Angela Merkel's boobs
German politicians have condemned a computer generated photo of Poland's leaders sucking the German Chancellor Angela Merkel's bare breasts.
The image appears on the cover of the Polish weekly Wprost, and is titled "Stepmother of Europe".
A Polish council overseeing ethics in the media said the montage overstepped "the limits of good taste".
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The mocked up image shows Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski, nuzzling at Ms Merkel's chest.
Is the image "tasteless," as German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier put it? Well, that all depends on your particular taste, doesn't it? I actually find the image rather amusing, and extremely effective. Does it not get its point across effectively? I would go so far as to say that it's rather brilliant political satire. The fact that it has provoked such controversy, and that both sides, Polish and German alike, are crying outrage, only attests to its effectiveness. It has done what it was meant to do. And here it is:
Steinbach's position as head of the Federation of Expellees arouses much controversy in some countries which were occupied by Germany during the Second World War.
Steinbach's public pronouncements have been criticized for causing a deterioration in German-Polish relations due to stirring up controversy regarding the rights of Germans who were expelled from Poland after World War II. This controversy has led to Steinbach's negative reputation in Poland, where she and the Centre against Expulsions are frequently associated with Nazism. One example of this was a 2003 cover montage of Polish newsmagazine Wprost that depicted her riding Chancellor Gerhard Schröder while wearing an SS uniform.
posted by Michael J.W. Stickings at
8:55 PM
4 Comments:
I'm not a guy, so I am unable to identify at that level. But I am a woman. The "Reaction" from me would be this. There must be something terribly frightening about women as leaders of men. I can think of no other (probably over-generalized) explanation for such stuff. I'm not frightened because I try to look at real leadership outcomes as the measure. If that's stuffy, chalk it up to my advanced age. Interesting post, Michael.
By
Carol Gee, at 5:27 AM
Yeah, I generally have a problem with a magazine cover showing bare boobs. It's too associated with porn in most societies.
By
Elayne, at 4:25 PM
I can't disagree with you, Elayne. And although I condider the image to be effective satire, there is a troublesome pornographic element to it, and I think Carol hits on it: men are afraid of powerful women. Would the magazine be more supportive of Poland's leaders if they, men, ruled over Merkel? Are they uncomfortable with Poland's submissiveness with respect to Germany, or with respect to a woman?
Which brings us back to Chris Matthews's Hillary sisterhood phobia, of course.
By
Michael J.W. Stickings, at 4:29 PM
just a story behind your story... from dr.e
>>>Steinbach's public pronouncements have been criticized for causing a deterioration in German-Polish relations due to stirring up controversy regarding the rights of Germans who were expelled from Poland after World War II. This controversy has led to Steinbach's negative reputation in Poland, where she and the Centre against Expulsions are frequently associated with Nazism. >>>>>>
dear Michael, did you mean in the last sentence, "made reference to" or "represented in graphics as," or that she and the center ARE 'associated with' Nazism?
The expellees. Yes. Coming from a family filled with 'expeller refugee from that time; at the Pottsdam conference, leaders who are often diefied now, ethnic cleansed millions of German heritage peoples who had been peasants and merchants in ALL the European countries.
In my foster family's case; Hungarian citizens for over 150 years who iriginated two centuries previous in Swabia that now belonged to Germany.
Imagine Michael, most of our families have not been in the USA for 150 years. Imagine even if were had been, what it would be like to be stripped of citizenship and shipped back to where your great great great great great great great grandfather came from...
What happened in Eu was that CITIZENS of each country were rounded up by the thousands, entire villages and towns dismantled, taken from their homes, allowed to take what they could carry. Many, withNO warning. Those very few with any warning it is said, bought their way to a finer accomodation.
The people who were ethnically cleansed never saw their homelands again; their lands and goods were confiscated by the Russians, The Americans and Britain.
They were held in ragged camps in Germany with some propaganda pictures taken somewhere to show 'how well they were trated." Does this sound familiar?
Remember the pictures of the Kurds hiding in the moutnains with their little children and babies and their old people. THink of the 'expellers'. Many died in transport and in the camps. Medicine? What medicine? Ill people who couldnt be moved? They were moved and many lost.
It is one of the most mutilating events that occured in the war and is hardly ever spoken of. Those who tried, years ago were silenced for various reasons. It would be a good thing for you to consider to write about Michael. You would be one of the first.
Churchill stated he felt there would never be peace in EU, with people of German heritage in the EU countries other than Germany.
Imagine taking all the Italian Americans in the US, and sending them back to Italy after WWII. Imagine that Churchill's motive is highly dubious. It was for the land, the valuable precious pristine land, the rivers, the huge forests, the natural resources under the ground, the houses, the goods of the churches in those villages that were utterly looted. And all of now ethnically cleansed E. Eu, handed over to Russia as the spoils of war. You know what happened next.
The whole thing ranks with the Armenian holocaust as being a horror that goes upspoken about all these years.
"Displaced people" is the term applied to those forced from their homes.. to take them to an utterly destroyed Germany, a Germany in RUBBLE... a Germany most had not seen in over 15 generations.
These are the so-called expellees. The correct phrase is Ethnic cleansing.
Thanks Michael. It's another one of those stories that is hard. Just hard. The picture of the woman on the man's back, in context, appears to be another denial of atrocious treatment of innocent people from long ago in all the EU countries.
SHow that picture to a family of 'expellees' and satire would be the last thing that would ever come to mind. THey would feel the ire toward them from long ago is still alive.
dr.e
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Anonymous, at 6:07 PM
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