My parents, they come from the Old Country to America, braving the mighty Atlantic waters. My tata, he come with one shoe with hole on bottom. My mama, she come over with only her two-legged milking stool. They come in search for freedom, for chance for breathing free.
Actually, they flew here in the late 1970s on LOT Polish Airlines on a Boeing 747, enjoying dinner, breakfast and an in-flight movie. They didn’t come with just the clothes on their backs, but they did escape the poverty of communist Poland, where their futures included picking tobacco and cutting hay in the fields. Through immigration, they also gave me a great gift: The right to open my big fat mouth without censorship or incarceration.
Growing up in a Polish household, I was taught that Americans (or “Amerykanie”) are different, a very hypocritical population. One minute they rah-rah for their right to speak out, and the next minute they argue for blocking offensive Internet content, hiding Playboys behind news counters and allowing the government to limit the number of reporters covering wars. Ethics, national security, traditional American standards, they say. But my family, we can’t help but snicker: “stupyd Amerykanie.”
Case in point: Pat Buchanan’s NU visit on Nov. 13. He’s blunt, offensive, and sure, his views on blacks and Jews aren’t exactly kosher or well thought out. So let the man speak. If you’re the least bit educated and informed, you can draw quickly the right conclusions: The man makes no sense. But at least we’re hearing another voice. In communist Poland, my parents only heard one voice — the voice of the Party. And the Party always said the same thing: Only the Party holds the truth, and any different view is a crime.
Freedom of speech was precious in communist Poland. For us, it means that ideas and information belong to all, like the air we breathe. It’s up to us to make up our own minds about what’s right and what’s not. Otherwise, the government has a monopoly on ideas. That’s worse than corporate mega-giants. A monopoly over news and facts is much more terrifying than control over which type of Web browser we use to check our Hotmail accounts and download porn.
Poland still is recovering from communism and more than 40 years spent as a censored Soviet satellite. In 1968, when more than two-thirds of the remaining Jewish citizens were basically chased out of the country, anti-Semitic rhetoric appeared in all media forms, sponsored by the state. But journalists, like every Pole at the time, were scared to write against the Party line.
In December 1981, the Polish government declared martial law. With the presses halted, the Solidarity movement hushed and communications blacked out. The country fell into a temporary panic. It was amazing to see how detrimental stopping the exchange of information could be.
Today, the Polish press is still seen as a tool of the nation, to reinforce ideas and values that will help the nation grow and preserve its national identity. One example is a 1993 broadcast law that prohibited anything negative to be said about Christianity. Even today, political “verification” is still required for top editorial spots. And newspaper articles are still wrought with misquotes, biased reporting and accuracy hinging on make-believe.
I’m thankful to my parents for coming to America, so I can now share my opinions in this Forum section. I’m thankful for the many voices that shared this space with me: Pat, Alan and Emily; Zachary who wrote against me, Kate who sat next to me on the other side of the page, Ben who whined about his boyfriend, and Mark who yacked about his academic mumbo-jumbo.
