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Speaking ill of my own nation always makes my feel like a heretic. Nationalism is now what religion used to be and any criticism of one’s own people is likely to be treated as treason by one’s compatriots – albeit as insanity by all others. To paraphrase the nationalist theorist Ernest Gellner: we now worship ourselves as we formerly worshiped God.

When Poland entered European Union more than three years ago, I was overly enthusiastic. Deep in my heart I was hoping that the demagoguery of the Eurosceptics would become at least partly true and Poland would lose some of its ultra-nationalist fervor. I hoped that the EU’s twelve stars will cast some light on my country and finally place us on a glorious path of enlightenment. I believed that our xenophobia, homophobia and Antisemitism would evaporate along with our “almost fanatical devotion to the Pope”, as Michael Palin of Monty Python once put it.

Unfortunately, I was wrong and my impending disillusionment has arrived. Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland’s liberal daily, recently published a poll asking of Poles: “Who would you like to be your boss?” Among the winners were women (90% in favor) and openly religious Catholics (75% in favor). Among the losers were Jehovah’s witnesses (59% against), Poles of ethnically Arab descent (77% against) and homosexuals (84% against).