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A comment on Goodbye, Eastern Europe. Parent comment

Re:Goodbye, Eastern Europe by dougmwne on Friday February 17, 2017 @01:11PM (#13670356)
I'm living part of the year in Poland. I've noticed a surprising pessimistic attitude here, when outward economic signs have been very positive for more than a decade. People are equally surprised when I express my optimistic American attitude. Truthfully, many of my American friends would be quite jealous of the lives of my Polish friends.

I think this difference is deeply rooted in history and is a clear continuing legacy of the iron curtain.

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Re:Goodbye, Eastern Europe by taway_1212 on Friday February 17, 2017 @02:04PM (#13670786)
A a Pole I agree - pessimism is our way of life :) It only requires a cursory study of our history to see why we always expect the worst outcomes (as that's what has been happening to us in the last 200 hundred years, with the recent exception of post-Soviet era).
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Re:Goodbye, Eastern Europe by JoeAltmaier on Friday February 17, 2017 @02:08PM (#13670829)
Poles emigrated to America in the 1800's (I think) and around here (the US Midwest) they are expected to be pragmatic and stubborn. Not negative at all; just impossible to push around.

Its interesting to see how attitudes diverge when populations split anyway.

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Re:Goodbye, Eastern Europe by dougmwne on Friday February 17, 2017 @02:30PM (#13670978)
I have a pet theory that immigrant populations hang onto a snapshot of their culture when they leave. The mother country has no need for this nostalgic attachment and continues to evolve, sometimes rapidly.
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Re:Goodbye, Eastern Europe by the_nozzle on Friday February 17, 2017 @01:58PM (#13670746)
Pessimism is our national trait.
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