Oldal 392 [392]
390
Wladyslaw Chtopicki
used by the right-wing press (especially bloggers) in Poland, who sometimes refer
to ragballs when they mean any grassroots opportunistic communists as well as any
Civil Platform politicians in order to emphasize their essential leftness (in fact only
one faction in the Civic Platform could be called left-wing in ideological terms if
at all, although it would perhaps be more appropriate to call it pragmatic). For
instance, in the article entitled Zhe Government of Citizen Ragball,"' the journalist
denounces the alleged policies of the Civic Platform government of Ewa Kopacz,
which consist in using the old, servile party dignitaries, referred to as szmaciaks, to
achieve her propaganda goals.
‘The concept of a gnida (slimeball) is even more popular and is used by all sides
of the political spectrum, naturally, as a term of abuse too. The stimulus for its rise
in popularity was Wierzbicki’s aforementioned attempt to classify gnidas in Polish
political life (e.g. 1979). The press occasionally refers with contempt to slimeballs
as those (numerous) politicians who change their views to suit those of the winning
party—those who don’t mind contradicting themselves if that helps their interests
and who are ready to put down others to promote their careers. Slimeballs are also
terms of abuse of those (again numerous) journalists who lie to manipulate the
public—again, to benefit themselves and win support of the powerful. Sometimes,
however, it is just a term of abuse; below are three examples from the right-wing
press. For instance, in the article Polish Slimeballs on the Example of Boni, Kurski
and Chazan,'* the author denounces three figures from across the political spec¬
trum, one of whom is a doctor, for showing a lack of character and various forms
of opportunism, although since the paper in which the article appeared is a tabloid,
the argument is also rather populist—what matters is to appeal to the public taste
by labelling people slimeballs. In another article, a blog entry entitled Journalist
Slimeballs,"” the blogger expresses his contempt for those journalists who use lies
and manipulations to achieve their goals or those of their editors. Another blog¬
ger, in the entry Media Slimeballs Attack'* warns of the approaching years of severe
media attacks on the new Law and Justice government in Poland, naturally to be
carried out by the spineless slimeballs employed in various commercial media.
Commentators of the other side of the political barricade are subjected to the
same type of abuse. One forum user in his entry entitled 7o the Pro-Law-and-Justice
Slimeball Nicknamed Loosac accuses his opponent of not knowing the law, the term
being used simply to hurl abuse too." A Law and Justice politician was labelled
a slimeball in a forum thread that discussed the court rejecting his appeal against
the ruling that had said he was guilty of lying about the former President Bronistaw
1 http://niepoprawni.pl/blog/763/rzad-obywatelki-szmaciak (last accessed on: July 15, 2016).
2° http://angora.blog.pl/2014/07/13/gnidy-polskie-na-przykladzie-boniego-kurskiego-i-chazana/ (last
accessed on: July 15, 2016).
5° http://contestator.blox.pl/2015/05/Dziennikarskie-gnidy.html (last accessed on: July 15, 2016).
1° http://naszeblogi.pl/57235-gnidy-medialne-w-natarciu (last accessed on: July 15, 2016).
5 hetp://www.4lomza.pl/forum/read.php ?f=1&i=38809 &t=38739 (last accessed on July 15, 2016).