For or against?

Are you for it (but would like to see it improved) - or are so you utterly against it that you want to see it gone for good? When you are making a point about something, online in the social media, or in person to friends, colleagues and neighbours - what's your ultimate goal? Improving it or destroying it? Or is it that really, you just don't care one way or another - you're just in a shouty mood.

Take for example the EU. Do you think it's essentially a good thing, but with plenty of areas in which it could do better - or do you wish to see its demise as an organisation? If the former, then your criticism of the EU is constructive. If the latter, your actions are construed as destructive.

Which is it, then?

The Catholic Church. It has its failings. But is it better for Poland that it survives - and continues to be the national religion - or should it fade into irrelevance as it has done in many Western European countries?

Take Lukashenko. Is he a guarantor of stability, a bastion against Russian annexation? Or is Lukashenko a usurping despot whose time is clearly over?

Or Microsoft products: clunky, un-user-friendly operating system and a suite of applications that one just has to work with, ever hoping that future iterations will see improvements - or do you aim for a personal IT environment entirely devoid of Windows, Office or Explorer or Edge or whatever it's called?

I could go on. Brexit, Trump, Putin, Xi Jinping - you choose. Very few things are perfect in this world. We have a choice - strive to use our influence to improve them, or else use that influence to seek their removal.

Here's a metaphor. I'm not into football, but a supporter will have many suggestions as to how his team can be more effective - but should it fail to perform season after disappointing season, the ultimate sanction is to switch loyalty.

Why am I writing this? To ask myself what should be the stance of anyone wanting an open society based on trust and networked decision-making over authoritarianism regarding the Polish government.

The next parliamentary elections will not be held until November 2023 (unless a snap election is called, but this is a rarity in modern Polish politics). PiS has a parliamentary majority with 100 more seats than rivals PO. So - what to do until then? 

Seek to tear down this government - or improve it?

Improvement is the answer. My hopes are that within ideological differences within the government will lead to a the sidelining of Ziobro and his headbangers and more people of the likes of PM Morawiecki and minister of development, Jadwiga Emilewicz steering the country away from extremes.

This time six years ago:
Weekend cookery

This time seven years ago:
Laying down the sewers

This time eight year:
Still awaiting the official opening of viaduct on ul. Poloneza

This time nine years ago:
Fixie composition in blue and red

This time ten years ago:
What's the Polish for 'guidelines'?

This time 11 years ago:
Ul. Rosoła's cycle path - new route to work

This time 12 years ago:
First apple

This time 13 years ago:
Late summer spider-webs