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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 3, 2022

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Can anybody explain the Polish perspective on the Ukraine war?

I went to Poland and it looked like what Western Europe should look like. The urban areas were clean and seemingly safe. Indeed the people living there are mostly European or Slavic.

My understanding is that most of the tsunami of African or Middle-Eastern immigrants of the 2000s would rather go to Western Europe or Scandinavia for better welfare or economic prospects.

Still, Poland used to get in trouble with the EU for not wanting to take in a certain amount of them.

Moreover, Poland has also faced reprimand from the same union for their policies toward non-heterosexuals.

Why did Poland even join the EU? Did they really need the money so badly at the time?

Now it seems that Poland is going toward ever more alignment with the EU and US.

Are they really so scared of Russia that they would drink the corn syrup and give up on whatever is left of their culture/sovereignty/demographics?

Is anybody of relevance in Poland even attempting to contradict the pro-Western turn?

  • -14

I went to Poland and it looked like what Western Europe should look like. The urban areas were clean and seemingly safe. Indeed the people living there are mostly European or Slavic.

This assumes as axiomatic that we all agree with white nationalism, which is consensus building.

I can see how it might read as consensus building, but if it is, surely so is suggesting that thinking the European country of Poland should look like the memetic concept of Europe as depicted in the media (clean, safe and full of Europeans) - is white nationalism.

The trick isn’t saying a European country should look like one, the trick is implying the cleanness of the country is due to the whiteness of its residents.

Arguments on The Motte shouldn’t be bundled to the point where coherent discussion of the OP of a thread requires agreement with smuggled premises. That way lies the chaos and LARPing of 4chan/pol/.

While I may not be able to produce clean data to establish my hunch, the dramatic increase in immigration of the 2010s in Western Europe came with a lot of unsanitary conditions and street violence.

I'm not implying that white = clean, as it's Western Europeans who welcomed that uncleanliness, and there are many varied people that are very much capable of cleanliness, for example Singaporeans.

Based on the observation on the ground that (the surveyed areas of) Poland is a very clean country, I'm guessing that the Polish people generally enjoys keeping their environment clean.

The cleanliness is a result of a lack of a certain type of population, which is abundant in Western Europe due to EU policies.

This has me questioning why the Polish government is suddenly so strongly supportive of EU policies, despite what seems like a natural, intrinsic cleanliness of its people.

I'm not implying that white = clean,

No, but you are saying that certain groups are unclean ("The cleanliness is a result of a lack of a certain type of population"). Which in itself is fine with me -- I am pretty close to a free speech absolutist, and am on record as advocating that social media entities be barred from engaging in censorship that would not be permitted were it done by the govt in the US -- but I have no idea what group you are talking about. Turks in Germany? Africans in France? South Asians in Great Britain? All of the above? Immigrants in general? Why don't you just come out and say what you mean?

And, btw, when those same supposedly clean Eastern Europeans came to the US in the early 20th Century, people complained about how dirty their neighborhoods were. So, perhaps you are simply confusing the effects of high population density with the effects of the presence of whatever group you are talking about? I don't know, because, again, you don't give enough information for others to assess your claim.

But Russia is very dirty, much dirtier than most EU countries. That explains why Poland is so much against Russia and prefer to be aligned with the EU :)

Hasn't Paris been infamous for it's unique odeur d'urine for something like a century?

I had visited Paris several times and didn't notice it. Probably true but the importance of many things are often exaggerated. While driving through Europe overall France seemed clean and orderly. Belgium was the worse and Poland indeed was clean and nice. But the climate and geography can also play certain role. Possibly that many immigrants coming from the countries without forests, have different aesthetic preferences that they don't care so much about beautiful things like Polish people do.

Funny that in Latvia since we got independence from the Soviet Union, when people rejuvenate their flats, they often call it euro repair (eiroremonts). It annoys me because what it has to do with Europe? But somehow people there associate nice things with Europe and old and ugly things with the Soviet culture.