Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Polish Liberals Stereotype and Hate More than Polish Conservatives (?) New Research from the University of Warsaw
I don't live in Poland. I don't write about contemporary Polish society. My book Bieganski: The Brute Polak Stereotype is about stereotypes of Poles, primarily in the US, Israel, and Western Europe. That being the case, I label this new research about "liberals" and "conservatives" with caution. If our Polish readers (Jerzy and Lukasz for example) would like to correct my use of the terms "liberal" and "conservative" in relation to Poland, please feel free to do so, but tell me why.
Anyway.
New research from the University of Warsaw suggests that Poland's "liberals" are more hostile to Poland's "conservatives" than vice versa.
You can read the full report here
Here is a summary from Rzeczpospolita. You can read the full article here.
"Attitudes of supporters of opposition parties towards PiS supporters are more negative than PiS supporters' attitude towards opposition supporters - voters of opposition parties have more negative feelings, dehumanize and have less trust in their political opponents than supporters of the ruling party;
• Supporters of opposition parties have more negative attitudes towards PiS supporters than those who are least liked in Polish society (ie Jews, Muslims, refugees, homosexuals and transgender people);
• PiS supporters have the same negative attitudes towards supporters of opposition parties and groups traditionally disliked by Poles;
• Supporters of opposition parties believe that they are more disliked by their political opponents than the supporters of the ruling party;
• Supporters of opposition parties believe that they are more dehumanized by their political opponents than the supporters of the ruling party;
• Both PiS supporters and supporters of opposition parties feel negative feelings about political opponents by predicting that political opponents do not like and dehumanize the group to which the respondent belongs;
• Both in the group of voters of the PiS and voters of opposition parties, dehumanization of political opponents is envisaged by the belief that political opponents dehumanize the group to which the respondent belongs;
• PiS supporters have more frequent contact with opposition supporters than supporters of the opposition with PiS supporters;
• In the group of PiS supporters, contact with opposition supporters is associated with positive attitudes towards them - the more frequent are the interactions with opposition party voters, the warmer are the feelings of the group, the greater trust towards its members and the less dehumanization
• The effects of contact with political opponents are much weaker in the group of opposition supporters; contact with PiS supporters was associated with greater confidence in this group, but only in those voters of opposition parties who did not perceive their attitudes in moral categories. In people who saw their attitude towards opponents as a matter of morality, contact with PiS supporters was associated with less trust in this group."
Thank you very much to Jerzy for sending this in.
Monday, January 21, 2019
Poland Faces a New Monster -- Right Wing Hate Mongering: New York Times
"The news in Poland today feels like a new kind of monster, a Frankenstein’s monster that has gotten out of control online and mutated into hate speech that can then be found everywhere else. Open your email, and you’ll see: “You’re a piece of trash, and you will die.” “We know where you live.” “We’re going to cut off that stupid head.” The internet hums with violence.
In a healthy, normal society, people can disagree with one another, even have diametrically opposing views, and this does not at all mean that they must hate one another. The Polish authorities, however, have made the division of Poles their primary task.
Aggression is in the air in Poland. The emotions unleashed by the escalation of the language of political debate may easily pass over into action, and then this aggression gets directed at a specific object. One misguided soul is all it takes. The cord, pulled to the limit of tension, snaps at its most sensitive spot."
Olga Tokarczuk, New York Times
In a healthy, normal society, people can disagree with one another, even have diametrically opposing views, and this does not at all mean that they must hate one another. The Polish authorities, however, have made the division of Poles their primary task.
Aggression is in the air in Poland. The emotions unleashed by the escalation of the language of political debate may easily pass over into action, and then this aggression gets directed at a specific object. One misguided soul is all it takes. The cord, pulled to the limit of tension, snaps at its most sensitive spot."
Olga Tokarczuk, New York Times
Monday, January 14, 2019
Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz Fatally Stabbed
CreditCreditAgencja Gazeta/Reuters |
Joanna Berendt, New York Times.
"The mayor of the port city of Gdansk in northern Poland, an advocate of gay and lesbian rights and a leading critic of the right-wing government’s anti-migrant rhetoric, died on Monday after being stabbed at a public charity concert Sunday night, the minister of health told reporters.
Mayor Pawel Adamowicz, 53, who was elected mayor in 1998, died from numerous wounds, according to medical officials."
Read the full article here.
Friday, January 11, 2019
"How Ronald Reagan Helped Poland Overthrow the Evil Empire" by Filip Mazurczak
Filip Mazurczak, who has contributed guest blog posts to this blog, has a review in The Federalist on "How Ronald Reagan Helped Poland Overthrow the Evil Empire."
Monday, January 7, 2019
Blaming Poland for the Holocaust Is Unjustified: Moshe Arens, RIP
Moshe Arens, former Israeli defense minister, who wrote the February 5, 2018, Haaretz piece, "Blaming Poland for the Holocaust is Unjustified," has passed away at 93. RIP.
Thanks for Lukasz for sending this in.
Thanks for Lukasz for sending this in.
Friday, January 4, 2019
"Study reveals the Nazis murdered 1.47 million Jews in 100 days during 1942": Jewish News
"Selection" of Hungarian Jews on the ramp at the death camp Auschwitz-II (Birkenau) in Poland during German occupation. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Author: :Auschwitz Album from Yad Vashem)
FTA: “This study identifies an extreme phase of hyper-intense killing when over 1.47 million Jews – more than 25 per cent of the Jews killed in all six years of World War Two – were murdered by the Nazis in three month surge.
“The kill rate in the Operation Reinhard period is approximately 83 per cent higher than the commonly suggested figure for Rwanda – indicating previous comparisons have been based on incorrect accounting.”
Read the entire article here. Thank you to the reader who sent this in.
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Thursday, January 3, 2019
A book someone might like to review
See here. I know nothing about this book. Just stumbled across it.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Ohio MD Publicly Vowed to Poison Jews Six Years Ago, Remained Employed.
An MD in Ohio publicly vowed to poison Jews -- six years ago -- and had been employed up until this past month.
Mainstream news sources are not covering this story, or, I have not found their coverage.
The news broke on websites. Today it's appearing on Fox and Daily Mail. Another story just broke minutes ago at the Daily News.
If this doctor were Polish or Catholic, or Polish and Catholic, her virulent, deadly anti-Semitism would be front page news.
Yet CNN and the NYT appear not to be interested in this story.
Why not?
Because all hate is not equal. The hatred promoted by some ideologies is treated with kid gloves.