Pussy Riot

[Jamie Parsons]

Professor Moss (and others,)

     I also find that the two message you mentioned didn't show up
correctly on my computer; must be an encoding problem on the sender's end.
     Secondly, I think that a statement comparing the actions of Pussy Riot
to a gathering of neo-nazi youth bearing swastikas at the Wailing Wall in
Jerusalem is both offensive and misleading.  It's a basic failed analogy:
"Nazis (or neo-Nazis) are NOT to Jews as liberal Orthodox Christians are
two Orthodox Christians.  No way, no how.  Historically, Nazis attempted
(and largely succeeded in) genocide of European Jews, based on their
ethnicity, not their religion; and frankly, I cannot think of one
historical incidence in which liberal members of one religion slaughtered
or oppressed conservative members of the same religion - although I can
think of many incidences where the exact opposite happened.  (The Spanish
Inquisition, for example.)  It's also fallacious to trace the lineage of
liberal feminists or activist groups (like Pussy Riot, whether or not I
enjoy their particular performance of protest) back to bolshevism in order
to make this specious comparison in the first place.  Demanding separation
of church and state in the legislative and other political arenas is NOT
the same as the wholesale war on religion which was indeed perpetrated by
the Bolsheviks.  This argument, by the way, is rather popular in the States
right now - a country which happens to be founded on BOTH separation of
church and state AND freedom of religion.  The fact that far-right-wing
religious people are complaining that government requirements for insurance
companies to provide contraception to women - including women who work for
Catholic universities and hospitals - is NOT an attack on freedom of
religion, and claiming that it is is as ridiculous as claiming that liberal
feminists in Russia are really bolsheviks in sheep's clothing who want to
wage war on religion.

Jamie Parsons
Doctoral Student
University of Michigan, Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures

On Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 4:52 PM, Vladimir Orlov <v.orlov05 at googlemail.com>wrote:

> Dear Professor Moss,
>
> may I please clarify two things:
>
> 1) Why do you start with the question "is Russian Orthodox church now
> in danger"?
> Who wrote that, may I ask you? I did not say that.
>
> In the same vein, can we say that the tragedy of Holocaust could be
> repeated now? If not, does it say that we should *not* keep our
> cultural memory, Holocaust museums, synagogues and Orthodox churches
> alike?
>
> 2) This is indeed repulsive, that they passed this anti-gay law that
> again alienates Russia from the modern world.
>
> However, what has Pussy Riot particularly to do with that? You can
> look up their activity prior to desecration of the Cathedral. Only
> this event caused their arrest and persecution; all things they did
> before disturbed the people, but they were not criminal.
>
> Now, would it be politically correct if someone desecrate the National
> Cathedral in DC or such civic monument as Lincoln Memorial? Even if
> s/he has some very important motives for doing so? (Well, opposition
> against Wall street sounds like an important reason as well.)
>
> These protests and cultural etiquette (we can call it that way) are
> two different things; and I was always thinking that the free
> democratic society should equally respect our rights and our beliefs.
> The gay rights are indeed suppressed in Russia, but does it mean they
> should move their protests to the places like church?
>
> I believe we should not lump everything together the way it happened;
> this will only cause troubles and greater tensions between various
> groups.
>
> Regards,
> Vladimir
>
> --
> Dr. Vladimir Orlov
> PhD in Musicology (Cantab)
> http://cambridge.academia.edu/VladimirOrlov
> Trustee of Cultural and Artistic Affairs, Russian Cambridge Foundation
> www.russiancambridge.org
> +7 8332 375760 (home)
>
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