Pope satirist on trial in Poland

Dillon · Post by **Dillon** » 2005-01-25 07:00pm

Iceberg wrote:
neoolong wrote:So it doesn't even have to be the head of state for Poland? That's just crazy. Makes you wonder if anybody in Poland criticized Bush.
The Pope is a national hero in Poland, in no small part because he stood up often and vocally to Soviet overlords like Brezhnev. So for some guy to call the Pope "The Brezhnev of the Vatican" is beyond a normal insult, it's a direct and very specific slap in the face of a beloved national figure and symbol (he's also the first Slavic Pope ever, and the first non-Italian Pope in over five hundred years).

Are you saying that means people should be fined and possibly prosecuted for insulting him?

Iceberg · Post by **Iceberg** » 2005-01-25 07:02pm

observer_20000 wrote:
Iceberg wrote:
neoolong wrote:So it doesn't even have to be the head of state for Poland? That's just crazy. Makes you wonder if anybody in Poland criticized Bush.
The Pope is a national hero in Poland, in no small part because he stood up often and vocally to Soviet overlords like Brezhnev. So for some guy to call the Pope "The Brezhnev of the Vatican" is beyond a normal insult, it's a direct and very specific slap in the face of a beloved national figure and symbol (he's also the first Slavic Pope ever, and the first non-Italian Pope in over five hundred years).
Are you saying that means people should be fined and possibly prosecuted for insulting him?

Should, no. Is understandable, yes. This is, for all intents and purposes, the equivalent of a post-Revolutionary newspaper editor writing a newspaper article comparing General Washington to King George III.

UCBooties · Post by **UCBooties** » 2005-01-25 08:14pm

If it was the American right pulling this shit we wouldn't be saying "it's understandable" now would we? If your going to be part of modern democratic society, you have a free press, the EU should probably use some harsh language on this one. They can still have the moral highground over us Americans if they at least try to look like their getting their backward states in line.

The_Last_Rebel · Post by **The_Last_Rebel** » 2005-01-26 12:03am

And here in America, we can insult heads of state all we want, including our own.

Lord Zentei · Post by **Lord Zentei** » 2005-01-26 12:10am

UCBooties wrote:If it was the American right pulling this shit we wouldn't be saying "it's understandable" now would we? If your going to be part of modern democratic society, you have a free press, the EU should probably use some harsh language on this one. They can still have the moral highground over us Americans if they at least try to look like their getting their backward states in line.

Just wait until Turkey joins.