thornhappy
Posts: 8596
Joined: 12/16/2006
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Hi folks--
This article about Poland reminds me of the US, since Soviet Union broke up.
"Perhaps surprisingly, Poles actually have sound reasons to celebrate: they have navigated the treacherous transition from Communism better than most of the post-Soviet satellite nations, and theirs is the only country in Europe to have avoided a recession during the financial crisis.
Instead, they are feeling insecure, pessimistic and uncertain about the future, and they have turned on one another.
"Poles always feel they need to have an enemy,” Urszula Slawinska, 38, said one day as she walked along a sidewalk in Warsaw, an average citizen, headed home, uninvolved in politics, yet keenly aware of what was happening around her. “Because of our history we define ourselves, to be Polish meant to protect our country. So now that we don’t have to protect ourselves, we still need to find an enemy.” "
I think we've been looking for our next enemy since the Reagan administration. Without communists, folks went after gays and the so-called gay agenda. Then things got even more polarized, with many religious conservatives going after anyone they considered less pious than themselves. Now it's Islam, smokers, fat people, and the educated "elite".
We'd get a shitload more done if we just agreed to coexist (like in the early days of Manhattan). Don't have to like each other, just act in a civil fashion.
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Poland turns on itself - 
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