Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Liberal v. conservative divide in the US and Russia


Seems like major countries are divided within on conservative and liberal lines. Based on demographic data, it also seems that this division may be based in part on age, with older people being more conservative, religious, and nationalistic than up and coming generations.
As the father of one of the accused glumly noted, there were two Russias present in the courtroom, and they clearly hated each other's guts. 
The Russia of liberal opponents of the regime's collusion with the church had few problems with the sacrilegious performance of a song referring to the supreme head of the Russian Orthodox Church as a "bitch" and to the Orthodox faithful as those who "crawl to bow" to both the priests and the state.
The traditionalist, nationalist Russia instead called for the Pussy Riot members to be jailed, thrown out of the country, physically punished and the like. This part of society, while not necessarily opposed to freedom of expression, clearly does not see it as a paramount value that must take precedence over the right to religious freedom or the state's obligation to protect a religious association from assault and indignity.
Asia Times Online
Pussy Riot divides Russian society
Mikhail A Molchanov
Led by Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) and featuring other Tea Party stars like Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), the committee approved a draft of the platform McDonnell said “will reflect the heart and soul of the Republican Party” and one committee member called “the most conservative platform in modern history.”
Think Progress
GOP Approves ‘Most Conservative Platform In Modern History’
Aviva Shen

3 comments:

paul meli said...

We're definitely entering a very scary and unpredictable future.

The race is on to see whether the forces of fairness and equality can hold onto it's position long enough for the Luddites to die off. If not the uglier side of humanity will be able to fundamentally change things for the worse.

Anonymous said...

Tom, have you heard about the second MMT summit in Italy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=np28vNrffvA

Tom Hickey said...

Yes, just hadn't see the announcement yet. I'll post it. Thanks.