Polish culture versus rotten West

not in Poland


Yea, I prefer to buy shampoo that say "Hey, idiot, buy our mediocre shampoo....it's not great, but it's OK. And you can afford it!"


Well done kid, you're just learnt what marketing is. Now go watch some of the TV show called Mad Men, where you'll learn more about it.


Sure, yea. I believe you.


Yea, sure, yea, OK.

The next battle will be fought against the Polish expats returning with their multicultural children

It's a symptom of the "global village" that we all live in. Cultures are becoming merged, blended, diluted and in some cases will disappear.

Is it me or did the world seem better when I was younger ? :(

spiritus, you can't wait for the future Olympics? Everyone a brown Asian. Goodbye to Jamaican sprinters. [Fastest man in the World Bolt has faced native backlash for not dating Jamaican women]. Goodbye to Romanian gymnastics.

I was reading a German forum today and one individual joked in reply to someone defending Hungary's border/birth rate stance; they joked in 2300 there will be no one left behind those Hungarian borders. Maybe. But does it ultimately matter if the Nation "remains" by nothing more than name. Current Poles are angry "Everything in Poland is foreign owned" imagine when Polish born and raised will be criticizing Polish culture/history and yes......even blowing up Polish monuments. Envision a future when "Polish mistreatment of Jews" is the center of History taught in schools. When our misfortunate post Commonwealth is blamed on us being "too Polish".

......nothanks

Wealth can be created among people themselves, it does not need greed. We are absolutely capable of leaving rich lives without Jewish ideals of how economy has to be run. We were doing fine as Slavic tribes until German crusades and before that Khazar (Jewish and non-Jewish Khazars) invasions and cruelty ended it all and we entered the dark ages era or otherwise known medieval period brought up by westerners.

"Is it me or did the world seem better when I was younger ? :( "

Old men often bemoan the Golden Age that has passed ... a result of bad memory and indigestion .
Take a laxative and feel better .

Yes, it was a better place. The children could play outside. It did not take you two hours to get through airport security. Your neighbours spoke the same language. You could celebrate Christmas and Easter without offending anyone. Smoking a cigarette was not a capitol offence. Free speech was not punished. Politicians were fairly honest and cared about the voters. People believed in each other and had respect for the law.

We have regressed, become fearful, accept cheating and lies as a way of life. I pray that it is not too late to change this so, called, progress. I lived through a good time, but, now we are entering a period of which I want no part. If mankind is so determined to destroy itself, then I fear for the children. Not just mine, all children. For this is the future we have left them. And I cry.

I am glad it is not the case in Poland, I prefer to experience real mood rather than fake smile of a clown.


This is taking an argument into an extreme, well done! What would be more appropriate is to say what the shampoo is and what it can do instead of bluntly stating "it is the best" - a rude, degrading statement (towards the competition) and one deceiving the customer.

Ah Ktosusz me aul mucker, it's yourself! How are you dear? Now, it's still only February so the year is new and you have a chance to start afresh with your New Year Resolutions of which being happier would be a good choice. Smiles aren't always fake you know.

I first came to Poland about 11 years ago and there has been a distinct improvement over those years in customer service and in peoples' demeanour in general. As far as customer service goes, I don't care if the person smiles at me, but I do expect to be treated with basic common courtesy which wasn't always the case here years ago. Staff could be downright rude. I'll give you an example. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.......

At that time we had a dog and I wanted to buy a dish for her. Off I went to the pet shop and looked in the window. There was a lovely dish, just what I was looking for. So in goes Atch but when she looks around, she can't see the same dish on the shelves. So now she has to ask the assistant, a middle aged man. Well I started in my faltering Polish but I didn't get far. When he realised that I was not only not a Polish speaker but not even vaguely Slavic, he wasn't going to bother his barney serving me. He grunted at me, it really was just a grunt, a sort of 'yah' sound, gave me the wave of the hand that you use to dismiss someone and proceeded to walk away! I'd been treated that way a couple of times already in other shops. Usually I just left. But this time I was desperate. I had to get the dish that day and was short of time, so I actually pursued him and insisted that he listened to me. Well it worked, I got the dish, but naturally I never shopped there again.

On the whole though, in small local shops where you're a regular customer, it's always been good in my opinion and you will be smiled at, especially if you make an effort to speak the language however badly. The one area where Polish people differ from my own countrymen, Irish, is that they won't make an effort to put on a brave face if they're in a bad mood. Sure aren't you the perfect example! Ah, well, welcome back anyway and once more into the fray!

Improvement in Polish demeanour? Ha, ha, it is westerners that need to improve demeanour. If you come to Poland you assimilate to our ways not your western ones, get it?

" He grunted at me, it really was just a grunt, a sort of 'yah' sound, gave me the wave of the hand", I often go into shops with the wife, I let her do the the talking / bargaining in her best broken Polish/ English, The shopkeepers always assume I must be English too, If they are rude or dismissive to the wife I then proceed to rip them a new a$$hole in Polish, I ask them who is the Boss so that I can complain about them, not only is this top entertainment for me, but they will also think twice before they are rude to a ponglish speaker in future.

I hope you will be kicked out of the shop and banned from coming in again, that is what should happen for your abuse, that will be shop manager's entertainment. This is not wild west and if you call a female shop keeper such a name I hope she slaps you the way your wife never had, no rotten western behaviour should be tolerated in Poland.

Ktos. "if you call a female shop keeper such a name", I didn't mention calling anyone a specific name, a good telling off is usually enough, why assume the problem lies with female staff,. In our experience It is the male shop staff that have issues, because that feel demasculated having to work on a checkout.

Yes Ktos, people look happier. Surely that's a good thing?

He he, people are more miserable than ever in Poland, more suicides than ever, more unemployment than ever, housing blocks are empty , noone can afford them (but productivity keeps going hey), homelessness like never before, people take food from garbage bins everyday, this is Poland today, what do you know about my country, what do you know about Polish people? You have no comprehension of life in Poland before and now, you just think that western system was always better and will fox everything, you simply think in such simple terms that one does not know whether to cry or laugh at you. Not too many bright people come to Pf and that is a problem.


Oh my God, they feel emasculated so therefore they are rude? Aha, male customer service workers all over the world must be rude because they feel emasculated, be wary everyone. What are you on about? "I think the problem lies with female stuff"? What are you on about again??? Are you feeling alright? I indicated that such verbal abuse is wrong and then I highlighted that it is especially wrong if directed against female worker if one happens to be serving you. Stop looking at Poland fro your western point of view, you want west go back to the west, you want Poland, you assimilate. And buddy, try to look closer at Polish society next time, you are misreading everything just about.

People were taking food from bins ten years ago. That hasn't changed.


I don't know what you think the 'Western' system is' but take a look at the socialist policies pursued in Scandinavia and the standard of living of people living in those countries and the way in which the state provides for the less well off, the vulnerable etc. Look at my own country, Ireland, one of the most generous welfare states in the world probably, but there will always be those who slip through the net.


More than you do.


It's actually your own less than sweet self who has a very simplistic view of the world.


Off you trot then and find some vessels worthy of pouring your special brand of wisdom into.

" you want Poland, you assimilate", No, quite the opposite, many of the younger generation (under 55) appear to have lost their way, culture religion and tradition, many just think of themselves these days , maybe its a mix of soviet and latter western culture that has screwed things up.

From reading your hilariously stupid posts, that could have been written about you. You are an Australian, right?

Nah, that is a post-colonial syndrome and lack of the local elite mixed with social and economical turmoil.

The easiest way for a nation to commit cultural and ethnic suicide is to become more and more Western a.k.a. degenerate and progressive. Notable examples: Germany and the USA.

You want to build a wall around Poland to protect the country and its culture from the "evil" outside world, or how should that work? Good luck keeping the people locked up inside.

I would never in my life set foot in a country like Sweden. One of the most degenerated countries on the planet. You would have to be ill to move there (gays, perverts and non-European foreigners are welcomed there though).

Ireland is now losing itself and losing its Christianity. Actually I like Ireland, they stood up to the WASP for some time, but with the new generation things will probably go downhill. If you have conservative like opinions the Politically Correct Nazis will kick you from your job or call you a "bigot". The culture and society in the West is becoming more and more rotten and some embrace that.

Less morals, more crime, LBGT mental illness spreading and people are becoming convinced this is "normal" by their media,
millions of non-Europeans flooding in to "enrich" the host nations, less pride in ones own country and so on.
Makes me sick tbh. If you like that "progress" then Poland is one of the last places you should be in. PO wanted to go that way slowly by selling its soul to Germany and Globalism.

Im sure many of the western leftist foreigners in Poland love that type of lifestyle. Its the Bolshevik/Communist mindset to have revolts and destroy the native country to fit the needs of a tiny minority.

Yes, worked really well for the Commies didn't it?!


Our cultural identity is still very strong. But I do think that the mass immigration into Ireland is a factor because we are such a small country and we're heading towards a fifth of the population being non-Irish. However there's a strange phenomenon whereby Ireland seems to cast a spell on people and they find themselves adopting Irish 'ways'. Maybe it's because we're an easy-going people and we don't shout the odds or try to force others to see things our way.

As for Christianity, Ireland has a strong moral code that long pre-dates Christianity. I think there's a misconception that we were a wild and savage people who were civilised by Christianity but that's not so. For example, in Gaelic Ireland, long before Christianity every member of society had his 'honour price'. If you were found to be untrustworthy, your honour price was halved and for some acts, for example a violent attack on another person, you lost your honour price completely. This meant that not only were you ruined financially but you became a social pariah, a person with no 'honour', of no value to the community. Although Christianity rocks - I am sooooo a Christian - we had a decent, people before it and I'm confident that we still would. Back in 2012 during our recession Irish people donated 800 million euros to charity. That's not because they're Christians. It's part of the Irish nature to give and not just materially. People are quick to give their time, their help, a sympathetic ear, moral support. And it's still a feature of Irish society that that kind of warmth is extended to strangers.

"Geez"!!!!!!!!! ALL countries preserve their cultures, languages, traditions, at least in Europe and Poland (or ... Ireland) have NOTHING special. Poland is as westernized now as any other western country. Just walking around Poland will confirm this: almost 99% of brands are from the West, Poles dress, eat, watch, listen to ... western products. The Poles who can afford it spend their vacations abroad. Unless in small horse sh@@t holes, Poland has become most westernized and Poles do live exactly like their western counterparts.

You guys, instead of writing non sense, come to Poland (for those who have never set a foot therein and whose only knowledge of Poland is what grandpa and grandma tell about their childhood in pre-war Poland) or for those who don't know other countries, do travel and live abroad.

Poland is no ... North Korea! ;)

This is what globalization is all about

@Atch: you make me laugh with your propaganda and your so called high moral code ;) if we consider all the RCC's (now aknowledged) misdeeds against kids and women in Ireland (no doubt much worse than in Poland, for instance, since we are in POLISH and not IRISH fora).

ps: inspite of globalization (we all buy same western products) what I'm saying in first 2 lines, is that ALL countries have nevertheless kept (most of) their traditions, languages, "values". In order to find out, need to get informed and best to live among other nationalities.

The poster made a comment about Ireland and I was responding with my view as an Irish person, that's all.

@Atch: "lol"! 99.8% of your posts should be in IRISH and not POLISH fora ;) as they are OFF topic (since not related to Poland). Mods once more show double standards. You are following ... Crow's path (I now feel nausea every time I read 'Serbia", "Serb" and I have stopped reading his messages).

Why don't you concentrate on Poland and on Polish things since it is a forum about Poland?

Miłego dnia!

The thread is about the culture of the West and how it differs from Poland.


Live in Ireland a while InPolska, it might loosen you up a bit.
As for keeping the traditions alive, take a quick look at this. It's only a minute long. It's not laid on for tourists, in a 'costume' as an exhibition, it's just an ordinary lad getting up in the local pub.

youtube.com/watch?v=_ABeKsMEHdc

Oh yes, you can see that anywhere. Maybe some Andalucian peasant might get up and dance but he won't be driving home afterwards, it'll up on the donkey with a bag of grain in his back pocket. It's unusual in developed societies to find the old traditions actively truly 'alive'.

In Poland the Highlanders dress up in their fabulous costumes and give staged displays of Polish folk culture, not the same thing at all. Plus the folk music of Poland means precisely nothing to the average Pole. Most of them don't even like it. Irish music has been kept 'alive' by the Bardic tradition. Despite having lived in many places, you're a rather insular person InPolska.

@Atch: 1. why should I live in Ireland (first of all, I'd hate climate and it is also too small)? 2. do you think that other countries do NOT have traditions and values ? Even tiniest countries do and 3. Have you ever LIVED elsewhere? I suppose you have not ;)

Have a good day) (I have to go)

You make a convicning case for the value, attractiveness and endurance of Irish tradition. One question: how is it that Ireland, long known for its Catholicity, has produced such a bad track record regarding Church abuse of women and children. Yes, that happens everywhere, but the intensity seems greater in Ireland. Or was that the work of media hyenas out after a juicy story? I don't dismiss that eventualtiy -- the largely secular and even anti-Christian press would naturally jump on a society regarded as ultra-Catholic if any such abuses came to light.

That's an interesting point Polly. I can only speculate. I think possibly that if you were to look at the abuse perpetrated in Ireland, it would be probably be about the same as in any Catholic country but it's been very widely reported on in the Irish media so we are more aware of it. In a country like Spain for example, I don't think they'd be so quick to publicise abuse or hold it up to the microscope. But I think you have to view the abuse alongside all the positive things that individual members of the clergy have done.