Good

It is good when the comrades and accomplices of war criminals and people indicted of war crimes deny war crimes and glorify war criminals as publicly as possible. As I have already demonstrated on the example of a certain poet, it is good that they remind us, by insulting us and inflicting intellectual and moral pain upon us. It is good that they keep glorifying and awarding each other. When there is no other court, the court of public opinion is necessary. How does it work?

Let us look at one example. It is good that Kusturica is waving three fingers in Canes. Because it reminds us of Tadic and Jeremic waving at the previous Olympics – and even more of the fact that Tadic, at least, is no longer doing it. Furthermore, it is good to remember those who wanted to live on Ratko Mladic Boulevard, and who proclaimed the Serbian parliament to be his Safe House – something one cannot help but remember each time someone says, even today, that he is a hero and a knight. It is also good to find out all the ways so many people are expressing understanding for the comrades and accomplices of war criminals. If they were not allowed to defend the freedom of expression, we would not know how many people, and in what ways, are trying to find justification for something that is unforgivable. It looks like there is no other way to understand that there is no justification.

The good I mentioned is also contextual. It was not good when Politika and Radio Television of Serbia (or Belgrade) called to arms and violence against certain people or groups, at the beginning of everything that needs to be somehow justified and explained today. At that time, calls to war crimes mobilized people, today, they demoralize them. Tomorrow they may incite resistance and cause nausea. This is the hope with which we rely on the court of public opinion.

This is why it is good that the Radio Television of Serbia offered an apology, because we were able to read all the possible objections to this apology. Nothing can prove how strongly this apology was needed better than the arguments made to deny it. The same goes for the comments about the decision of Pescanik to terminate its broadcasting on radio station B92. It is good that so many people believed they should insult the authors and guests of Pescanik. What better way to justify the request that everyone take a clear standpoint on accomplices and comrades of war criminals when they publicly wash their hands – than the act of insulting and harrying the authors of that request?

Of course, this is also good contextually. It is not good when you have to run, whereas it is good when you can observe, however unpleasant it may be, the shame slowly spreading around.

 
Peščanik.net, 16.06.2011.