I have literally learned English trying to decipher Mr Waters script on the sleeves of the vinyl set of The Wall. It was the most precious record in my small collection (western records were incredibly expensive in Poland in the beginning of 80s - you had to pay third to half of the average salary for the new one). It still sits on the shelf in my living room and I still listen to the recordings (although not to the vinyl itself).
It is very sad, that, quoting the artist himself "worms ate into his brain". The disgust for Anglo-Saxon imperialism have made him completely blind to the Russian one. As a former subject of the latter I can only wish him to come back to his senses.
I do remember very well, the long cargo trains filled with Russian soldiers, tanks and other war machines, that were often waiting on the tracks for the green light. I was often waiting for the train to move and allow me to cross the tracks. My hometown was located on the strategic railway, used to carry these troops to western Poland end East Germany.
We were painfully aware, that in case of war, our hometown would be very convenient target for the nuclear strike aiming at bloking these transports.
I also do remember the feeling of overwhelming hopelessness in a country that we liked to describe as a most joyful barrack in a camp. The barrack as in prison - where we lived. Large one, but prison, nonetheless - where you could leave only with government approval, after interrogation by security. We know this Russian imperialism first-hand, and one thing that we have learned is that you never should trust anything that they say, the treaties they sign or the referenda that they carry.
This is the experience that people in the West don't have. It would be much better, if they would just tried to learn something before revealing their ignorance and disdain for those lowly eastern people, who stubbornly refuse to comply to Russian orders.
Yeah, the key here is that knowledge is a different thing than experience. Experience brings emotions and memories, and leave you with them. Of course we can all agree that knowledge should be enough for a person to understand all key factors of a given situation without being personally dragged through all the downs and backlashes they bring, but too often this proves to be futile.
That's why one of the dream plays I like to run with my mind from time to time in moments of helplesness like the one with Roger Water's being him is Matrix's Neo's ability to fight Ju-Jitsu or flight a helicopter acquired with quick transfer. Wouldn't it be great to be able to stuck USB drive into Water's socket and transfer all your experiences, fears and shadows of Russian imperialism with just one swing? It's bizzare that an artist of that magnitude seems to have so poor imagination on his own.
I don't think memories could help him. He can't make the simple connection: in 1938 UK and France force Czechoslovakia to cede Sudetenland for a promise of "10 years of peace", as Hitler has no further claims in Europe. That's what he said and they believed him. War starts 10 months later, Eric Fletcher Waters dies storming Anzio in 1943. Without the Munich betrayal, the war could have started earlier, but this time the Germans would be storming Sudetenland and Eric Fletcher Waters could live long enough to attend early Pink Floyd gigs. Roger Waters is right now proposing to repeat the same mistake that killed his own father (and millions of others).
Hmm, are you saying Putin would happily free us, Europeans, from Poland and other culturally alien leech countries if he could? That would benefit whole EU if we could drop that Eastern ballast. I say, if he wants, let him do that!
You guys do not fit EU anyway with your hatred of law, order, human rights, LGBT, ecology, safety nets for people, left values, secularism, public transport, immigrants etc. It's understandable you want to keep leeching from us and keep wasting our money instead of going back to Russia where you naturally belong. But we should think about EU future, not about cries of some spoiled Poles wanting to leech new SUVs from us so they can keep running over immigrants and cyclists.
So we have the European ubermensch showing the untermensch from the East, that his place is to be a slave in Putins empire. How fitting. No need for better exhibit for the arrogance from the West - firm its real, which I doubt. Greetings from atheist cyclist, voting for the left.
Is it not true that European culture takes signed commitments seriously?
Putin and you do not take them that way.
Is it not true that European culture strives for the peaceful resolution of conflicts?
Putin and you support armed resolution.
So who does not belong to European culture?
> Correct me if I'm wrong
Of course, you are wrong :D
> wants Poles to be slaves to Vatican
No. Poles loved (mainly) John Paul II; but Pope Francis? Don't be silly... Even John Paul II's legacy is in crisis, due to paedophile scandals and increasing secularisation.
> your own oligarchs
> The other similarity is Moscow and Warsaw. Both are swimming in wealth while leaving province poor.
Have you ever seen the Polish countryside?
Have you ever seen polish oligarchs?
You show that you are fantasising about a reality that you do not know.
Waters, poor dear, is surely reflecting on how inappropriate it was for him to perform The Wall concert in Berlin in 1990, celebrating events that had made Mr Putin feel helpless and anxious: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32066222 How could he be so insensitive?
Yes it is, although - in order to make things easier - sometimes we denote the same phoneme as "rz". Except of course when "rz" means exactly this: r followed by z.
I have literally learned English trying to decipher Mr Waters script on the sleeves of the vinyl set of The Wall. It was the most precious record in my small collection (western records were incredibly expensive in Poland in the beginning of 80s - you had to pay third to half of the average salary for the new one). It still sits on the shelf in my living room and I still listen to the recordings (although not to the vinyl itself).
It is very sad, that, quoting the artist himself "worms ate into his brain". The disgust for Anglo-Saxon imperialism have made him completely blind to the Russian one. As a former subject of the latter I can only wish him to come back to his senses.
I do remember very well, the long cargo trains filled with Russian soldiers, tanks and other war machines, that were often waiting on the tracks for the green light. I was often waiting for the train to move and allow me to cross the tracks. My hometown was located on the strategic railway, used to carry these troops to western Poland end East Germany.
We were painfully aware, that in case of war, our hometown would be very convenient target for the nuclear strike aiming at bloking these transports.
I also do remember the feeling of overwhelming hopelessness in a country that we liked to describe as a most joyful barrack in a camp. The barrack as in prison - where we lived. Large one, but prison, nonetheless - where you could leave only with government approval, after interrogation by security. We know this Russian imperialism first-hand, and one thing that we have learned is that you never should trust anything that they say, the treaties they sign or the referenda that they carry.
This is the experience that people in the West don't have. It would be much better, if they would just tried to learn something before revealing their ignorance and disdain for those lowly eastern people, who stubbornly refuse to comply to Russian orders.
Yeah, the key here is that knowledge is a different thing than experience. Experience brings emotions and memories, and leave you with them. Of course we can all agree that knowledge should be enough for a person to understand all key factors of a given situation without being personally dragged through all the downs and backlashes they bring, but too often this proves to be futile.
That's why one of the dream plays I like to run with my mind from time to time in moments of helplesness like the one with Roger Water's being him is Matrix's Neo's ability to fight Ju-Jitsu or flight a helicopter acquired with quick transfer. Wouldn't it be great to be able to stuck USB drive into Water's socket and transfer all your experiences, fears and shadows of Russian imperialism with just one swing? It's bizzare that an artist of that magnitude seems to have so poor imagination on his own.
I don't think memories could help him. He can't make the simple connection: in 1938 UK and France force Czechoslovakia to cede Sudetenland for a promise of "10 years of peace", as Hitler has no further claims in Europe. That's what he said and they believed him. War starts 10 months later, Eric Fletcher Waters dies storming Anzio in 1943. Without the Munich betrayal, the war could have started earlier, but this time the Germans would be storming Sudetenland and Eric Fletcher Waters could live long enough to attend early Pink Floyd gigs. Roger Waters is right now proposing to repeat the same mistake that killed his own father (and millions of others).
People growing up in (former) empires learn history as an exercise in drawing lines on the map.
Other people learn history by living inside lines drawn by others.
The former rarely think about the latter when proclaiming their great ideas of how spheres of influence will keep the world safe.
the latter tend to check what people on the ground think before deciding which side to support.
Hmm, are you saying Putin would happily free us, Europeans, from Poland and other culturally alien leech countries if he could? That would benefit whole EU if we could drop that Eastern ballast. I say, if he wants, let him do that!
You guys do not fit EU anyway with your hatred of law, order, human rights, LGBT, ecology, safety nets for people, left values, secularism, public transport, immigrants etc. It's understandable you want to keep leeching from us and keep wasting our money instead of going back to Russia where you naturally belong. But we should think about EU future, not about cries of some spoiled Poles wanting to leech new SUVs from us so they can keep running over immigrants and cyclists.
So we have the European ubermensch showing the untermensch from the East, that his place is to be a slave in Putins empire. How fitting. No need for better exhibit for the arrogance from the West - firm its real, which I doubt. Greetings from atheist cyclist, voting for the left.
> Isn't it true that you guys want to be slaves?
And You?
Is it not true that European culture takes signed commitments seriously?
Putin and you do not take them that way.
Is it not true that European culture strives for the peaceful resolution of conflicts?
Putin and you support armed resolution.
So who does not belong to European culture?
> Correct me if I'm wrong
Of course, you are wrong :D
> wants Poles to be slaves to Vatican
No. Poles loved (mainly) John Paul II; but Pope Francis? Don't be silly... Even John Paul II's legacy is in crisis, due to paedophile scandals and increasing secularisation.
> your own oligarchs
> The other similarity is Moscow and Warsaw. Both are swimming in wealth while leaving province poor.
Have you ever seen the Polish countryside?
Have you ever seen polish oligarchs?
You show that you are fantasising about a reality that you do not know.
Well, if it wasn't for political correctness, we savages from the east would have heard much harsher terms. Like "white nigger"....
Please do not take this user's bait, let's keep it civil
Please cease. I expect polite discussion, this is baiting.
Waters, poor dear, is surely reflecting on how inappropriate it was for him to perform The Wall concert in Berlin in 1990, celebrating events that had made Mr Putin feel helpless and anxious: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32066222 How could he be so insensitive?
I'm afraid you yourself have fallen victim to a Slavic tongue twister: Zaporizhzhia / Запоріжжя is written with two "zh"s.
That alone should act as a protection against invaders. Sadly, it doesn't protect against obliteration.
Is that phoneme the same as the Polish dotted z?
Yes it is, although - in order to make things easier - sometimes we denote the same phoneme as "rz". Except of course when "rz" means exactly this: r followed by z.