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Stereotypes about Polish people being stupid?

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posts: 123

ALimIrzA	Jun 2, 11, 01:25 #1
Where did the stereotype polish people are stupid come from. I see no basis for the claim. Where did this all come from. Is it true? I doubt it but I really want to know becuase I am in love with poland and like it more than Pakistan

♂

Jun 2, 11, 01:50 #2

ALimIrzA:

Where did the stereotype polish people are stupid come from. I see no basis for the claim. Where did this all come from. Is it true? I doubt it but I really want to know becuase I am in love with poland and like it more than Pakistan

Its probably Nazi propoganda left over. You still sometimes hear it even in North America.
Funnily enough Polish people have one of the highest IQs. Of course there is stupid ones and smart ones but its an average based off of tests done. Of course IQ does not say everything but its one indicator.

TrolbertThreads: - Posts: 38 Joined: Jun 1, 11 ♂	Jun 2, 11, 01:55 #3
legend: Of course IQ does not say everything but its one indicator. IQ doesn't say anything. I'm highly intelligent, but I can't do my shoelaces.

IronsideThreads: 59 Posts: 6,787 Joined: Feb 26, 09 ♂	Edited by: Ironside Jun 2, 11, 03:12 #4
ALimIrzA: Where did the stereotype polish people are stupid come from Why? it is true ! They are very stupid and they will fall for your trollish tricks !

PennBoyThreads: 157 Posts: 3,443 Joined: Dec 7, 08 ♂	Jun 2, 11, 03:38 #5
ALimIrzA: becuase I am in love with poland and like it more than Pakistan Well how nice for you

Jets918	Jul 1, 11, 23:29 #6
I think the stereotype started in World War II when Poland tried to fight German tanks with Cavalry (horses). Needless to say, Poland was taken in mere hours. This is why people say Polish people are stupid.

♂

Jul 2, 11, 00:11 #7

Jets918:

I think the stereotype started in World War II when Poland tried to fight German tanks with Cavalry (horses). Needless to say, Poland was taken in mere hours. This is why people say Polish people are stupid.

This never happened.

My guess is that the stereotypes arose from a mixture of propaganda and real events. Most countries don't lose their sovereignty - Poland lost hers due to a number of reasons, most of which could have been averted. Poland rose up numerous times in hopeless rebellions in an attempt to regain her freedom, but each of these uprisings were doomed from the start. They may have been noble, but they were stupid.

Still, I'd say fighting is better than lying down and taking what the world gives you.

I don't think that the stereotype is very bad or damaging. From my (American) point of view, a stereotype like this is somewhat of an acknowledgement of that country. We view the British as snobby, the French as cowardly, the Germans as mean, the Polish as stupid... and all of this is done in jest and good fun. In my opinion, it should be viewed as a sort of compliment. We have no stereotype for, say, Hungarians or Slovakians. Why should we? These countries have not influenced ours significantly, nor is the general public aware of their history enough to warrant any kind of stereotype. Countries with more contact with these ones no doubt hold their own stereotypes and generalizations, positive or negative - we do not.

My point is, a negative stereotype does not necessarily equal a negative perception of that country.

♂

Jul 2, 11, 00:13 #8

Jets918:

You really sound like an ignorant anti-Polish troll.

It took Nazi Germany AND Soviet Russia 5 weeks to fully take over Poland. Although German forces were in Warsaw in several weeks, the rest of Poland was still fighting BOTH the Germans AND Russians for 5 weeks.

Nazi Germany by itself was limited to about 35 days of fuel and was given years of fuel by Russia as per the Molotov Ribbentrop Germany-Russia friendship pact.

France fell to Germany ALONE in 3 weeks.

Also the Polish Calvary NEVER attacked German tanks. That was part of the Nazi German BIG LIE hate campaign against Polish people.

The Polish calvary was used to position Polish soldiers where they can best use their anti-tank RPG's on German tanks. Also the German tanks back then were crap in comparison to tanks today. They weren't very manueverable in muddy terrain and the German tanks had to have their hatches open because they had poor ventilation. There were many times when the German tanks were sluggish in the mud and Polish soldiers would just run up and drop grenades inside the tanks blowing up the occupants.

As for the stereotype that Polish people have subhuman intelligence, it was started by the Nazis and then Hollywood and the Leftist TV networks ironically introduced it into America in the 60's and 70's in an attempt to condition the public to have the same anti-Polish prejudice that they have.

Subhuman intelligence jokes about Polish people origin is Nazi Propaganda
http://frmilovan.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/5828o/

♂

Edited by: BBman Jul 2, 11, 00:52 #9

These stereotypes about poles being dumb originated back in the late 1700s and Early 1800s when poles began migrating to the US. Most of these Poles were uneducated peasants who couldn't read or write in Polish. When they were asked to write down their names for US officials and couldn't, Americans began to think that all Poles were "dumb."

keep in mind, many ethnc groups were ridiculed in the US at one point or another. Such jokes always originated amongst Americans of English descent and the majority were directed at catholic groups (ie poles, irish).

♂ [Suspended]

Jul 2, 11, 01:15 #10

MediaWatch:

It took Nazi Germany AND Soviet Russia 5 weeks to fully take over Poland. Although German forces were in Warsaw in several weeks, the rest of Poland was still fighting BOTH the Germans AND Russians for 5 weeks.

Germany had more or less won by the 14th September - while the Polish plan to retreat and fight on is well documented, it would seem unlikely that an army trained for conventional warfare would manage to win against the occupier - who by that point would have been well entrenched.

As for the "5 weeks" - Poland was finished on the 22nd September after Lwów fell.

MediaWatch:

As for the stereotype that Polish people have subhuman intelligence, it was started by the Nazis and then Hollywood and the Leftist TV networks ironically introduced it into America in the 60's and 70's in an attempt to condition the public to have the same anti-Polish prejudice that they have.

Dream on. It was started because it was true - the amount of stupid Poles who emigrated to America (because there was nothing for them in independent Poland where brains ruled all) is rather large.

♂

Edited by: MediaWatch Jul 2, 11, 01:16 #11

BBman:

These stereotypes about poles being dumb originated back in the late 1700s and 1800s when poles began migrating to the US. Most of these Poles were uneducated peasants who couldn't read or write in Polish. When they were asked to write down their names for US officials and couldn't, Americans began to think that all Poles were "dumb."

Who were these Americans that thought that? Other Americans themselves who were of ethnic groups that were being ridiculed??

Perhaps there was some of that stereotype about Poles back in the 1700's and 1800's but it was less relative to other groups coming over for the simple reason there weren't as many Poles coming over as the Irish, Germans, etc.

In those days believe it or not, the earliest Americans (of English ancestry) ridiculed the Germans because they thought the Germans "weren't smart enough" to assimilate into America because of their hard grasp of the English language and American culture.

Then the Irish were ridiculed tremendously by the English-Americans because of their grudge against them. There were newspaper portrayals as Irish being "backward white monkeys" There was a lot of propaganda about "Irish and dogs need not apply".

Then after that Italians were ridiculed as being "W.O.P.s". "With out papers" and other anti-Italian propaganda.

BBman:

"

keep in mind, many ethnc groups were ridiculed in the US at one point or another. Such jokes always originated amongst Americans of English descent and the major were directed at catholic groups (ie poles, irish).

This is true.

But what about the surge of anti-Polish slurs that occured about 50 years ago in the US?? Was that due to some surge of Polish immigrants 50 years ago who couldn't assimilate into the US? I doubt it.

My parents and other older Polish Americans told me, when they grew up in the 50's they never heard any of these negative ethnic references about Polish people having inferior intelligence.

Then like a tidal wave, in the late 60's and early 70's, there was this surge of people saying subhuman intelligence jokes about Polish people and the harping on "Dumb Polack this" and "Dumb Polack that", "Meathead dumb Polack", etc. "Meathead dumb Polack" came from the mind of CBS-TV anti-Polish Bigot Norman Lear when he created "All in the Family".

These SPECIFIC Anti-Polish soundbites did not exist in the 1700's and 1800's. Americans in the 60's and 70's were merely imitating the anti-Polish sound bites they saw on TV. This was the root of the all the Polish-bashing that took place afterwards.

The 1960's-70's Hollywood/TV media complex was the main origin of subhuman intelligence jokes about Polish people here. Especially NBC-TV

GRZEGORZK	Jul 2, 11, 13:10 #12
Actually Polish People have top 5 iq's in the world.. they are beaten by Norwegians and few others I forget, you can look it up. The stereotypes were made up by hate-filled western europeans and russians

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07 ♂	Jul 2, 11, 13:19 #13
Germans and Dutch are also a point above. I think we could say the Japanese are too in their own way. The Poles were awarded 10 bonus points for them paying off the IQ assessors ;)

Monia

Jul 2, 11, 14:06 #14

Seanus:

Monia, don't you have a stereotype to disprove

Polish students are brilliant in mathematics and always ahead in different championships .

Polish national team has achieved a perfect score on the XX International Championships in Mathematics and Logic Games in Paris - the Poles brought with them four gold, four silver and two bronze medals.
In this year's finale was attended by 230 athletes from around the world, including Canada, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Turkey, Ukraine. Championships are divided into eight age categories - the youngest players were 9 years old, the eldest are professionals, including teachers, engineers, computer scientists. Polish team consisted of 25 persons.

http://portalwiedzy.onet.pl/1379296,10479,info.html

Where are you , Scots ?

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07 ♂	Jul 2, 11, 14:14 #15
Yeah, Poles are good at Maths for sure but I'd prefer communication ideas over that anyday. We don't value Maths that highly, Monia. If you were intelligent, you would know that ;) ;)

♂

Edited by: JonnyM Jul 2, 11, 14:16 #16

Monia:

Polish students are brilliant in mathematics and always ahead in different championships

One of my oldest friends in heavily involved in that competition, but there are many, many posters here who wouldn't consider him truly Polish...

Monia:

Brilliant minds and revealing theories developed on a larger scale in Poland than in Scotland.

Really? No, not really. Scotland's contribution to the world has been immense.

Monia:

Scotland has never been a power

Actually Scotland, as part of the United Kingdom has very much been a world power and within the union has always punched above its weight.

♂ [Suspended]

Jul 2, 11, 14:30 #17

Monia:

Polish students are brilliant in mathematics and always ahead in different championships .

Polish national team has achieved a perfect score on the XX International Championships in Mathematics and Logic Games in Paris - the Poles brought with them four gold, four silver and two bronze medals.
In this year's finale was attended by 230 athletes from around the world, including Canada, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Turkey, Ukraine. Championships are divided into eight age categories - the youngest players were 9 years old, the eldest are professionals, including teachers, engineers, computer scientists. Polish team consisted of 25 persons.
http://portalwiedzy.onet.pl/1379296,10479,info.html

Where are you , Scots ?

True.
Polish students also have won the IBM battle of the brains contest before.

Polish students have also won the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest

Very few Nations have won either of these.

Monia

Jul 2, 11, 14:33 #18

Registration began at Imagine Cup 2011. Finals next edition of Microsoft's international technological competition will be held next July in New York.

Imagine Cup is organized every year by Microsoft programming contest for students around the world.
This is the 9th edition of the competition, which last year signed up until 3500 the Poles. This time the world finals will include five main categories. Among them is the software design, embedded systems design, game design, digital media and information technology. Participants will be challenged to create applications using technologies such as. NET Framework, Silverlight, or games designed for PC, Xbox 360, or smartphone browser. You will also make a film for this year's event messages - Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems of humanity.

In previous years, Poles occupied high positions in the Imagine Cup competition. In the 2010 edition, all three at most apart in a special category of Internet Explorer 8 Award has been occupied by students of our country.

http://www.dobreprogramy.pl/Ruszyla-rejestracja-na-Imagine-Cup-2011,Ak tualnosc,20975.html

Stereotypes ? Want more ?

♂

Edited by: Moderator Jul 2, 11, 14:46 #19

Monia, any Polish person near me knows my true opinions of many Poles. I have the utmost respect for many people here. All of my private students are at the top of their respective disciplines and hold postgraduate degrees. I have been here for 7 years and know that the general level of education amongst my students at school is pretty high. Now, they are only one part of Polish society but Poles have learnt that they have to compete to get places in life. A lot of Poles are great at repairing things and have learned through doing :)

Taking the bait is stupid, Monia. Any intelligent person worth their salt will tell you to walk away and ignore it. That's where the stupid side of a fair few Poles comes out. A troll? Not at all. I spark discussions. Besides, I value the views of people that know and judge me in real life rather than faceless entities.

♂

Jul 2, 11, 14:47 #20

Monia:

Polish students are brilliant in mathematics and always ahead in different championships .

Polish national team has achieved a perfect score on the XX International Championships in Mathematics and Logic Games in Paris - the Poles brought with them four gold, four silver and two bronze medals.
In this year's finale was attended by 230 athletes from around the world, including Canada, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Turkey, Ukraine. Championships are divided into eight age categories - the youngest players were 9 years old, the eldest are professionals, including teachers, engineers, computer scientists. Polish team consisted of 25 persons.

http://portalwiedzy.onet.pl/1379296,10479,info.html

Where are you , Scots ?

I've read somewhere that even during the communist times the amount of scientific research and articles that were published in Poland made or big brother the Soviet Union look very pale in comparison. Soviets were good only in the military field, that is of course if the didn't copy something from the west.

Seanus:

Monia, that is BS! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_inventions_and_discoveries, Poland hasn't even come close to matching monumental inventions such as these.

Maybe so Seanus but one country is good in one thing and worse in other just like with people you gotta find what it is. http://polandian.home.pl/index.php/2009/04/21/six-cool-inventions-you- didnt-know-were-polish/

♂

Edited by: Moderator Jul 2, 11, 14:51 #21

Penn, spot on!!! Each has their own specialisms and value sets :) The stupid don't know how to match skillsets to reality whereas the intelligent ascertain needs and can prosper. Poles tend to be quite practical as people and this is to their advantage. A downside of Polish thinking is black/white thinking. Too many try to slot you into a neat little bracket and label you as sth. A major plus of Poles is 'kombinowanie' :) :)

Monia	Jul 2, 11, 15:04 #22
PennBoy: the Soviet Union look very pale in comparison. The Soviets were so jealous and many times our inventions came as their .

♂

Edited by: Seanus Jul 2, 11, 15:15 #23

I'm not an expert at all, this is about stereotypes and potentially confirming or debunking them.

Poland is FAR from being an ugly nation. There are smart people and stupid people wherever you go. Why are you linking intelligence to stereotypes? One is rational and logical whereas the other tends to come from folk tales or the experiences of a band of people that saw only part of the whole.

Next topic? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqV0ldeEn8Y, about Polish stereotypes. I hope you can find it in you to laugh a little :)

I am quite full at the moment, yes. I've just eaten :) :) What translation??

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07 ♂	Jul 2, 11, 15:25 #24
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjsgSwplENw&feature=related, jokes based on the stupidity stereotype. To be taken with a pinch of salt ;) ;)

♂

Edited by: PennBoy Jul 2, 11, 15:32 #25

Let's solve this once and for all the Polish stupid stereotype comes from uneducated peasants going to the west. Who in the Polish countryside in the 20s had any education? or even knew how to read and write, very few. The problem was that is was almost exclusively these Poles that went to the west making all Poles look bad and stupid. I've met Poles and their families who have came here in those days, some couldn't spell their names and had immigration officers write it incorrectly. The new immigration is totally different most 30 and under are college educated some already speak English. People see that and are changing their opinion of Poles the only ones who still wholeheartedly believe in those stereotypes are a**holes who don't care whether it's true or not but like the way it sounds and have something to laugh at.

cowalsky

Jul 2, 11, 17:17 #26

PennBoy:

Let's solve this once and for all the Polish stupid stereotype comes from uneducated peasants going to the west. Who in the Polish countryside in the 20s had any education?

I would say it's still true today. Who do you think emigrate first: the most intelligent, prudent, resourceful or "peasant" with no education and no "tools" to make his/her live better.

I am one of those peasants on emigration and the ones I see on the streets are in 99% peasants.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07 ♂	Jul 2, 11, 17:21 #27
It is no secret that many 'buraki' went abroad and didn't do Poland proud. I think there should be an international island to offload all idiots to.

PennBoyThreads: 157 Posts: 3,443 Joined: Dec 7, 08 ♂	Jul 2, 11, 17:34 #28
cowalsky: I am one of those peasants on emigration and the ones I see on the streets are in 99% peasants. That's you I came from the city. It did change, my father is an educated man with a rural background yet his sister, cousins are all college educated. Many young people from the country go to college nowadays.

cowalsky	Jul 2, 11, 17:51 #29
PennBoy: That's you I came from the city. It did change, my father is an educated man with a rural background yet his sister, cousins are all college educated. Many young people from the country go to college nowadays. Didn't meant to offend anyone, by peasant I meant ...? knacker. But I still stand by 99% of us out there are knackers.

PennBoyThreads: 157 Posts: 3,443 Joined: Dec 7, 08 ♂	Edited by: PennBoy Jul 2, 11, 17:55 #30
cowalsky: knacker basically 'buroki' in Polish-beets slang

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