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General discussionworst national traits of your country(233 posts)(233 posts)
(233 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted December 11, 2015
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Theoclymenus: Yeah, fair point. That's probably the REAL reason. But apart from THAT ? :)
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tinyE: He's a prick and he's an easy target. Some people are sick and offensive but keep a calm demeanor. Trump dares you to hate him and I don't doubt the more people he upsets the bigger thrill he gets.

In internet terms, he's a troll.

There was absolutely no reason for his 'bar Muslims' comment because it's unconstitutional from the outset; as a suggestion it's beyond inane. The reason he said it was to get a rise, which he did. That's why he's a target.
When I heard what he said I did a double take : this guy wants to get elected ? Clearly that is not going to get him elected. However, wrong though his solution may be, it's an extreme idea which perhaps needed mooting ? It's offensive and it wouldn't work anyway, but he had the guts to propose it. For the record, I don't agree with him, but I think he should have the right to express that opinion without being "barred" - because that's not democracy any more if you restrict freedom of thought and speech like that.

Tyson Fury is another case in point. He won the world heavyweight championship and is up for "Sports Personality of the Year" - a silly British ritual we hold each year to decide who has been the most "agreeable" sportsperson of the year. He wims the title then proceeds to say that the best place for a woman is "on her back" and makes a few jokes about homosexuals, and now he's like public enemy number one. But, you know, that's what he believes. I don't agree with him either but I don't think he's a bad guy at all. He is a Christian, after all, and that's his (politically incorrect) opinion.

Worst INTERNATIONAL characteristic ? Political correctness ! There, I said it !
Posted December 11, 2015
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Yeshu: Obsessive martyrdom complex.

If you read Polish history you would know that we had it rough. From backstabbing allies to having the entire country erased from the map for a 100+ years.

However, instead of learning from this and growing as a country we blissfully bathe in our tragic past like a emo high school girl that constantly complains how her life is shit.

So Instead of pulling ourselves together we complain how bad we had it in history as if to gather other peoples sympathy.

To give an example, a few years ago there was a plain accident in which the former president of Poland died with some other important political figure heads while flying to Katyń, a famous historical landmark where the Soviets executed allot of Polish soldiers, politicians etc. It was a big blow. But instead of sorting the thing out the media keeps milking the event to this day. It even went so far as renaming it from the the Smoleńsk Tragedy (the town where the plain fell) to the Smoleńsk Massacre as there are allot of conspiracy theorists claiming that it was a secret Russian attack.

LOOK AT HOW BAD WE HAVE IT!!! PITY US!!!!
One does not pity survivors or martyrs, one pities weak victims but Poland endures in a very unique way.
I often wonder how Poland made it to this day, it's like you people just try to ignore all the invasions by those violent wimps and try to go on producing the most insanely professional musicians (been to a concert of the "Atom String Quartet" and some Polish jazzers last time, woah dude) and games that just say "whatever, deal with it" to modern political correctness and prudence.
Post edited December 11, 2015 by Klumpen0815
Posted December 11, 2015
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Emob78: ... Quite a nice trick. It'd be like telling the Germans just how shitty Hitlers mustache was, then the next week seeing 50 million Germans all marching around with matching Hitler 'staches. I'm not really sure anyone is getting the point here.
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Trilarion: Hmm, the example might be badly chosen, not because of Hitler but because of the moustaches??

If you mean that some people take criticism to bury themselves even deeper into their own world instead of looking over the horizon, then yes.

What is really good is living in another country for some time. You realize very well what they are doing wrong and what is wrong in your own country. Doesn't mean that one can change anything but definitely gives a better perspective on things.

Thinking for yourself also helps. "Gods own country" (US), "Poland for the Poles" (Poland), "Russia, Russia" (Russia), "Turkey is invincible" (Turkey), ... One doesn't need long to reach the conclusion, even when the slogan is about the own country, that a lot of these slogans are either strongly exaggerated (if one wants to express it politely) or outright bullshit. This should mean that one stops listening to and taking part in them, not that one tries to continue even more fiercely with them.
I don't care to live in another country because I'd get very tired of people lecturing me about how horrible America is... in their own language for an added bonus.

Don't get me wrong, I still think America is the best country in the world. But it's like Doug Stanhope said, being the best country in the world is like being the prettiest waffle house waitress. You still have a lot of work to do.
Posted December 11, 2015
You could also say, rather than criticizing your own country's traits, that you wish your country had certain traits which other countries have, but your own lacks. As an Englishman I am proud of our national charactersitics (whatever they are supposed to be), but I sometimes look at other countries and the way they do things and I think "that's beautiful, that's totally lacking here". For instance, art and philosophy : England is not very good at these things, and they are the greatest things. Nearly all the other European nations are better at these supremely important things than we English are.

Two annoying English national traits from my point of view. We are :

1. Poor at philosophy and art.

2. Almost entirely monolingual (almost the whole nation speaks only its native tongue, and usually badly).

We do have some very hard to define virtues, but I can't define them.
Posted December 11, 2015
I asked a good friend of mine from Atlantis this question.

He said to me, "It's at the bottom of the fucking ocean asshole! Next stupid question!"
Posted December 11, 2015
It's amazing how masses of people shift their opinions over time. The mass opinion of today is not the mass opinion of 100 years ago, nor will it be the mass opinion in 100 years' time. Someone comes up with a "great" idea and then basically everyone thinks his thought for 100 years, rather than their own thoughts. You only have one life. You are situated in eternity. Think for yourself, even if it means going against your contemporaries.
Posted December 11, 2015
Read my country, search corruption, see you in a week.
Posted December 11, 2015
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Theoclymenus: ... everyone, without exception, is going to be forced into a "politically correct" straitjacket ? What sort of choice will that give to the general / voting public of any country? ...
I think this is not true. There is plenty of choice in the center: Giving money to the poor or exempting the rich, saving the climate, preserving conservation or building another pipeline, managing droughts, keeping privacy, fighting surveillance, managing immigration, dealing in international politics. Even without extremists there is so much important stuff to decide that heavily influences all our daily lifes one way or the other. My guess is that the voice of the center is not heard enough currently, but well, I don't know why or how to change it.

20 years before noone would have dared dishonoring a war veteran or asking for markings of people with a different faith, not because there was more political correctness then but because there was more decency among politicians, the media and the voters. I guess when decency is absent, politicial correctness (the smaller stepsister) has to step in. But I agree. People should not listen to Donald Trump because what he says is political incorrect but because it's mostly horrible. The outcome would be the same though. People can be wrong actually. Even if they have money. It's possible.
Posted December 11, 2015
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Yeshu: Obsessive martyrdom complex.

If you read Polish history you would know that we had it rough. From backstabbing allies to having the entire country erased from the map for a 100+ years.

However, instead of learning from this and growing as a country we blissfully bathe in our tragic past like a emo high school girl that constantly complains how her life is shit.

So Instead of pulling ourselves together we complain how bad we had it in history as if to gather other peoples sympathy.

To give an example, a few years ago there was a plain accident in which the former president of Poland died with some other important political figure heads while flying to Katyń, a famous historical landmark where the Soviets executed allot of Polish soldiers, politicians etc. It was a big blow. But instead of sorting the thing out the media keeps milking the event to this day. It even went so far as renaming it from the the Smoleńsk Tragedy (the town where the plain fell) to the Smoleńsk Massacre as there are allot of conspiracy theorists claiming that it was a secret Russian attack.

LOOK AT HOW BAD WE HAVE IT!!! PITY US!!!!
So Polish self-pity then ? Is that a self-pitying admission or a brave new attitude ? Just asking ....
Posted December 11, 2015
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Theoclymenus: ... everyone, without exception, is going to be forced into a "politically correct" straitjacket ? What sort of choice will that give to the general / voting public of any country? ...
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Trilarion: I think this is not true. There is plenty of choice in the center: Giving money to the poor or exempting the rich, saving the climate, preserving conservation or building another pipeline, managing droughts, keeping privacy, fighting surveillance, managing immigration, dealing in international politics. Even without extremists there is so much important stuff to decide that heavily influences all our daily lifes one way or the other. My guess is that the voice of the center is not heard enough currently, but well, I don't know why or how to change it.

20 years before noone would have dared dishonoring a war veteran or asking for markings of people with a different faith, not because there was more political correctness then but because there was more decency among politicians, the media and the voters. I guess when decency is absent, politicial correctness (the smaller stepsister) has to step in. But I agree. People should not listen to Donald Trump because what he says is political incorrect but because it's mostly horrible. The outcome would be the same though. People can be wrong actually. Even if they have money. It's possible.
I think there is a lot that is RIGHT about so-called "political correctness", i.e. I like a lot of the principles that it stands for, but I think it has a bit of a cheek to start masquerading as a new global "philosophy". I also do not like the way in which it it being forced down people's throats and enforced internationally, to the point where simply saying something politiclally "incorrect" makes a person potentially guilty of a "hate crime" (this is now a category of crime in England). That is Orwellian language ! I will think my own thoughts, thank you very much !

I entirely agree with your point about decency (of conduct), not only among politicians but also among people in general. My own family is perfectly "decent" (well, apart from me). But does perfect political correctness go hand-in-hand with whiter-than-white behaviour from politicians and people ? I think not ! This is not a perfect or deception-free world we are living in at the moment, and you can't judge a book by its cover. I think Donald Trump is a fool at the very least. The measures he proposed are not only unworkable but they are also openly offensive. But I think he had a right to voice that opinion, and that he was gutsy to do so. He can forget about ever being president of the USA, though, and I hooe he doesn't get the job. But why should every new politician be forced to first of all be "politically correct" ? What is behind this "political correctness" ? I have met many people whom you might describe as "politically correct" in their opinions. Some of them are good and some of them are not at all good. It is not all black and white or straightforward.
Posted December 11, 2015
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Theoclymenus: snip
Donald Trump is not just politically incorrect, he is the troll the upper class has sent to show you, that the average citizen, his money and his opinion isn't worth jack-shit and you can't do anything about it.
Post edited December 17, 2015 by Klumpen0815
Posted December 16, 2015
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R8V9F5A2: *snip*
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timppu: *snip*If you want to become a minister in the government, then for some of the positions certain formal education is usually expected. For instance, if you are to become a Minister of Justice, it is considered odd if you don't have a degree in law. I think earlier there was even a requirement for that, but at some point it was dropped so that non-lawyers could be positioned there too. Many consider this as a bad thing, and I kinda understand why.
Of course there are people of various walks of life, but the number of those from a law or business background is disproportionately high in all positions of parliament in general. In some ways, this makes sense: you can't do much in administration if you don't have at least some grasp on law, and decision-making revolves to a great extent around making sense of numbers and figures. In addition, people of law tend to be natural speakers and know how to influence people on their side. People in business may have had to pitch ideas and to elbow their way past others. Perhaps more importantly, such people have a fair chance of networking with other influential characters whose capital can help run a campaign. Whether such a lot is a fair representation of Finnish people is another matter.
Posted December 16, 2015
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Yeshu: Obsessive martyrdom complex.
Not just you folks, pal. I guarantee it. A world thing, maybe?
Posted December 16, 2015
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Yeshu: LOOK AT HOW BAD WE HAVE IT!!! PITY US!!!!
You make some pretty cool games though (AAA-level indie games, imagine that!), and champion DRM-free. Keep doing that and the world will love you.
Posted December 16, 2015
Here are some other traits from Poland:

-For some reason many drivers don't use their indicators which I see happening everyday, gets especially annoying at round-abouts
-People use their emergency lights to thank someone on the road for letting them in, tried this in Denmark and the guy behind me lifted his arms in a "WTF are you doing breaking down in front of me" manner
-Other drivers will not admit to cutting you off or causing inconvenience to you by at least raising their hand to say sorry
-People hate admitting they are responsible or guilty of doing something, even if you prove it to them. Also assumptions too arrghh
-People here are workaholics and this is considered normal, I guess because of the shit earnings and hardships they also need to work long hours.
-Polish ppl are well educated but so many lack common decency, I've had ppl push in line at the store because they only have one item so it makes it ok or they're buying something from behind the counter so they go straight to the front and ask for cigs while there's already 10 ppl waiting to be served
-A lot of ppl still believe in old wives tales
-This nation is plagued by paranoia about diseases, viruses and being sick, literally every street in this city has a pharmacy and every other ad on tv and radio is about some new drug or free health check ups

Obviously these are mostly the negative things I've written, polish ppl are great overall but frustrate me sometimes though.These are just some things I noticed cause I've lived most of my life in Australia but have been here for two years now. Yes Aussies have some of these traits but I'm noticing them to a higher extent here.

Sorry rant over
Post edited December 16, 2015 by X-com
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionworst national traits of your country(233 posts)(233 posts)
(233 posts)