Friday 10 May 2013

Week 7: Meanness and extravagance on the map



Read the presentation Meanness and extravagance on the map at http://uwb2m-s.blogspot.com/2013/04/miserliness-and-extravagance-on-map.html  and comment on it/ discuss it here.

10 comments:

  1. Can't say too much about Scots as I don't know them. Never been to Sctoland nor knowing any Scot guys. However I have my own thought regarding the 2008 crisis. In few words it could be described as a bankers greedy aspiration for money - without any hesitations.

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  2. I don't know many Scots, and even if I do, still I don't think it will help me answer the question if they are mean or stingy.
    Stereotypes usually are not unfounded, but I also know that English did not like the Scots and could distribute this opinion.

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  3. We are not that far from Greece. Poland public debt is 1 018 274 650 000 PLN and is growing. That is over 27 000 PLN per citizen. So my whole family (me and 3 children) has over 130 000 PLN debt.

    Polish citizens have to pay interests. We have public schools, public healthcare system, over half million public servants, and only one problem - we cannot afford that all. More social care = more public debt, Greece is just an example.
    Responsibility does not go together with election success. Populism always wins. People will always vote for those who promises to make them rich and rather will believe that they have "their own means" to make it, than others who will say there is no money to spend - there is only money to pay.

    This is just the flaw of democracy - we have to live with this until someone develops better government system..

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  4. As it appears to me, the fact that Scots are considered stingy and mean is just a proof for that people believe in whatever they hear of. This is just the problem of stereotypes that makes international relations more difficult as people stop having their own opinion but believe in everything that is said. For example, there are thousands of people who believe that in Poland, it’s always cold and we have no cinemas, no theaters and we are always drunk. This is how the stereotypes confuse us. For I am against creating such uninformative and usually unreasonable statements, I will never agree with such a generalization- that all Scots are stingy, although I have never been in Scotland.

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  6. To be honest I have not heard of such stereotypes and rumors of Scots and Greeks.
    The crisis has shown that there are actually different nations as well as what you are accustomed to people living in those countries. Very quickly we get used to the good, the additional revenue, and when there is a problem it is hard to give up a higher state of life.
    I believe that the ability to discovery in difficult situations (especially critical) is not a matter of nationality but personal predispositions. It is a fact that some countries have developed in their citizens more self-denial and resistance problems than others.

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  7. I haven't ever been in Scotland so I do not feel that I can say anything about them. At this point for me they are people like any others. This is disapointing but I can't discuss about Greace as well. They are in crisis and this is a fact but why it happend and should we help them? - I'm sure that I could find two people which completly different opinion about this topic and probably both of them were right.

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  8. I have a kind of reflection that people in the South do not believe the assurances of politicians or businessmen, they have to tighten their belts for the greater good. I do not want to be misunderstood, but it is a specialty of us Poles to believe in fairy tales. Perhaps the crisis in Western Europe is real, but their crisis is still four lazy better financial situation than in Poland. Greeks who do not have jobs often have more money than the Poles who work. I consider them to be wise, because these people were able to take care of their own business but we still continue to believe in the fairy tales like green island.

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  9. OK, so what was that presentation about? Crisis, Greeks being extravagant or stereotypes about scots?
    Its hard to say, so I'll concetrate on the question.
    I've never heard of scots being mean, actually I've heard that they are very hospitable. Even if they would, I dont know what being mean has to do with being stingy. So why would Englishmen spred such rumors about scots? To cover their own stingynees with scots meannes? That doesnt make any sense.

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  10. As some of you, I also have never been to Scotland and I have never met any Scots. Therefore, it is impossible for me to give any opinion about this subject.

    Also, I do not have any knowledge of economy, thus unfortunately there is nothing wise that I might add.

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