Cluny Revisited

Since an almost 30 year-old pedophile scandal resurfaced a few weeks ago, the siege of Vatican does not cease. The news of a priest from Munich sexually harassing a young boy back in the 80’s made the current pope’s reputation tremble. As the details of the scandal emerged from obscurity, it turned out that from Switzerland to France and from Brazil to entire Africa, every country could come up with at least one child molester to feed the scandal of the Church’s collapsing reputation.

According to the psychiatrist of the molester priest of Munich, Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI.), although the archdiocese in Munich during the incident, did not eventually know about the reinstallation of the abuser into service. Today, Joseph Ratzinger is dictating letter after letter to the Polish, Irish and Swiss churches in order to come over the rising tension. Apparently, he has to stand firmly on his heels if he ever wants to provide a proper response to the major news outlets’ scream for scandal: “Irish disgust over Roman Catholic Church”, “Pope’s tarnished reputation”, and so on, just to name a few of the popular headlines.

Vatican experts claim that the current scandal is mainly due to the “dam-effect”: in case of such delicate issues (like: concerning morality), one spark is enough to evoke the flames.

The outcome of this current issue is especially relevant from the aspect of the long-awaited reform of priests’ regulations, especially the question of celibate. Back in the 11^th century, the reform of Cluny aimed at reorganizing the law of the Church to prevent priest from forming families and thus (via heirs) shoveling all the wealth out of the system. Today morality issues are the weakest link in a religion’s agenda, and while Ratzinger (sadly) needs to patch up his torn reputation, an even more interesting finale of the current issue is going to be the dilemma of abolishing celibate. Will this also abolish pedophilia? Is that the real remedy?

Outdated Tyranny

The Great Firewall of China has struck again, but a bit late this time. Zhang Hong, the chief editor heading one of China’s most important and widespread daily papers, was fired after his article dared to criticize the highly suffocating bureaucracy in China’s legislative customs. One of the main concerns of Zhang’s article turned out to be the one reporting on the Chinese registration system that today ties the population to its original birth town and thus hinders the free flow of citizens migrating around the country. The only problem the Chinese government commando made this time was not preventing this snippet of news reaching some of the major news outlets in Europe and the US. The scandal erupted.

As it is obvious, people from the countryside are the most endangered segment of the current Chinese population, since in order to pursue a financially successful (= not starving to death) life, many of them are lured to the larger metropolises, such as Beijing. However, due to the good old registration system in China, many of the citizen’s rights are only available (!) in their birth town. Such reference to some vague “right of birth” is not as new as it might seem. The notion of "divide et impera", as the great Romans would recite all over the basin of the Mediterranean Sea two thousand years ago, is becoming ever more timely in China. This large country cannot actually afford the larger mega-cities and cannot compensate the economic loss that origins from a shrinking agriculture of the countryside. But the main problem is not about economics. The main problem is about preventing huge masses of people to hear about valuable information that is relevant to their lives; not letting them be near the news outlets and to experience the cracking and popping of the cultural melting pot of the city. The main problem is about preventing people to gather; since if there is a smaller gathering, there surely will be a larger one, and after that: an entire anti-governmental revolutionary party might form itself right there on the street.

The recent Google-scandal that involved Chinese hackers having a little fun with the Great Western Search Engine shed light on the strict Internet censorship in a country which, by the way, fed itself on its own self-esteem one and a half year ago when hosting the Summer Olympics in 2008. Back then, China showed the world what it has got. Zhang’s paper criticized the government, and a few hours later, Zhang was already dismissed. His former colleagues were too terrified to acknowledge the utter nonsense of such governmental repercussions.

What could still intrigue any readers of those few news outlets that could actually snatch the info covering Chinese registration issues is why such an overt punishment, arriving from a centralized government, can still nourish from people’s fear. Of course it can, but until when? Wouldn’t it be a more rewarding strategy to just simply pat Zhang on the back for his effort and make sure he disappears in a few years time, discreetly and quietly? Chinese tyrannical censorship and fake bureaucracy have been outdated to such an extent it could surprise anyone. Well, anyone who does not need to calculate with the everyday fight for survival in the Chinese idyll of living outside a “protecting” city. Still, China’s governmental behavior, especially if we consider this behavior as a strange but potentially dangerous phenomenon that is (most importantly) monitored by the entire West, is something that needs to be put into museums. Under thick glass.

The Myth of the Accelerating Toyota? Give Us a Break...

The global news buzz over Toyota’s recall-scandal kicks off with a new chapter this month as another 4.2 million cars seem to be affected by the accelerator’s own personal life. According to reports, even after releasing the pedal, engines in various Toyota models would keep rotating at the same speed, or in some occasions, the cars could even accelerate.

During the autumn of last year, half a million of Toyota’s new hybrid car, the Prius, was recalled after hundreds of reports in the US: errors in the brake system of these cars began to crop up all around the States even only a few months after each car's purchase.

Throughout the months since October 2009, the rampaging battering ram of the US media managed to force the Japanese company to its knees. Akio Toyoda, CEO of Toyota Motor Corp. is now officially begging for the entire world’s trust. The day of the U.S congressional hearing, February 24, will now forever be remembered as the “day of restart for Toyota”.

Fair enough, but why does nobody hear about Ford recalling over 16 million of its cars just before the autumn of 2009, just before the juicy Toyota-scandal? Oh, and the story wasn’t merely about a dozen unverified complaints on unresponsive accelerating pedals – a problem that surely needs instant aid but which could be dealt with temporarily if one stepped firmly on the break –, but about ABS connection wires catching fire, or the melting (sic!) of the autocruise-buttons. Another example is the 2010 edition of Chevrolet’s Camaro: almost the entire new generation has been recalled by General Motors. The company’s discreet warning begged the customers not to drive their new cars since fire sparks in the engine due to an exposed power cable could lead to lethal consequences. General Motor also recalled another 1.3 million of its other models: in each case the problem originated in loosely grounded cables which could result in engine fire or even explosion.

Today, the horror-story of Ford’s death car, the Pinto, has already become a commonplace that can easily be referred to in the current situation, when the US Senate is constantly boohooing over the morality of Toyota’s policy in placing financial income above security and customer’s service. Back in the seventies, the Pinto’s unsatisfactory construction resulted in a total of 600-900 deaths – which had to be revealed by a sole investigative reporter. After any accidental rear crash, the Pinto’s gas tank would burst into flames, not leaving much opportunity for anyone sitting in the back to survive. Ford calculated on these casualties, but as it turned out, it was much cheaper to pay the insurance companies than to redesign and reissue one of its most popular models.

It would be ridiculous to blame the Toyota-scandal on such people as Nebraskan senator Mike Johanns, (who would actually ban every Toyota in the States) just because the US turns out to be revenge-thirsty after Japan’s official ban on American beef-import due to the BSE-disease. Still, one gets the impression that the Toyota scandal-balloon feeds itself from sheer – but subtle – aspersion. Guilty West versus the meticulously professional East? The saddest part of this current hype is stigmatizing Toyota, one of the largest motor manufacturers of the world and definietly the main pillar of Japan's car-industry, as immorally greedy. Oh my.

The Iconostasis and the Torah Scroll

One of the largest contingents of Jews migrating back to Israel before the 90s gathered from the Soviet Union. Today, Russians immigrating to the Holy Land even without a Jewish origin are arriving willingly to their new home.

The Bar Putin is one of the main meeting places in a Russian diaspora that now dwells on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The main concerns that certainly arise even among the enthusiastic newcomers are homesickness and assimilation. The usually atheist and pork-consumer Russian minority will surely need to reconsider its integrity in the new surroundings. Today, the frequent waves of Russian immigration to Israel are merely representing the first slopes on certain graph-statistics that in the near future could easily become hectically alternating.

As many immigrants confess, the main lure attracting them to their new home is the greater opportunity for employment. However, in a country where the security staff scans, interrogates, or even humiliates each and every tourist as a potential terrorist while entering the country, such Russian mass-pursuit of a new life might as well end up in government officials over-reacting the whole business.

The atmosphere of Bar Putin can easily demonstrate the sour aftertaste dealt with by the Russian immigrants after having joyously settled in a still amid-war country: Israeli dance music, Russian pork, Putin’s portraits tiling the walls awkwardly. It’s only a matter of time until the semi-kosher Russian market stands in Tel-Aviv become the hotbed of a major cultural clash between natives and immigrants.