘Eastern’ Europe can be demarcated by several large historical events (Mongols, flavour of Christianity, Communism, etc) so a definitive answer is hard to give.
- avgcorrection 3y agoOn the other hand an American (migrant) doing an about face about a group of people based on preconceived notions is completely expected.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ffjffsfr 3y agoIt is complicated. Most people in Poland do consider themselves part of Europe, sometimes even part of the West. At the same time people in Poland often contrast the West (as in Western Europe and US) with Poland and perceive west as something different and better. It is sort of post colonial mentality but with a twist, because it is not tied to race. This idealised “West” is often very far from real situation in Western Europe. On the other part of the spectrum you got polish conservatives who see west as degraded and fallen. They used to say things like: France no longer exists. Meaning France is not what it used to be; it is not true west because they lost the spirit of real west.
- nonrandomstring 3y agoGenuinely very curious what you (and more generally other Poles) think of that? Also is it effective (of course you have no control case for comparison)? Thanks.
- riffraff 3y agoNot OP but we have the same regulation in Italy, coupled with one that forbids sharing opinion polls some days before the elections. People don't particularly care either way. They were somewhat effective pre-social media, but they relied also on a certain amount of fair play which is no longer as common as it once was.
- yau8edq12i 3y agoSame here in France, and I guess most developed countries.
- KptMarchewa 3y agoPeople go around it by sharing "vegetable prices" on Twitter. It's not very effective, but at least prevents stunts outside voting places.
- jdietrich 3y agoWe have similar restrictions in the UK. In the weeks before an election, government ministers and civil servants are not allowed to announce new policies or spending. On polling day, broadcast media cannot report on political matters or speculate about the outcome of the election. We also have extremely strict limits on campaign finance. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn05262/ https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn05... https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/11/media/uk-election-reporting-restrictions-intl-gbr-ge19/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/11/media/uk-election-reporti... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50170067 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50170067
- nonrandomstring 3y agoThanks dietrich, and for the helpful links to make the case. I may revise the blog post to incorporate those points.
- mprovost 3y agoFamously the BBC shows pictures of dogs at polling stations on election day so it's not political. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-61333251 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-61333251