to be Polish and feel sick for being made a scapegoat in this election campaing?

[farmazon]

I made a mistake reading newspapers online today.
All spitting out anti-eastern european/Polish venom.

It doesn't matter I work, do Master's degree and bring my child in love of both British and Polish culture I'm still 'destroying this country'. I give up.

farmazon, please dont listen to such crap.

cat, you are being remarkably unimaginitive. I am british and live in germany, and believe me, as a foreigner, you feel much less secure than a native. Such things in the newspaper are very upsetting. Its a biased collection of "facts" that will stir up stupid racists to abuse Polish people.

Oddly enough, one time when I was back in the UK, a yob was behaving badly, so I remonstrated with him, and he insulted me with a racist, anti-Polish insult. I take this as a compliment on my smart german clothes, and community spirit.

I don't think it's fair to say "All the Polish individuals I've met are lovely".

That's like saying all the white people I've met are lovely. Or all the black people I've met are lovely.

I'm not anti-immigration or anti-polish people. I am anti-arseholes and anti-illegal-immigrant though

Without immigration I'd love to see who would clean our hospitals and care for our elderly, I really would. Because the English don't want to do it. And then of course as the OP says we desperately need immigrants in the academic world and as doctors and nurses too.

I can see why you might want more stringent caps on immigration, though then the British will have to expect that if they want to move abroad too. But to be 'anti-immigration' - well that's rather like being 'anti-football' because occasionally football fans get nasty.

But Flookcrow all the polish individuals I've met HAVE been lovely.

And this worries me too. My partner is muslim and although he works abroad at present I do hope he will come here one day and dread the reaction he might face. Again, he's lovely, hard working and utterly decent. He lives in Germany and gets racism over there, and he doesn't even look particularly 'furrin.'

Hmm
biased collection of "facts"

Which bit don't YOU like?

Poles better educated than you?

Poles on agency books because they do better business for the agency?

Poles not daft enough to claim lower rates of unemployment benefit if given the choice?

Why are you trying to be offensive cat?
The "facts" that you have quoted form a biased picture, because they do not include other "facts" that might encourage people to be more sympathetic to polish people. They are only half the picture.

Is that clear?

LOL!

YANBU! I'm so with you here. I'm not eastern european but I have some fantastic friends who are and do so much for this country. I always wonder why on earth eastern europeans are picked on, why can't people target those who sponge off the state without any intention of contributing?

Actually FlookCrow its a very fair thing to say because it happens to be true. Does not apply to broader racial groupings because I've met comparatively more of those, some of whom were not so lovely.
Mayhap your experiences differ to mine?

It is fair to say you've met only nice Polish people if you have met only nice Polish people. Surely stating a fact is still allowed, is it not?

I have nothing but respect for anyone who is willing to travel hundreds of miles, leaving family and friends, to find work. It is especially noteworthy if said work is in a job which very few locals are willing to do. And if this is the case then said locals cannot complain about having jobs "taken" from them. Presumably businesses still employ the best person for the job.

It amazes me how many people are prejudiced but unable to see it in themselves.

My Mums neighbour had a group of Polish men move in next door, they all worked long hours as she hardly ever saw them, but she still blamed their nationality for the fact they didn't cut the grass in the front garden all last summer. They moved out recently and now she has "normal" people as neighbours and the grass still isn't cut. What a shame

Sorry but this anti-anyone who isn't British is disgusting beyond words and not a place I'm happy to live in atm. The media are shit stirring as usual.

Also, if your local services are not coping with an inflated population that is not the fault of newcomers to your area it is the fault of your elected representatives. If there are jobs for people then there should be services to serve them.

YANBU

YANBU. It's just crap and lazy journalism.

We don't have that many immigrants here, but the few we have are perfectly nice normal people.

There were 4 or 5 Polish girls in my class at school, which means that there were siblings in other classes and at the boys' school. Mine was a Catholic school, so presumably there were some Polish families around who sent their kids to other schools. I went to school in the 60s/70s.

This is not a new phenomenon. The meeja like to stir it up more now, that's all.

Saying that all Polish people are nice is a logical fallacy. How about all those Polish people you haven't met?

Try these following links:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bare_assertion_fallacy

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative _proof

And yes, I am being an utter utter pedant, but the sheer stupidity of some of the statements in this thread are painful to read.

Oh, and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_proof