Outrageous Laziness

Over at the Independent, Shaun Walker frets over the “harsh life” that Pussy Riot can expect to enjoy behind bars. And he is convinced that the rest of the world shares his concern:

“The women say it was a political protest over the Russian Orthodox Church's support for President Vladimir Putin, but the court ruled it "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" in a verdict that has caused outrage across the world.”

Outrage across the world? Oh, come off it. When you think of something causing “outrage across the world,” what pictures come into your head? Furious citizens with placards crowding the streets, shouting slogans and throwing stones, if your head is anything like mine.

I’ve only discussed the case in detail with one person, who was of the opinion that two years was a rather light sentence. You can put that down to the circles I move in. But I work in a thoroughly secular environment, and there, too, I only heard one or two people mention the “band’s” self-inflicted plight in a casual, disinterested way before moving on to the more important business of the fiasco at Ulster Bank. Mr Walker is either guilty of strikingly lazy hyperbole, or else so entrenched in his left-liberal world that he really does think everyone shares his outrage. I don’t know which possibility is more depressing.