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| Hanging Polish insurgents by Stanisław Witkiewicz source Wikipedia |
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| On the Baltic at Palanga by Stanislaw Witkiewicz Source: Wikipedia |
Monday, November 26, 2018
Hanging Polish Insurgents by Stanisław Witkiewicz
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Thursday, November 15, 2018
American Liberals March for Anti-Semitism, Murder, Torture, and Jihad!!!
AMERICAN LIBERALS MARCH FOR ANTI-SEMITISM, MURDER, TORTURE,
AND JIHAD !!!
Think you'll see that headline any time soon in the New York Times, the Guardian, or on Fox News?
Yeah, me neither.
But -- the headline is true -- if we apply to Americans the same "logic" of those bashing decent Poles for celebrating, in their Independence Day March, their surviving over one hundred years of genocidal pressures.
American liberals marched in The Women's March, called the largest international protest ever, an historic march organized by Linda Sarsour, an anti-semite and self-identified jihadi, whose mentor Siraj Wahhaj was an unindicted co-conspirator in the World Trade Center bombing, and featuring Donna Hylton, an ex-con who kidnapped, tortured, and murdered Thomas Vigliarolo.
"Wait, wait, wait!" American liberals will insist. "It's more complicated than that!"
Yes. Yes, the Women's March is more complicated than its association with jihadis and torturers.
So is Poland's Independence Day March.
The mainstream media *does* tell you the full story about the Women's March. It *doesn't* tell you the full story of the Polish Independence Day March.
And therein lies the Bieganski, Brute Polak Stereotype.
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Poland's Independence Day March. The Full Story ... Is Not Told Here. It Can't Be.
A couple of Polish men, living in Poland, posted on my Facebook page about the Independence Day March. One of them shared the previously linked article critical of the march.
These Polish men emphasized that there are unsavory elements in the march.
Me? I don't know the full story of the march. As I did last year, I post a variety of viewpoints. I caution against using the march to advance the Bieganski stereotype. I acknowledge that there are unsavory elements in Poland, that is, anti-Semites, and other thugs. You can see my posts on this topic from last year here.
What is the full story of the march? I don't know. I can't know. I'm not in Poland, and I am cautious of media reports on all sides, as is necessary when it comes to controversial stories that powerful individuals and entities use to advance their own agenda.
I invited these two Polish men to write their own accounts of the march, and submit them to me for publication here. If they comply, I will post their accounts. If they don't comply, we lose the chance to hear their point of view.
Below please find two photos from New York Times coverage.
One shows nationalist extremists. The other shows gay rights activists. The NYT said that this counter demo was much smaller.
In these two images, the NYT creates an image of Poland as a land overrun with fascists, where a handful of gay rights activists bravely struggle for existence.
We don't see, in this coverage, the hundreds of average, everyday people visible in the previously posted eleven-minute video.
That's why I say that those of us who are not in Poland, and who rely on mainstream media, or even YouTube videos for our accounts, can't know the full story of the march.
So. If you are in Poland, and you think we need to hear a more negative account of the march, please do send it to me. Thanks in advance.
These Polish men emphasized that there are unsavory elements in the march.
Me? I don't know the full story of the march. As I did last year, I post a variety of viewpoints. I caution against using the march to advance the Bieganski stereotype. I acknowledge that there are unsavory elements in Poland, that is, anti-Semites, and other thugs. You can see my posts on this topic from last year here.
What is the full story of the march? I don't know. I can't know. I'm not in Poland, and I am cautious of media reports on all sides, as is necessary when it comes to controversial stories that powerful individuals and entities use to advance their own agenda.
I invited these two Polish men to write their own accounts of the march, and submit them to me for publication here. If they comply, I will post their accounts. If they don't comply, we lose the chance to hear their point of view.
Below please find two photos from New York Times coverage.
One shows nationalist extremists. The other shows gay rights activists. The NYT said that this counter demo was much smaller.
In these two images, the NYT creates an image of Poland as a land overrun with fascists, where a handful of gay rights activists bravely struggle for existence.
We don't see, in this coverage, the hundreds of average, everyday people visible in the previously posted eleven-minute video.
That's why I say that those of us who are not in Poland, and who rely on mainstream media, or even YouTube videos for our accounts, can't know the full story of the march.
So. If you are in Poland, and you think we need to hear a more negative account of the march, please do send it to me. Thanks in advance.
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| Adam Stepien source: NYT |
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| Marcin Obara source: NYT |
Crying.
My book, Bieganski the Brute Polak Stereotype is a scholarly book. This blog is usually pretty dry. My goal is to demonstrate that Poles and other Eastern European, Christian, peasant-descent persons are stereotyped. Getting emotional does not help in that work. Facts may help.
This morning I checked into Facebook, discovered a series of abusive posts from a stranger, and tried to ignore them. I was cleaning house, and I had to handle many items I inherited from my brother Joe, who died recently.
And I began to cry.
I posted the following on Facebook. I am sharing it here, unedited.
Whiny post.
And what I want to whine about is so obscure, maybe no one reading this will have any idea of what I am trying to say.
Two things happened this morning.
I am cleaning house. I checked into Facebook.
Some troll I have never heard of, not my Facebook friend but Facebook friend of a Facebook friend, WASP first and last name, commented on one of my posts.
Gist of his post: You Polax are the scum of the earth.
Look -- is your identity something people can use to hurt you?
Is the very name of your identity something people can use to hurt you?
"Polak" is the Polish word for "Polish man."
How do you know if your house has been robbed by a Polak? The garbage can is empty and the dog is pregnant.
How do you tell a bride at a Polish wedding?
The one with the braided armpits.
How do you know if a Polak has her period?
She's wearing only one sock.
These jokes are not as popular as they once were, but they were at their height of popularity when I was in high school. A vulnerable age.
The Brute Polak stereotype is the rich, white liberal version of the Polak joke.
"You Polaks are the world's worst haters. You just marched for your Independence Day? It was a hate march. I know because I am a rich, white liberal, and a WASP, and I am better than you. Why? Because my people rule the world and you are a *POLAK*. So just shut the fuck up and let my superior, rich, white liberal ooze suffocate you."
So. First thing this morning, I take a break from cleaning house, and this is what I confront.
Scroll past. Scroll past.
I saw a post from Teri, one of my favorite Facebook friends. She saw the photo I posted of my dad in his uniform. He joined the service when he was underage.
Of my dad, Teri wrote, "So handsome. He has happy eyes."
I just wanted to burst into tears .
Because the story of my Polish immigrant-family dad joining the service when he was underage is not a happy story.
It's a freaking nightmare of a story.
And I can't tell it to you. It's *his* story.
Let's just say that when I tell this story to close friends, their jaws drop and they say, "Oh my God."
The pain. The horror. what happened to him. And then hunger and frustration and being persecuted by the Feds, hitting the rails, trying to support his family during the Depression, not speaking English well, not having so much as a grade school diploma, and finally joining the service when he was just a child ... so he and his family could eat.
I choked back tears after I read Teri's comment.
and I resumed cleaning house.
And I came across stuff I salvaged from among Joe's things.
Joe was a genius. That's not a compliment, it's an actual fact. Genius IQ. Antoinette had a genius IQ as well.
I watched them all die, and ... they had so much sorrow in their lives, and so much frustration, and they never achieved or enjoyed what they would have achieved or enjoyed if they had been born to WASP families who didn't have that burden of immigration history and wrong ethnicity.
Right now I'm wondering if anyone will understand this post. What it means to be poor, and white, and of immigrant, Bohunk stock in America.
My mother was the *best* natural writer I have ever known. As a teacher and writer I have read hundreds of people's writing. My mother was in another dimension from most people.
Her English, her second language of several, was pristine. Her vocabulary, her phrasing, her command. She could recite poetry from memory.
And she spent her life working in factories and cleaning houses, often in the same day.
And then maybe you take a shower and you go to college ... and your betters hear your name and put you in your place with a well-timed Polak joke.
And then rich, white liberals decide that you, Polak that you are, are the world's worst hater. And when you march to celebrate surviving over a hundred years of genocidal pressures, you, Polak you, must be publicly shamed. And shaming you is a righteous, holy thing to do.
I'm going to go cry now.
While I continue cleaning house.
This morning I checked into Facebook, discovered a series of abusive posts from a stranger, and tried to ignore them. I was cleaning house, and I had to handle many items I inherited from my brother Joe, who died recently.
And I began to cry.
I posted the following on Facebook. I am sharing it here, unedited.
Whiny post.
And what I want to whine about is so obscure, maybe no one reading this will have any idea of what I am trying to say.
Two things happened this morning.
I am cleaning house. I checked into Facebook.
Some troll I have never heard of, not my Facebook friend but Facebook friend of a Facebook friend, WASP first and last name, commented on one of my posts.
Gist of his post: You Polax are the scum of the earth.
Look -- is your identity something people can use to hurt you?
Is the very name of your identity something people can use to hurt you?
"Polak" is the Polish word for "Polish man."
How do you know if your house has been robbed by a Polak? The garbage can is empty and the dog is pregnant.
How do you tell a bride at a Polish wedding?
The one with the braided armpits.
How do you know if a Polak has her period?
She's wearing only one sock.
These jokes are not as popular as they once were, but they were at their height of popularity when I was in high school. A vulnerable age.
The Brute Polak stereotype is the rich, white liberal version of the Polak joke.
"You Polaks are the world's worst haters. You just marched for your Independence Day? It was a hate march. I know because I am a rich, white liberal, and a WASP, and I am better than you. Why? Because my people rule the world and you are a *POLAK*. So just shut the fuck up and let my superior, rich, white liberal ooze suffocate you."
So. First thing this morning, I take a break from cleaning house, and this is what I confront.
Scroll past. Scroll past.
I saw a post from Teri, one of my favorite Facebook friends. She saw the photo I posted of my dad in his uniform. He joined the service when he was underage.
Of my dad, Teri wrote, "So handsome. He has happy eyes."
I just wanted to burst into tears .
Because the story of my Polish immigrant-family dad joining the service when he was underage is not a happy story.
It's a freaking nightmare of a story.
And I can't tell it to you. It's *his* story.
Let's just say that when I tell this story to close friends, their jaws drop and they say, "Oh my God."
The pain. The horror. what happened to him. And then hunger and frustration and being persecuted by the Feds, hitting the rails, trying to support his family during the Depression, not speaking English well, not having so much as a grade school diploma, and finally joining the service when he was just a child ... so he and his family could eat.
I choked back tears after I read Teri's comment.
and I resumed cleaning house.
And I came across stuff I salvaged from among Joe's things.
Joe was a genius. That's not a compliment, it's an actual fact. Genius IQ. Antoinette had a genius IQ as well.
I watched them all die, and ... they had so much sorrow in their lives, and so much frustration, and they never achieved or enjoyed what they would have achieved or enjoyed if they had been born to WASP families who didn't have that burden of immigration history and wrong ethnicity.
Right now I'm wondering if anyone will understand this post. What it means to be poor, and white, and of immigrant, Bohunk stock in America.
My mother was the *best* natural writer I have ever known. As a teacher and writer I have read hundreds of people's writing. My mother was in another dimension from most people.
Her English, her second language of several, was pristine. Her vocabulary, her phrasing, her command. She could recite poetry from memory.
And she spent her life working in factories and cleaning houses, often in the same day.
And then maybe you take a shower and you go to college ... and your betters hear your name and put you in your place with a well-timed Polak joke.
And then rich, white liberals decide that you, Polak that you are, are the world's worst hater. And when you march to celebrate surviving over a hundred years of genocidal pressures, you, Polak you, must be publicly shamed. And shaming you is a righteous, holy thing to do.
I'm going to go cry now.
While I continue cleaning house.
 |
| My dad and my brother Joe. |
Independence Day March. A Critical View
A Facebook friend living in Poland recommended this article, offering a critical view of the Independence Day March.
Monday, November 12, 2018
Polish Independence Day March on Youtube
I'm not endorsing any of these videos. I came across them after doing a search of Poland march videos.
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