In Poland, I guess this is what passed for cutting-edge and shocking. A Polish magazine has published a cover featuring the much-revered Our Lady of Czestochowa, replacing the face with that of the pop star Madonna and the face of Christ with the pop star’s son. In the US, this would be considered in extremely poor taste and would elicit letters of protest. But in Poland, where Our Lady of Czestochowa is highly revered and whose status as a cultural and national icon is pre-eminent, I doubt the response will be as sanguine. I can imagine that this magazine is going to see protests and other action, including being condemned from pulpits.
If they don’t apologize, my guess is that their subscription base is going to quickly disappear. Not a smart move.
What did they hope to accomplish? I don’t know anything about the magazine, but they’re probably one of those alternative magazines who appeal to the hip and trendy counter-cultural types who are oh so daring in attacking the big, bad Church.
I have to admit that in Poland it is quite possible you’ll see death threats and violence over this. They do love Our Lady that much.
Technorati Tags: blasphemy, Catholic, media bias, Poland
Being of Polish ancestry, it does offend me, but no more than the perniciously evil crap published in Western Europe and the U.S.
No death threats for these aging juvenile delinquents, but a sound thrashing might help. And it wouldn’t hurt to thrash a few “progressives” here either. Maybe that’s what they are really crying out for?
So the resigned guys from NY Press speak Polish? And found new jobs so quickly, amazing!