In the Age of the Selfie, we have gotten to the point where the snapped camera phone shot takes the place of
substance.
The most glaring recent example is the selfie former secretary of state Hillary R. Clinton took at the Women of the World summit April 3 with members of the Russian girl band “Pussy Riot.”
Pussy Riot, beyond having a name that we have to pretend does not mean what we all know what it means, now makes a living as the band Democrats dial up when they need to show they are tough on freedom and Russia.
Before they were celebrated by Clinton, they were touted by United Nations Ambassador Samantha Powers, “Democracy Now” hostess Amy Goodman and by the White House and its sing-song-go-along chorus in the media.
We already know that Democrats have no shame associating with a band with such a foul name. But, do you know why Russian President Vladimir Putin prosecuted them?
The band, which has about a dozen members who drop in and out of gigs, entered Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior and performed their song “Punk Prayer: Mother of God, Chase Putin Away.”
Like with other stunts, the band videoed the performance and their subsequent arrest.
There it is. These women not only disrespected the solemnity of a place of worship, but they also insulted the worshipers there and the millions of members of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Just for context, this is no ordinary church. Not only is a spectacular structure and at 340 feet tall, it is the tallest church in Russian Orthodoxy.
The cathedral also holds a special place in the history of the Russians. Consecrated in 1883, the project was launched as a tribute to Jesus Christ, celebrating Russia’s victory over Napoleon Bonaparte.
After the Communists took over the government, it was soon enough that Staling destroyed the cathedral with dynamite in 1931, taking the marble for building projects in Moscow and selling off the gold from the domes for hard currency.
With the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church petitioned the new government for permission to rebuild the cathedral, where all that remained was the rubble. The new building was paid for with donations from all over Russia and it was the setting for both former president Boris Yeltsin funeral and the canonization of the Czar Nicholas II and his family as martyrs for the faith.
When President Barack Obama ran for president, he gave the impression that he was use the “soft power” of smart diplomacy to improve our foreign relationships.
In the White House, Obama made Russia one of his first overseas trips, where he apologized for George W. Bush’s support of the Georgian Republic, invaded by Putin.
But, it is fair to ask what kind of smart diplomacy leads one to choose Pussy Riot over Putin and the rest of the Russian people?
The crime that landed members of Pussy Riot in jail was the stunt in one of the most sacred and cherished worship site in Russia.
When Obama and the Democrats cheer on Pussy Riot, not only are the insulting the Russians, just at the time we need to be getting along with the Russians, but they are sanctioning a rock band’s private war on religion.
But, then again, the Democrats here in America are waging their own war on religion practice. Let’s see who and where they exploit and insult here. Why not? Maybe they will score another selfie with their favorite band.