The Pussy Riot members were convicted of âhooliganismâ for disrupting the Orthodox religion. But apparently Orthodox hooligans have free rein to disrupt the Pastafarian religion.
The general issue in Russia seems to be police not enforcing the rule of law.
Why does the govenment always have to be so oppressive over there in Russia? I canât believe that the âaverageâ Russian citizen is all that concerned about gay people, Pastafarians, Pussy Rioters, or any of that. Iâve been watching them since the sixties when they were the USSR. Doesnât seem like things have changed much.
Those people need to learn to lighten up.
A sad day for the church⌠actually, a sad day for both churches.
someone needs to run more stories about tolerant, accepting religious people. There must be some, somewhere?
There are stories out there, hereâs one that you probably wont see covered here or in the West as it does not fit the usual narrative model. Here is a story about a tragedy that befel a religious person which pulls together segments of two communities in Brooklyn that were once in conflict a couple decades ago. Iâm sure theres more out there, I just had those handy.
I guess we see this as opposed to any other oppression of a self proclaimed faith group here due to the personal interest in Pastafarianism.
I think that Pastafarianism is juvenile and lost its poignancy about a decade ago six years ago [edit: time doesnât fly as much as I thought], but this is such a weird and excessive reaction. Itâs like arresting someone for having a Darwin Fish bumper sticker. Itâs tacky, but who is it hurting?
I guess that they donât get the joke.
I began studying Russian history in high school in the 70s. I eventually abandoned a Chemistry degree for one in Slavic Languages. I once read an 800 page book âHow the Soviet Union is Governedâ from cover to cover. I could name all the members of the Politburo in 1982. Iâve always been a socialist but never a Stalinist. I was hopeful for them during Gorbachev but by Yeltsin I started to feel a knot in my gut. Finally, at this late point in time I have lost ALL interest in things Russian. Itâs a pathetic mafia-state populated largely by Slavic guido-redneck-crucifix-clutchers. Iâll never regret reading Marx and Lenin. I just wish I would have made the (backwards?) transition to Hegel sooner. The âmetaphysicsâ I once shunned is now a welcome refuge from this sad and increasingly predictable world we live in. Russia - welcome back to the rubbish bin of history that you once almost escaped.
I really wish I knew more young people who live in Russia. Itâd be very interesting to hear what perceptions are like on the ground there, since I canât quite shake the cultural objectivity aspect of reading Russian news as a dude from the States. Weâre still such radically different cultures even though we have superficial similarities.
You could reduce basically any country down to the same point, though. Hardline conservatives still rule huge portions of the States, the UK has itâs asinine and racist Torries, etc etc. Russiaâs conservative crazies appear to be way more violent and deeply-entrenched than in most other examples I can think of, but that doesnât mean that itâs the voice of the whole nation.
Cops donât like trolls one bit.
Dislike its aesthetics all you like; but (unfortunately) the satiric niche Pastafarianism seeks to fill is alive and well as long as you can elicit such a reaction to practicing it⌠On the day that it finally elicits nothing but yawns, it can retire (and I suspect people generally will retire it, as there isnât really a point outside of context.
To be honest, I get the impression that they are.
I lurk on Reddit and whenever the issue of gay oppression comes up you get swathes of Russians defending the governments actions. Culturally they are different to us, and they do seem to see gay people as some kind of disease.
Naturally thereâll be progressive Russians, but the general tone doesnât come across as though itâs a couple of nuts in government causing these issues.
To be fair itâs only juvenile because its followers donât actually believe in it. Itâs no more ridiculous than any other man made, organised religion.
Ramen.
this is wonderful, moar!
someone should start a website for this!
Culturally they are different to us, and they do seem to see gay people as some kind of disease.
Itâs been that way in the UK, the US, and so on. Itâs a mistake to think that it canât change in Russia too.
Definitely.
I wasnât trying to bash the Russians. The west has plenty of its own
bigotry - but Russia is noticeably quite different from the west, which can
be easy to forget.
Itâs certainly no excuse, and it would be just as much of an issue if this
were playing out in, say, Iran - the difference is that people consider
Russians more like âusâ than the Iranians, so expect more alignment in
values. Which would actually be a false assumption.
At least thatâs my perspective; happy to be corrected.
But I agree with your sentiment, and I didnât mean my comment to come across as defeatist.
