How would you react to someone painting their miniatures as nazis or with confederate flags.

@Section9 & @Hecaton - guys, get off your local politics, please:question:

Or I'll start on local politics here. I think I can find enough Poles to argue over that on the forum (and as old saying goes, where are two Poles, there are three political parties. Minimum.)... or at the very least spam you with links to Chairman's Ear episodes on Youtube (it is a satire on the current political events here).

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I got a question about Poland. What do people over there think of Marie Curie? Is she celebrated? Mostly ignored?

 

Maria Skłodowska-Curie, that's how she's called in our lore ;) She's considered to be a Polish sciencist - the fact that she did most of her work in France, and together with her French husband tends to be overlooked (despite being on school textbooks. At least back when I was at school).
She's a Nobel Prize winner, and those are generally considered a big thing, and a just reason for pride.

In my city, Szczecin , we have a high school named after her (and a street, too), the municipality of Police, bordering Szczecin to the north has a primary school and a public library named after her, and in the entire voivodship (let's call it province, for simplicity) there are four more schools carrying her name. So, I'd say: celebrated.

...plus, she is politically neutral, so regardless who gets into power, they don't strip her name off the schools and streets on the ground of political sympathies.

 

Sadly, there are no small number of people in the Republican Party that are NOT small-government conservatives. See also: Trump supporters.

You honestly didn't think I supported that ... Dunno what I can call him that wouldn't run afoul of forum profanity guidelines and get me a visit from people in dark suits with no sense of humor. Anyway, that election day I solemnly posted on my FB that I had done my duty as an American and voted against both the Democratic and Republican candidates, because neither one was worthy of the office.

I think we can all agree about this one, American, Russian, or even Chinese: Any time you vote for the lesser of two evils, you're still voting for evil.

And one more: Politicians are a lot like diapers, they should be changed often, and for the same reason.

 

You claimed it was a tenet of the tribe to be for small government. That's clearly not true whether you yourself are or not.

 

It's time for some quality Polish political satire then

Because we don't have much of it lately, at least as far as I'm aware.

 

Indeed.

Start with the episode 1, it is not exactly up to date (a year and a bit old). English subtitles are included.

:japanese_ogre:

 

Have you heard about the antique Siberian toilet? It's an 8ft stick and a 4ft stick. You put the long stick in the snow so you have something to lean against, and you use the other one to keep the wolves off.

 

You do know that the parties don't have any control over who runs under their name, right?

All you need to do is get enough signatures on a petition and the state election commission has to accept you. You can be a literal nazi and run as a Republican (a member of the American Nazi Party is running as a Republican in Chicago...), you can be a literal communist and run as a Republican (but it's easier to get votes as a member of the American Communist Party running as a Democrat).

Doesn't make you conservative. Your voting record is what makes you conservative, and if you don't have a voting record we drop back to your speeches.

 

@Section9 That's pretty much the definition of a No True Scotsman fallacy. What you're describing is something more like a Libertarian or general anti-authoritarian than a conservative. Theorists and commentators can talk about conservative "ideas" but fundamentally the conservative impulse is going to involve an antipathy towards those that don't fit into the traditional framework, and is not shy about using oppressive or authoritative ends to combat them.

 

How is it a No True Scotsman when the person claiming membership in a group defined by it's beliefs does not profess the same beliefs as the group?

 

Conservatives are defined more by traditionalism than governmental non-interference. Barry Goldwater supported medical marijuana initiatives, but it was a drop in the bucket compared to the actual conservative sentiment, which is more primal than his theorizing and has more to do with personality types.

There's a reason "social conservatism" is a thing.

 

... and that is the reason why I stopped describing myself as "a ...ist" and go by my stances on issues.

Seriously, how do Americans deal with a two party system? We have so many in Germany and I still struggle to find one which actually represents me...

 

Not where I live, and not where I hang out online aside from here.

Either you pick the party that is closest to you, or you gotta do a lot more research to see which candidates on the ballot most closely match your beliefs. Sadly, most people are too lazy to do the research. I will note that sometimes the Democrats here are more conservative than the Republicans in California. Though Idaho hasn't had a Democrat governor since 1995, that's because the Democratic platform has shifted more than the locals have swung Conservative (most of the population increase here has been people fleeing California).

Like I said, last November, I posted that I did my duty as an American and voted against both Trump and Hillary, because neither one of them would be good Presidents.

 

In science we would call that "anecdotal evidence."

 

Nice to know that one entire fucking state doesn't count.

 

Which is made of the people you interact with online and in person?

 

So, I need to have about two million people tell you to your face that most people who run as Republicans are not small-government conservatives before it stops being an anecdote?

Noted.

 

A study would work. I mean, I believe that statement you just made, but conservatism and the Republican party are not exactly the same thing.

 

Two words for your study: Tea Party.

Yeah, they're often a bunch of idiots (one of our Representatives is a Tea Partier, and he voted against a bill that would have benefited Idaho because all the other Tea Party folks were voting against it). But that's just the people who are motivated enough to run as politicians.