Summary

Pop culture - understood as the realm of carefree entertainment enabling one to take respite from everyday concerns, as well as to get away from ponderous questions evoked by great works of art - long dwelt on the edges of recognized culture. Over recent decades, however, having gone on the offensive and made vigorous headway, pop culture has indeed come to prevail. As argued by Bartłomiej Dobroczyński - whose provocatively entitled article "The Third Reich of Pop Culture" has sparked Znak's March discussion - pop culture's current tendencies (such as "the terror of being trendy" or traffic in privacy) go beyond the domain of innocent entertainment and pose a real threat to the freedom, personhood, and the just rights of the individual. Dobroczyński even proceeds to claim that the "idolatrous cult" of youthful immaturity, one strongly present in pop culture, has a fascist streak to it.

His view on the matter is strongly opposed by Wojciech Orliński, in whose opinion "The Third Reich of Pop Culture" is but yet another tirade by a frustrated puritan appalled at what he believes to be signs of moral corruption. Joanna Olech, in turn, essentially agrees with Dobroczyński's diagnosis, suggesting that in the struggle against the popcultural foe one needs to use pop culture's own weapons in order to gain the upper hand. Jacek Podsiadło and Father Andrzej Luter both question the legitimacy of the hypothesis that pop culture is to be associated with fascism, while sharing Dobroczyński's concerns that increasingly trashy programs in the "reality show" vein corrupt society at its core by imposing the imperative of "trendiness". Participants in our editorial conversation - Wojciech Bonowicz, Mariusz Czubaj, Wiesław Godzic, and Ryszard Legutko - ponder the perils resulting from pop culture's impact and attempt to delineate whatever philosophical anthropology it proposes.

Znak's March issue also brings Father Grzegorz Ryś' "Diagnoses", in which he goes back 800 years - to the fourth crusade and the fall of Constantinople. Thereafter, Stefan Wilkanowicz, the former long-time editor-in-chief of our monthly, shares his reminiscences; Małgorzata Wiertlewska contributes an essay on Father Tomasz Węcławski's theological thought; Piotr Kłodkowski provides further account of "Orient's Delicious Flavor"; and Małgorzata Łukasiewicz writes in the "Rose Column". Capping off this issue, several newly published books are reviewed, and topical cultural events are noted.

POCZĄTEK STRONY