Zdravstvuj Readers! You know I try to keep things light around here and usually don't dip my toes in the political cess pool, but today I thought I'd give a little shout out of support to the ladies of Pussy Riot. You may have heard or read about them over the last few months; they're a female punk rock group from Russia who stormed an orthodox cathedral and played an anti Putin song. Now I say, that was extremely disrespectful of the worshipers who were there at the time, but today they were sentenced to a TWO YEAR prison term! WTF?!! Anyway, I feel people have the right to protest and demonstrate and speak up if they think something is wrong. As far as I can tell, they didn't seem to do any physically destructive damage, just ran up and started playing their song and doing some disrespectful movements. I might not always agree with what's being said or the way it is presented, but throwing someone in the clink for two years is excessive and will only make Putin look worse than he already did as well as draw attention to what the ladies were protesting to begin with. I guess that actually means Pussy Riot won! Mission accomplished ladies! Wonder if they allow conjugal visits in Russia? ;^)
5 comments:
Sorry, Fred. I don't think you have your facts correct on this one. The "Punk Prayer" was much more anti-Christian than anti-Putin. I'm no Russian expert, but the Church would be private property here in the USA. Would you, and our leftist media, have the same attitude if a band invaded a mosque and started ridiculing muslims and mocking their prophet? Two years seems harsh, but it's a question of degree as punishment was well deserved.
JL, I do think their actions were offensive and no, I don't think it's nice to mock people's religious beliefs (or lack of).
At the same time, it's not like they torched the place or beat up a priest.
What they did was highly offensive, but I doubt it will cause any psychological damage to anyone or even make any church goers in attendance that day question their beliefs.
From what I read, the song was about Putin stepping down and his connection to the church (mixing of church and state). I don't know that for sure though, it's just what I read.
You are right, the church was private property and they stepped over the line by going inside instead of doing their thing outside, but I still feel two years in the gulag is way too much.
Lastly, I would still like to have conjugal visits with that one cutie. ;^)
Just sent you an e-mail.
Here's one site with translated lyrics:
http://freepussyriot.org/content/lyrics-songs-pussy-riot
According to the press here (UK), the gist of the song was "Please Holy Mother of God, get rid of Putin".
Of course, as an ultra-left-wing extremist, I defend Pussy Riot's right to freedom of speech, and don't consider that any punishment is warranted.
One mildly interesting point that doesn't get out much is that although the liberal intelligentsia in Russia and in the West are outraged by the whole thing, most normal people in Russia are either annoyed by the band's antics or don't care.
PL
Thanks for the info perfect71ps.
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