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Kinga Dunin
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05.09.2009 |
A mention of Michael Jackson’s name in one of my recent articles appeared to provoke higher than average reader response. Mindful that namedropping apparently works for me, I’ve taken care to include Madonna in the title of this piece, even though, as was the case with Jackson, she won’t take up too many column inches.
I’d like to start with one reader’s response to the said article; namely that I should desist from picking fault with Rev Sowa, because preaching to the meek of this Earth is in his job description, while concerning himself with bank institutions isn’t. The reader’s opinion is based on the premise that morality has bugger all to do with banking and that capitalism doesn’t, in and of itself, endorse greed. The reader adds that: ‘…a priest, a teacher and mum and dad (even your mum and dad, dear lady) have the right, nay, the duty, to moralise to their neighbour (a church congregation, a child, a friend); while the ‘morality’ of economic matters should remain the preserve of state governing bodies.’ I’d like to point out that even if, as the reader suggests, my main reason for committing my thoughts to paper is self-glorification, I rather flatter myself that the by-product of my vanity might be a question mark against certain ‘self-evident’ truths; which – including those referred to above – aren’t necessarily all that self-evident. I obviously failed to get my point across the first time of asking; maybe Lady Luck will smile on me now.
It is not at all ‘self-evident’ that capitalism, while bidding us all to earn and to consume, isn’t synonymous with greed as defined by the desire to accumulate more and more material goods and more and more cash-money. It is a matter for discussion at which point this desire veers towards excess, but it is indisputable that the system in which we live is designed to strengthen our wish to possess; in other words it forces us into sinful ways by definition. Should we become as the lilies of the field that neither spin nor weave and care not for material goods, the machine would grind to a halt.
It is generally accepted that each and every one of us is personally responsible for the condition of our soul, but leading a person into temptation cannot be morally neutral and this is where I have a bone to pick with the Rev Sowa’s views. I’ve got a difficulty with his finger-pointing at the sin within the soul of any Tom, Dick or Harry who dreams about a mortgaged-up two-up-two-down, while he chooses to remain blind to the culpable mechanism feeding into that desire. The reader lectures me about property ownership being the cornerstone of capitalism, concurring with the Rev Sowa’s unconditional acceptance of this premise. But there must be something wrong with the indecent willingness of the Church to perceive the straw in her brother’s eye, while remaining blind to the beam in her own: that truly obscene avarice of the Catholic Church. And even if the Church accidently found herself in possession of the deeds to some or other public edifice; would she be right to insist that her sacred private property rights trump the right of children to a school building or of the sick to a hospital ward? Or could it be that this level of attachment to property ownership shares common ground with unabated greed?
So finally: who can ultimately claim the right to moralise? Let’s face it – moralising is a universal prerogative, but it may be best to apply one’s moral scruples to one’s own sweet self first, and – let me moralise at this point – it may be best to take a pop-shot at the good and the great of this world before moralising to the populace at large. My reader takes comfort from the fact that – according to himself – he treats all people equally. Really? To follow his lead we need to apply the same moral standard as stringently to the Smiths hankering after a new telly as to everybody else in sight. An example of fat cat corporation managers willing to award themselves multimillion bonuses and golden handshakes – economic crisis or no crisis – provides the obvious pause for thought before we start bemoaning the sin of avarice in general population.
So now we come to the point about one, or even two, Madonnas. One Madonna is imminently due to play the Bemowo airfield on the 15th of August, while the other is about to be celebrated on her feast day; coincidentally on the same date. Are the Catholic moralisers, and above all else the Citizen Rights’ spokesperson entitled to read blasphemy into this coincidence? Should we be preached to about ‘getting our priorities right’ on that particular occasion? Madonna the singer is at the apex of mass culture. If her appearance on a feast day of a saint of the same name be deemed offensive, should all television coverage be withheld? Maybe her name itself should be withheld as offensive? But if the name may be traditionally ‘reserved’ in Poland, we should remember that this isn’t the case in Italy and that her Italian parents really had her christened this way.
There is a class of universal moral boundaries which we should all endeavour to preserve, but life has the annoying habit of coming up with variations on the general rule. Personally, I happen to be irritated by Catholic processions; another person may be pissed off by a classical music concert – the twain should run in parallel and be equally accommodated. We need to curb our moralising in order to confirm our tolerance towards our neighbour’s sensibilities.
transl. Małgorzta Skawińska
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Serwis piracki
 Oświadczenie Improwizowanego Kongresu Wolnego Internetu w sprawie obywatelskiej debaty z udziałem Prezesa Rady Ministrów Pana Donalda Tuska dotyczącej wolności i praw w internecie. Krytyka Polityczna solidaryzuje się ze stanowiskiem wyrażonym w oświadczeniu i również nie pojawi się na debacie u premiera.
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