Monday, April 04, 2005

Pope-ularity

"How many army divisions does the Pope have?" --Stalin.

In hearing long distance about the gigantic crowds gathering in enormous St. Peter's Square, I'm reminded of the big-to-do made about Ronald Reagan's funeral. He had, what, 5,000 people show up to view his corpse? (Mainly defense contractors thanking him for kickbacks, I'd guess.) The Pope's funeral is expected to draw two million.

I have the sense that we in America strongly overrate our own power and importance. I also wonder if our President is not just a media construction. Non-stop 24-hour media hyping these guys-- and the so-called "most popular President" drew less for his funeral than a standard NASCAR race. I suspect Americans don't much care for any of our rulers-- they realize we have no control over events-- and our politicians' importance is largely among the establishment media and within their own minds.

(The Pope drawing millions of people in Communist Poland in 1979 I think had more to do with the collapse of the Soviet empire than Reagan in 1987 making remarks in front of a few American TV cameras to a wall.)

The contrast between reactions shows also that cultural figures and events have more relevance to people than politics. Let's not kid ourselves-- religion is culture. The major religions, in fact, have their foundations in literature, their growth and strength attributable to the power of their writings; whether the Koran, the Torah, or the Gospels. They're literature with a lot of added trappings-- robes and buildings and such-- but literature all the same. When one digs into the essence of things one finds that literature remains the greatest force of them all.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dude, i only watch TV when i WANT to raise my blood pressure to the point of dizziness and passing out, which happens often.

I saw the headline on that article you're talking about, but was too disgusted to read it.

Gas in Cali is $2.50 for the cheapest grade, and rising. It's all a big scam. BUT...considering inflation for everything else over the last 20+ years, gas prices are pretty good.

I don't count on that trend to continue! When it was $1.75 per gallon this past summer, I tried stockpiling gasoline in my underground bunker, but it stunk up the place, and the fumes killed my cats.

Fucking capitalist piggies.

ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORTATION: I bought myself a rickshaw, but who the hell's going to pull it? Katie Couric?

-Pat

Anonymous said...

"The contrast between reactions shows also that cultural figures and events have more relevance to people than politics."

I wouldn't be so sure of that... just looking at statistics, there are some 1.1 billion Roman Catholics (potential Pope funeral goers)in the world, and only 290 million US citizens (potential Reagan funeral goers). Also keep in mind that the Pope was currently "in power" when he died, while Reagan was a leader of the past. There are actually people who don't remember Reagan, and those that simply don't care, because he's not currently "in power". Another factor to consider is the duration of power. The Pope was pope for 26 years, while Reagan was only president for 8.

The moral of this story: you can't compare apples to popes, or oranges to presidents. One small death for pope isn't necessarily a giant leap for literature or culture.

In answer to the question posed by Stalin: this next pope will have just one unified army.