An accurate hit by the girls from Pussy Riot

“They're not afraid of you guys. They are afraid of their image of you...” is the first part of a famous quote from the classic movie Easy Rider.

And I remembered this phrase yesterday when I heard that deputies from United Russia expressed indignation that “the real organizers of the action in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior by the punk group Pussy Riot, as well as the performers who took photographs, have not yet been identified and punished.” they helped carry equipment, interviewed participants in the action, and then in every possible way disseminated information aimed at discrediting the Russian Orthodox Church.”

It seemed to me that this whole story was not too serious and would quickly disappear... But that was not the case! First, the Hierarchs of the Orthodox Church demanded reprisals against the musicians and began to convince parishioners to join this demand. And now here come the deputies... Some kind of completely wild reaction in its aggressiveness.

And I suddenly remembered another story, very similar to this one. It happened in the summer of 1977 in London with the Sex Pistols. Another time and another country - but also punks, young people skeptical of the surrounding reality. It's the young ones. They then, like the girls from Pussy Riot now, were between 20 and 22 years old...

On June 7, 1977, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne, the group organized a performance on a river steamer cruising the Thames. As the ship sailed past the Houses of Parliament, the band performed the song "God Save the Queen":

God save the queen

She's not human

And there's no future

In these English dreams!

They didn't ask you what you want

Didn't ask what you need

And you have no future ...

Half an hour later, the participants in this “concert” were arrested by the police. And Sex Pistols leader Johnny Rotten called this event “one good day in a rotten world”... But what happened next is more interesting! And the point is not at all that the song took first place in terms of sales... After this action, several attacks were made on the guys from the group and team members. Sex Pistols art director Jamie Reed was beaten by unknown assailants, breaking his leg and nose. Then they attacked Johnny Rotten in the street, cut his face with a razor and broke both legs. Drummer Paul Cook was stabbed multiple times and taken to hospital. All the attackers remained unknown... Soon one of the Sunday editions of The Daily Mirror newspaper was published under the headline “Punish the Punks” and attacks on ordinary punks began in London...

Why? Where does this aggression come from? Have you decided to stand up for your beloved queen? But the 20-year-old guys were just singing a song!

Isn't it similar? After all, in fact, the girls from Pussy Riot just sang a song. And not even a song - but only part of it. And not at all about the temple and parishioners, but about the queen... that is, excuse me, President Putin. And by the way, they sang in the very place that is used as a commercial establishment almost more often than as a Temple...

Can all this really discredit the Russian Orthodox Church more than the words of the same Vsevolod Chaplin about Stalin as an effective leader? Or the participation of church hierarchs in the cigarette business?

The quote from the movie "Easy Rider" that I started to quote had a second part. Jack Nicholson's character, a philosophizing lawyer who joined two bikers who were traveling through the American South, said this: “They are not afraid of you, but of what you represent. Freedom! When they see a truly free person in front of them, it can be great for them.” scare..." This was just after the careless travelers did not like the local inhabitants from a small town and quarreled with them.

It ended well known - the lawyer was killed in a fight the very next day, and his friends were shot in a neighboring town. Because with long hair, they listen to rock music and go somewhere, instead of working like everyone else and going to church on Sundays...

You may say that this is all unconvincing. That the guys from London were simply hooligans and provoked ordinary people. And at the same time they inflated their value with such advertising. And girls from Moscow are doing the same thing... And almost everyone from Vsevolod Chaplin and Maxim Shevchenko through Maxim Kanonenko to Olga Bakushinskaya and Alexander Plyushchev (not to mention dozens of people unknown to me) say exactly that! Like, of course the girls are fools and did something bad, but they shouldn’t be shot and quartered. Let's just punish... Or even forgive...

And I am more and more surprised! No! What are you talking about?! What was done was done with art and talent. And in response there is aggression and a desire to destroy! How can aggression be just and righteous? No, my dears, aggression is a clear sign of broken complexes. And indulging in philistine aggression is a clear sign of a dishonest position or even professional unsuitability...

So now, thanks to the efforts of the Russian Orthodox Church, I personally have a firm conviction that the girls from the Moscow punk group hit the mark. They did exactly that and in exactly the same place. Their past actions did not bring such results because they did not hit the target. Even on the forehead. But now they got it.

Of course they will get it too. There's no way around this. But thanks to them, we clearly saw the very complex that torments our society! And today’s statement by the Interreligious Council of Russia brilliantly illustrated this complex!

Well, think for yourself, a simple song asking to drive Putin away is declared “a violation of the feelings of believers...” and “an attempt to incite discord on religious grounds...” and equated to revolutionary upheavals! And the state authorities showed due understanding... And all this immediately after the GDP itself expressed its dissatisfaction with a song (and after representatives of all faiths gathered in its support before the elections)...

As Mamonov’s hero used to say in the film “Island”: “I am well acquainted with this demon...”

And after this you will deny that the girls hit the target?