***** ***
They are like a sect. If their guru suddenly disappeared, their entire organization would collapse like a house of cards, and the sect members, deprived of instructions from their leader, would not know what to think or what to say.
In this ideologically uninformed collection, the catalogue of characters comes down to power-hungry tyrants without an ounce of charisma, pseudo-intelligent scientists with questionable achievements, useful idiots pretending to care about the country, self-conscious haters reacting to their life's failures, boundlessly adoring slobs whose only competence is to repeat the president's words, simpletons who have deep respect for history and reason, religious and moral fanatics whose main goal is to furnish someone else's life, and finally, the most numerous group of swindlers who are plundering our country without the slightest hesitation.
Despite all this unbearable diversity, they have a few things in common.
First of all, they have no backbones or moral principles. They are capable of saying any nonsense that would never occur to anyone with a modicum of common sense. They will question any thesis without batting an eyelid, even if it is considered obvious by the entire scientific world, and then they will justify their position ad nauseam using a well-mastered arsenal of techniques based primarily on manipulation, half-truths, demagogy, populism, turning the tables, building conspiracy theories and moral blackmail.
Secondly: they are amateurs. They can't do anything, they don't know anything. They can't predict anything, counteract or prevent anything. They are not capable of insightful observation, analysis of reality, drawing conclusions. And although this sounds terrifying, that's not the most dangerous thing. The essence of their amateurism lies somewhere else entirely. They have an incredibly effective ability to ruin. Anything they touch, whether it's an institution, a recipe, a conference or an exhibition, whether it works well or badly, will simply stop working and turn into ashes on black, scorched earth.
Third: they don't listen and they don't talk. They simply know. They know what you should believe and how often. They know who you should make love to and how. They know which part of history is right. They know what books you should read. They know what roles a woman should play in your relationship and a man should play. They know who is good and who is bad. They know whether you are a true Pole or whether it would be better for you to leave this country because there is no place for the false. The fact that they know is not the worst thing. Something completely different is unbearable. The essence of their actions is the desire to rearrange your life in a way that they think will be best for you.
Fourth: they are impudent, arrogant, full of arrogance and devoid of empathy. Although their rhetoric is full of rounded phrases and accusations of everyone around them for lack of respect for them, they cannot, do not want to and do not hide their contempt. Contempt for people, social groups, professional groups, history, law, rules, the world. Anyone who does not accept their actions even to a minimal degree, they insult, spit on, trample, call a leftist, Putin's lackey, a traitor, an agent of a foreign state, a communist, a non-Pole, and at best a criminal.
Fifth: they are distrustful, they see conspiracies everywhere, they are envious and vindictive. According to them, everyone has bad intentions. They do not understand what trust is. In their world, trust has been replaced by loyal submission and informing. They believe that the world is ruled by secret forces, allied in the fight to destroy us, and everyone has something on their conscience and is plotting. Outside of their own circle and the circle of their supporters, they are unable to appreciate or recognize anyone, but they will gladly suppress and oppress them.
Kaczyński, however, is a completely different story.
I used to think of him as an honest man, even crystal honest. Today I don't think so anymore. It's hard to consider someone honest who doesn't want to see the dishonesty of his subordinates and who consciously turns a blind eye to their wickedness.
In the formation that he rules undividedly, he is the only one who can be said to have a coherent and clear vision of Poland. I would even say that he has the good of our country at heart. The problem is what his vision is and what, according to him, its good consists of.
Kaczyński's Poland is a Poland where there is no separation of church and state. I have nothing against the church as a community in faith (because I have a huge problem with the church as an institution in Poland). I am a Catholic myself. However, I think that the medieval model of coexistence of church and state, which Kaczyński supports and implements, does great harm to both the church and the state.
Kaczyński's Poland is a Poland where men dominate family and social relations. Where the parish becomes the basic social unit, and the priest's opinion is the most important. Where a woman knows her place, and the position of a man cannot be questioned.
Kaczyński's Poland is xenophobic and closed. It fears strangers, others, or those who think differently.
Kaczyński's Poland is intolerant. It does not accept differences in the slightest. It does not allow for having one's own opinion.
Kaczyński's Poland is convinced that we are a chosen nation that suffered for others, that acted only in a just cause, that has no flaws, that deserves more than others.
Kaczyński's Poland is distrustful and suspicious. It cannot show trust. It cannot build trust. It sees, above all, a conspiracy in everything and in everyone.
Kaczyński's Poland hates. It hates everyone and everything. It hates the common man the most, if he is not grateful to her, or thinks his own way.
Kaczyński came to power using three tools that no one should ever use against their own nation.
The first tool is fear.
During the Nuremberg Trials, Hermann Goering, when asked how it was that such a well-educated nation, with such a highly developed democracy, agreed to all this, replied: "It's very simple and has nothing to do with Nazism, but with human nature. You can do it in a Nazi system, a socialist system, a communist system, a monarchy or a democracy: the only thing a government needs to turn people into slaves is fear. If you find something that scares them, you can force them to do anything."
Kaczyński has been using this tool for years.
First you have to arouse fear. It doesn't matter what. You can choose something current or create something on hand. It doesn't matter. Show how dangerous it is. Repeat over and over that it mortally endangers people, family, nation, Poland, Europe, world, civilization and that only you can protect us from it. Try not to scare people with too many monsters at once, so that the nation doesn't get confused. You will achieve better results by launching demons sequentially. But always be ready to launch a new one, because they wear out quickly.
The second tool is deception.
Kaczyński deceived people by showing that it is possible to increase their well-being in a shortcut, that is, in a way other than through work, and that it is possible to retire earlier without affecting the amount of retirement.
There is a lot of poverty in Poland. In many places there is no work. These people need help. And that is not up for discussion.
However, if all children in Poland, regardless of their financial situation, are given money, this should be condemned unconditionally, because the disabled, the health service and teachers need this money much more, because it is not allowed to buy votes or spoil people's respect for work.
The third tool is dignity
Poland has developed in an incredible way since 1989. However, there is a large group of people, mainly in smaller towns, who are affected by these positive changes to a much lesser extent, whose standard of living has not improved at all, and may even have decreased. These are people who have not been remembered for the last thirty years, who have been left to their own devices, hoping that they will somehow find their way in the new reality. Kaczyński cleverly appealed to them, promising to restore their dignity, while distancing himself from the elites he blames for this state of affairs.
In 1994, when asked who he would like to be: Minister of Justice, Prime Minister or President, Kaczyński replied that he would like to become the retired savior of the nation.
Fortunately, he won't succeed. He already knows that. He's tired. He's frustrated by the fact that he came so close to saving Poland. Saving us from an imaginary threat that he himself created in his head. Instead, he will become a grim episode in our history, one that historians will describe one day as a pest that stopped Poland for a moment on its way to becoming an increasingly beautiful country, a country where people are trusted, where hatred and contempt are not the foundation, where men and women are equal.
In Kaczyński's vision of Poland, there is an absolute ban on abortion, without any exceptions. This is how he understands respect for human life.
In 2016, he announced an amendment to the act so that "even cases of difficult pregnancies, when the child is doomed to death, deformed, end with delivery, so that the child can be baptized, buried, have a name." Someone who utters such words is inhuman and devoid of any empathy. They don't care deeply about the suffering of the mother, father, family.
Kaczyński's first attempt to introduce a ban on abortion failed. It was 2016. On October 3, on Black Monday, almost 200,000 people took to the streets in 150 Polish cities. Kaczyński got scared. On October 6, the Sejm rejected the bill.
Another attempt took place on October 22, 2020. As a result of Kaczyński's order, a certain Przyłębska issued a judgment ruling that one of the three premises for legal termination of pregnancy in one of the most restrictive laws in Europe is unconstitutional.
Kaczyński thought that under the cover of the epidemic, this time it would go smoothly. He miscalculated. He did not expect so many people to take to the streets. He is furious. Firstly, because he knows that this was his last attempt. In 3 years at the latest, he will leave politics, and after the pandemic ends, the nation will not allow him to try again. Secondly, he is furious because everything indicates that he will have to withdraw. He will not dare to use force, so he can only count on people to get tired and give up.
Will we let go?
Fiery posts, or profile pictures with lightning bolts, or gestures of support from windows are not enough. We need to join those who are already on the streets. Can we do it?
