Talk:Thick line
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[edit] POV and verifiability
Please read what Mazowiecki actually said:
- Przeszłość odkreślamy grubą linią – we draw a thick line over the past.
- Odpowiadać będziemy jedynie za to, co uczyniliśmy, by wydobyć Polskę z obecnego stanu załamania – We (the government) will only be responsible for what we have done to pull Poland out of its current crisis.
Those are his actual words, nowhere in this speech or in any other interview or speech by Mazowiecki there is any suggestion that the "thick line" policy means "forgiveness" or "non-punishment" for communist crimes. In those words Mazowiecki makes it clear that his government is not responsible for what has happened in the past, in other words the first non-communist government is not responsible for the actions of previous, communist ones.
So the original and intended meaning of the "thick line policy" was a clean start for the government.
Much later those words were either unintentionally misunderstood, intentionally twisted or their "true meaning was realised" (depending on one's view of history and good will when interpreting facts) and some people, mostly who consider themselves to be right-wing, state that by saying those words Mazowiecki wanted to "pardon" the communist crimes and did not want, wish or intended take any steps to prosecute people guilty of them.
To state that, as per this revision[1]:
- "The Thick line policy is criticized by many right-wing Politicians".
- Violates at least 2 Wikipedia rules: Wikipedia:Verifiability (no sources), Wikipedia:Avoid weasel words ("many politicians" – meaning who and how many) and last but not least – "they" criticise not the actual policy but their understanding of this policy.
- The most well known Roman Giertych - regarded that Poles were deceived by "round table" and "Thick line".
- As per above, and I would question if Roman Giertych is "the most well known" – whatever that actually is supposed to mean, I certainly know of Mr. Giertych but I do not consider him to be "most well known" in any particular sphere of life.
- Present so-called Fourth Polish Republic is a state where the thick line is going to be erased after a 18 years of its existing.
- This is really confusing. Currently Poland is officially, as stated in the Polish constitution "III Rzeczpospolita" (Third Polish Republic), the so-called "Fourth Polish Republic" is a propaganda slogan. I cannot fathom what the intended meaning of this sentence was.Roo72 02:31, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Translation
The translation "We draw a thick line on what has happened in the past" is rather unclear. Unless I'm mistaken (I live in Poland but am not a native speaker of Polish), "Przeszłość odkreślamy grubą linią" means "We draw a thick line through the past" (or "through what happened (in the past)"). Drawing a thick line ON what's happened makes no sense. I'd change it myself, but I'd like to check that 'odkreślić' means something similar to 'skreślić' (i.e. to cross out).