Extra! Extra! Daddy Bears Maul Bucurenci On Prime Time!
Since my last post, reality squeezed inside my blog in a shapely narrative arch, as the most fascinating turn of events occurred: Liiceanu and Plesu turned against Bucurenci and "executed" him on prime time TV - slowly and methodically, making it plenty obvious that they had planned it all along and were now enjoying it -- during fifteen minutes on their TV show. They were so ruthless and thorough that even I felt sorry for the guy. Okay, no I didn't, I had a great time.
Back story: Bucurenci, having recently been offered the too-big-for-his-background position of op-ed columnist, thought it wise to set the record straight where communism was concerned. Yeah, he is that misguided. In a country so scarred by it, he spoke of communism as a "slightly Utopian", lofty ideology that didn't deserve all the bad press.
This caused Plesu a sleepless night -- and I say he deserved it fully. Now, wasn't Bucurenci basking recently in his approval? Didn't he make his debut in "Dilema Veche", on his turf? Wasn't Liiceanu teaching him how to enjoy fine wine and cheese, thanks to the same network of cronies they helped set up, via Erisma? Wasn't "the Romanian Kierkegaard Also Known As Patapievici" seen in his vicinity too many times to count? As an outside observer, I had come to believe that he was fully backed by the Paltinis group! It's their negligence if their "brand" was so easily hijacked by Bucurenci's manipulating ways, he's their Frankenstein, they should deal with him.
And deal with him they did. They called him on his lack of cultural horizon, on his scarce reading, on his impatience, even on his hypocrisy. And then all the "bucurenci's" of the world were exhorted to the library, while the Daddy Bears laughed bitterly at their own chagrin.
Nice, and thank you guys, but... it might already be too late.
In this day and age, one cannot be too careful when branding around.
Now, the P&L chastisement might severely diminish, if not put an end to all the hugging and hand-holding and freebies from the cultural establishment. The monster which Bucurenci used to rely upon is now the monster he should fight. Or tame. This will give our "hero" a chance to ponder on the rightfulness of this concentration of cultural branding powers that he had formerly used to his advantage.
Bucurenci was already on a downward spiral when this happened: his "Cultura Libre" show on national public television had been cancelled. Mercifully, now no taxpayer's money is wasted on him. And if the "Evenimentul" folks are looking for a semi-educated kamikaze revolting enough to fuel tons of comments on their web site, it's their right to hang on to Bucurenci at their own expense and peril.
So, problem solved, eh? Ain't Romania great?
The End
P.S. I couldn't have dreamed up a more spectacular and even philosophical denouement for my previous posts. This blog looks like carefully plotted fiction: I only talked about these three (+1) characters all along, set up the background, foreshadowed some things then... Ka-phooow!
Genius.
But now I have to find another idea for a blog.
5 comments:
Don't like this Bucurenci guy either, but having two renowned "philosophers" bark at you for calling communism "slightly Utopian" is f*cking awesome. I wonder if he were really a communist, probably mr. Plesu wouldn't have slept for an entire week, who knows? And btw, is Patapievici "the Romanian Kierkegaard" nowadays? Then I guess nothing stops me from appointing myself "the Romanian Heine". Or should I be the "Romanian Schelling"? Tough choice.
Dear Maurice,
You leave the impression of a credulous youngster here and there, but, looking at your various insight moments, one might see a potential of a real free-thinker. Examine the possibility of staged sacrifice in front of a niche of cultural consumers with strong political readings or just complex minded for whom Bucurenci’s cultural branding tactics are obvious and futile. The audience of the execution was not Bucurenci’s “cultural” target segment. He is designated to swim in other seas. As far as my critical faculty helps me I can see only a staged execution of an obedient pawn who just put another brick onto a hidden agenda of discrediting any leftist thought in Ro. If you want an idea ridiculed, make a buffoon support it. Ain’t that a beautiful scenario?! Critical thought that leads directly in the loving arms of Paranoia.
Kritik Uber Alles, huh?!
You can ignore my first comment and this one too and publish neither of them. I just read the retort of Bucurenci which clearly contradicts my first theory. It seems after all that the cunning Bucurenci is somewhat trying to become emancipate from the intellectual dictatorship of his parents. An Oedipus tale of finding again the lost mother (Marxism) whom previous husband has abandoned. I must admit that Bucurenci’s retort is very poignant although balanced. You might say that it isn’t his writing… :)
http://bucurenci.blogspot.com/2007/01/draga-domnule-andrei-plesu.html
You know, the sad part is that nobody will ever care to be defined as "the French Liiceanu , "the American Plesu" or "the
Ghanese Patapievici"...
@tchipsy: i initially hadn't published your comments, being under the impression that you were *asking me* not to. today i read them again and i realized that maybe you were doing what teo just did, *allowing me* to not publish them. what's a "credulous youngster" to do?
i publish them now, and use the opportunity to tell you that i trusted your judgment and presumed some insider info when i launched into thinking that "unimportant" was backed up by the "boierii mintii" gang. in fact, it must have been just plesu warming up to him, after none other than alex leo serban had put him on the map at "dilema" and "polirom".
if you've ever come close to those circles, you know that then it is easy to dance around these people -- however, there are some limits.
liiceanu is not an easy one to conquer, and once he said you're over, you kinda are. if, however, he decrees you're the romanian kierkegaard, heck, you become master of the romanian cultural universe and show everyone the money -- including people like our hero, before he shot himself in the leg.
as to the other part, that "staged execution" theory, geez! you are not only a free thinker there, you are all over the place, tchipsy!
and nobody was talking about "any leftist thought", it was communism that was questioned. everyone and their mothers is a "leftist" nowadays -- in the countries where that's a good idea, that is. i don't think that the united states and sweden have the same political needs at this moment, it's all relative. romania still needs some "liberal" time; however, soon, the need for a credible social-democratic movement will be felt.
but... hello! *never again communism!*. we don't celebrate marx and we don't want private property to ever go away again in romania, do we now?
kritik über alley
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