Umm, Kinda Missing the Point
Matthew Yglesias does a good job demolishing Jim Geraghty’s silly Decembrist bashing post, but there’s one more bit of Gergaty’s laughably ignorant post that needs to be addressed:
From Wikipedia: “Named both in reference to the Russian Decembrist Revolt (which may explain its use of the National Anthem of the Soviet Union as an introduction at many concerts)…” Lovely.
Say what you will about this trend, but it’s plenty common in hipster circles to see a kitschy, ironic adoption of Soviety imagery and symbols. It would be a leap to say that the Decemberists want to starve the Ukranians. And, what exactly is wrong about championing the Decembrists, who were would-be reformers who wanted to inject some Western European style political liberties into the retrograde Russian system. Is Mark Schmitt some sort of communist now too?
The idea that The Decemberists are angry Socialist firebrands is hilarious. This should be encouraged instead of refuted.
Ned
May 22, 2008 at 2:48 pm