Prague smiles and communist dreams

[inangkor]

One of the strange things that still hasn't worn off for me about Prague is the lack of smiling as a general form of acknowledgement between people. I squeezed into the little red tram to ride home from dinner and reflexively smiled at the old man whose foot I'd accidentally stepped on, said "prominte" (sorry), and received... nothing. Not an icy

Comments

[charlotte_webb]

This isn't exactly apt, but you might find it funny ... Maciej and I hung out quite a bit a few years back, and he's a great writer, plus he was born in Poland so he has an insider's view of the whole eastern-europe zeitgeist.

http://www.idlewords.com/2004/05/poland_joins_the_european_union.htm

[ayekamn]

He told me that under communism, smiling made you stick out, appear independent, and being independent was "dangerous."

Wow, that sounds like some American conservative anti-communist propoganda. That's crazy that this is really true, and people there think like this! That is fascinating though, I like reading about your adventures in Prague. ^^

[suthrncan]

"I wish this for America. I wish that we can change this radically this quickly. Because (as vintagehandbag says, christ on a bike) we really need to."

Yeah, I totally agree with you but unfortunately, that statement falls under the category of Anti-American sentiment for a frightening percentage of the people here.

[whisteriansky]

and i agree. i don't understand why the majority of people here think that change is un-American. maybe they fear change.