Archives for February 19th, 2004

Like G’n'R, these Poles have an appetite for destruction

There’s a powerpoint file going around showing pictures of a demolished Media Markt in Poland. If you haven’t seen it, it shows an angry crowd fighting to get into a brand new Media Markt (one of Europe’s biggest retailers) and then pictures of the ensuing chaos.

The presentation is narrated in German. The first page says Eroeffnung des ersten Media Marktes in Polen. Willkommen in der EU! (The opening of the first Media Markt in Poland. Welcome to the EU!)

The intended moral of the story is: Look at this, we tried to sell some Slavs quality electronic equipment at discount prices, and instead they went batshit and tore the whole place apart. If we’re not careful, all of Germany could be next!

The needle and the damage done

After twenty slides of chaos, the final slide in the presentation has a grim warning for its readers: Tja, and wo das endet weiss keiner! (Yup, and nobody knows where all this will end!) And it’s true. I mean, there’s no telling what these crazy Poles will do next. Next thing you know, they’ll start constructing industrial death camps all over Europe to liquidate “lesser” races or something.

That’s what irks me about stuff like this. Germans criticizing Easterlings for being uncivilized is like Hannibal the Cannibal telling someone they have bad table manners. If there is any country in Europe that has forfeited its right to be remembered as civilized, it’s not Poland or Romania or any other poorer country, but the country that was conducting medical experiments on children just 60 years ago.

By the way, the official Media Markt page for Poland lists about 20 stores in the country. Presumably they’re all still standing. And prospering.

Download MediaMarkt.pps (Right-click and save target as)

(Thanks Nicholas!)