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As an American that’s lived in Poland for the last decade: - it was kind of inevitable once Poland stopped being oppressed by its neighbors. The USSR, Nazi Ger
by keiferski 6mo ago
As an American that’s lived in Poland for the last decade:
- it was kind of inevitable once Poland stopped being oppressed by its neighbors. The USSR, Nazi Germany, the German Empire / Prussia, Austria, Imperial Russia, etc. have basically been dividing the country since the 1780s. Without these restrictions, Poland is a natural leader in its region purely on population alone.
- A general lack of ideological “mind viruses” that seem to plague the western world. Most Poles are pretty straightforward, common sense people. They might have opinions you don’t agree with but it’s not a country of extremists in any direction.
- the general openness to American culture and (over)work ethics. I think Poland probably looks more to America than it does any EU country, although this of course isn’t simple, especially lately. But in general it’s a pretty hardworking, business-open culture. My impression is that it’s much easier to operate a business here than say, Germany, Italy, or France.
- Something I need to read more about, but IIRC Poland dealt with its oligarch problems in a different way than Russia or Ukraine did post-USSR and so doesn’t really have this issue.
- weezing 6mo agoWe just didn't have oligarchs.
- WarmWash 6mo agoPoland has somewhat of a culture of overworking, "kultura zapierdolu".
- Ralfp 6mo agoYup, a lot of older folk with ruined health here because they overworked to "build a wealth" that eventually didn't materialize, but who at same time are criticizing younger gens of not wanting to follow in their steps.
- stackedinserter 6mo ago> kultura zapierdolu I want "kultura zapierdolu" t-shirt now.
- goalieca 6mo ago> A general lack of ideological “mind viruses” that seem to plague the western world. Most Poles are pretty straightforward, common sense people. They might have opinions you don’t agree with but it’s not a country of extremists in any direction. I want to stray from the politics too much, but we definitely self-sabotage in canada. It's kind of an immature teenage angst to self-loathe to the point of punishing yourself all the time.
- WarmWash 6mo agoRage-bait media is both profitable and the masses will defend you as "fighting the good fight". The mind virus actually makes you love the host.
- smcl 6mo ago> A general lack of ideological “mind viruses” Yeah when Poland banned abortion and declared a number of "LGBT free zones" a lot of Poles I know came here to Czech Republic
- sgt 6mo agoI don't think most poles dislike you if you're gay, it's just that the woke mind virus went too far and Poland is still normal.
- derektank 6mo ago> A general lack of ideological “mind viruses” that seem to plague the western world Uhh, the Law and Justice party was packing the Polish Constitutional Court, filling the government with party loyalists, and placing restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly only a few years ago. I suppose veering close to a constitutional crisis isn’t ideological per se, but that framing doesn’t seem quite right
- keiferski 6mo agoI mean more in the sense of the people themselves. PiS did some shady things for sure, but ultimately most of their supporters are just old conservative people. I would describe that as a fundamentally different thing from the cause-of-the-day ideology and its backlash movement that sweeps through Western countries every decade. I wouldn’t describe PiS and its supporters as a dynamic cultural movement in the way MAGA is.
- wrzuteczka 6mo agoDidn't expect that stuff to reach HN... anyway: > packing the Polish Constitutional Court This didn’t start with PiS. PO, just before losing power, tried to elect five Tribunal judges at once, including two seats that weren’t theirs yet. The Tribunal later said: three OK, two not OK. PiS then did the PiS thing: ignored the three valid ones too, and installed its own people. So yes, PiS behaved badly. But "PiS packed the court" skips the opening move. American-ish version: lame-duck Senate tries to pre-fill future SCOTUS seats. Incoming side responds by throwing the furniture around. > filling the government with party loyalists For normal political jobs, what’s the issue? That’s politics. Republicans appoint Republicans. Democrats appoint Democrats. > placing restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly What are you referring to exactly?
- rsynnott 6mo ago> For normal political jobs, what’s the issue? That’s politics. Republicans appoint Republicans. Democrats appoint Democrats. You're presumably coming from a US point of view (the US has an unusual system where the entire top level of the civil service, pretty much, are always political appointees), but in Europe this often _would_ be seen as a sign of corruption (and honestly it should be in the US too; it has gotten way worse there since Trump I; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendleton_Civil_Service_Reform_Act#Aftermath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendleton_Civil_Service_Reform...).
- marek77 6mo agoPolish-born person living abroad here. There definitely ARE "mind viruses" in the polish psyche, and pretty nasty ones at that. You might not have noticed them because they are from a different nature than the ones that infected Wester Europe and North American. For example, Poles by and large harbor an inferiority complex due to the decades of oppression and suppresson that makes them sell themselves short and act as people-pleasers to western nations and western firms (that's precisely what makes us so liked by those firms! and that's also your "looking to America" here). Poles as a nation are driven by romantism, not pragmatism, and that is the reason why we always get screwed on the world stage one way or another and have the reputation of being "dumb". I am as happy as the next guy to see economic development, but our mental maps let us down regularly, and I am not particularly optimistic for a change on that front.
- truthaboutpl 6mo ago[flagged]
- eithed 6mo agoGood thing that Trump is bringing disillusion regarding America; same for brexit regarding UK
- topspin 6mo ago"it was kind of inevitable once Poland stopped being oppressed by its neighbors" No. Not at all inevitable. Poland might have descended into kleptocracy, e.g. Hungary. That this did not happen is worthy of investigation. I'm not holding my breath however; the findings would probably not be welcome. "A general lack of ideological 'mind viruses' that seem to plague the western world" Indeed. Poland frequently disappoints the rest of the EU with its stubborn indifference to obligatory Western moral panics.