Normal life, while Georgia burns

But while journalists reported events in the same clichéd way as they reported on the wars in the Balkans and Chechnya in the past, one could perceive a strange new phenomenon - widespread inaction. Despite the fact that an act of Russian aggression was taking place in a country which has much in common with Poland, online forums were hardly spilling over with citizen action. Polish internet users seemed more interested in a YouTube clip of a baby panda sneezing than in offering opinions on the conflict in the Caucasus.

Youth unenthused

I remember the huge demonstrations which young Poles held in front of the Russian Embassy when that country launched its offensive in Chechnya. Acts of support for the Chechens, while not devoid of real empathy, were simply the done thing. Every young intellectual - irrespective of political convictions - demonstrated with equal commitment his hostility to Moscow's military operations.

Meanwhile, at the start of the conflict in Georgia, the demonstration in front of the Russian Embassy looked quite different. People of different age groups attended - many of whom were Georgians who reside in Poland - but the young were not a group which particularly stood out.

And this was not solely due to the summer holidays or students being off on vacation. This same hot August day, the cafes and bars around the university were full of young people. It sufficed to look around three or four café terraces on Krakowskie Przedmieście to count that there were more young people sitting there than standing before the Russian Embassy in Warsaw.

Immobile, not indifferent

Not all young Poles ignored the issue. Some few indeed sat in front of their computers, recording thought. And many of these people commented on Polish president Lech Kaczyński's plans to fly to Tbilisi and support the Georgian government.

The comments were largely unflattering, however. "The purpose of Lech Kaczyński's expedition is to infuriate Putin, so that he will increase Poland's gas and oil prices [... and] will have money for the war in Georgia," read one, while another said simply, "Maybe the Russians will shoot him." And these were among the most positive opinions.

This does not mean that young Poles, on the whole, were indifferent to the plight of average Georgians. They collected blankets, clothes, first-aid kits and donated blood. These were warm, humanitarian gestures and they said much without protesting, without threatening Russia and without ideological overtones.

Instead, it seems that many young Poles do not agree with President Kaczyński, who went to support the Georgian government, simply because they do not want to take sides. They have other priorities.

The new patriotism

According to sociological surveys, young Poles have finally broken with the traditional romantic Polish patriotism, the ethos of heroism and the notion of sacrifice for a higher purpose. They show their attachment to Poland differently - in their daily efforts to live in a better, wealthier world; in a country which has good relations with its neighbors; in conditions which allow their dreams to be realized.

Just two years ago, the Kaczyński brothers' Law and Justice Party was proud of the fact that they had revived the myth of the Warsaw Uprising among young people, partly with the aid of multimedia technologies. This, indeed, was one of the party's strongest goals.

Recently, however, I spoke to a young man who had played a computer game about the Uprising. I asked him, "Did you like it? Would you have been ready to take part in the Uprising?"

His reply was pedestrian. "I played because I imagined that I was fighting. Like in every game. I like to do what I would never do in normal life."

"Normal life," it seems, is the new Polish patriotism. How well this brand of patriotism serves Poland's future remains to be seen.

Joanna Wóycicka is the former head of the foreign section of the Życie Warszawy and Życie newspapers and the former head of the foreign department at the Polish Press Agency (PAP).