I have used photos from events in the Presidency more than once and only these days did I discover something that disturbed me. Various personalities - political and not only, are calmly photographed in the background or even in inappropriate "cohabitation" with some of the brightest figures of Bulgarian history. I don't blame anyone - but, nevertheless, we are witnesses to an obvious awkwardness.
Here, Yotova and Gyurov are talking, and behind them the Apostle is peeking - and no one is embarrassed by the fact that in this composition he looks downright ridiculous, as if he is indiscreetly peeking into someone's intimate space.
Botev is used in the same way: some temporary lodger in politics has visited the Presidency, and here he is - snap, Mariyka, in a portrait - flirting with the Poet, even standing one step in front of him...
And no one remembers that the images of our leaders should not be used so frivolously - as cheap filler, as if they were some kind of intruders, which is why they generously let them fill the second plan of the frame... The other humiliations they have been subjected to are not enough for them. subjected to, the ridiculous teasing of various shills, and now this. In this case, at least, the reason is well known: the first thing every photographer or television operator looks for when he has to film the most important participants in an event is to set them against some background - a bookcase, part of a painting, whatever, so - let's go to the portrait of Levski, Botev will also do the job, the important thing is the actual "objects" to look more decent... And it doesn't matter who has trampled and occupied the foreground of the frame and how unfair that is.
If you take the trouble to dig around, with the help of Google, in the photo archives of the Presidency, you will be convinced that this indecent exploitation of the Images of our undisputed Champions is a permanent practice - and is more likely the result of negligence or insensitivity than of some complex - well, that would be downright unbearable... But we should not forget that the dismissive attitude that some of today's political figures demonstrate towards the great figures of the Past is also due to the fact that they very quickly kick aside a sober judgment about themselves, if they had any at all. Nowadays, it is impossible for a Bulgarian politician to demand an account from some scoundrel who is rampaging with the Bulgarian Memory - its heroes, all together, have long been completely defenseless against all kinds of encroachments. And the "common people" sit and watch from the sidelines, hopefully at least they are no longer entirely dependent on the "black" curiosity, which has proven disastrous for other communities and peoples.
It is no longer possible for a person like the brave second lieutenant Artag Torkom to exist - by the way, an Armenian by origin, who challenges the famous French writer Pierre Loti to a duel, angered by his poisonous Turkophile writings during the Balkan War, affecting Bulgarian honor. He fails to defeat him, but at least leaves a testimony to the still existing military valor. And one of the most famous cafes in Istanbul was named after Loti...
And since for some the problem I am dealing with may seem like a manifestation of unnecessary pettiness, let us tell them that this is how it starts - from the small to the large. First of all, we can try to dissuade various scoundrels from their desire to adorn themselves with the images of our First Men...
There is something else. The photos in question, one way or another, hint at a certain dissoluteness, which, however, we always justify with some insensitivity, and we do not at all accept it as a flaw that offends us. That's who we are, and this prevents us from not thinking of many things in time, including the questions that we must necessarily ask ourselves. And I wondered if Levski had even considered what was happening before his eyes - with us - and what else could happen...
But even if he had somehow managed to get the right answers, or at least the ones he thought were right, he would hardly have shared them with that thing he calls "People????"... We only imagine that he was constantly pestering us with the answers we needed, even when we didn't have the questions we needed. It's difficult with a people who aren't in the habit of fumbling with their own questions. And we don't even admit that someone else sometimes didn't know what to tell us.
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Now for something else, while we haven't yet left the "chambers" of the Bulgarian president - you know them quite well from the television reports. You also know the ceremonial hall where orders and other distinctions are handed out to people who are supposed to have successfully tried to convince those who are presenting them that they deserve this expense, this modest expenditure of state attention.
But we are often left with the suspicion that the state simply wants to get rid of a certain amount of tin cans. This is a serious problem, although at first glance it may not seem so. However, the tin cans are piling up, and the quality people who deserve them are becoming fewer and fewer. And this is already turning into a disaster. Perhaps this is the reason why the people involved in the tin can ritual seem less and less enthusiastic, compared to their colleagues who perform the ritual in the hall of the Central Sofia Cemetery in Orlandovtsi. It is somewhat darker there than in the Presidential Hall, but it is closer to Life, somehow it is fairer: you are aware or at least have heard that sometimes those awarded in the Presidency are deader than the real dead in Orlandovtsi - and have been dead for decades, one could even say that some of them were stillborn. Do you even understand what I am telling you - this is a question to those who dispose of the tin cans: "When will you finally realize that as long as Boris Hristov refuses to receive any tin can, you have no right to award a single writer!"
What a trap you have gotten yourself into - to rub yourself against someone who "angers" the word in order to pretend to be a big nerd, when he is just a scratcher! First, learn the hierarchy - the real one, not the false one - invented by people who imagine that because they are working to bury Bulgaria in general, they can wildly and unenlightenedly impose order in art and culture, as far as they have survived. Do not deceive yourself that if you do not wear caps you are different from the former district BCP culture instructors. The caps are with you and you will always see that.
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Finally, as we walk towards the exit of the Presidency, let me remind you how our presidents hand over power.
Radev and Plevneliev met and talked against the backdrop of Zlatyu Boyadzhiev's painting "Herd of Cattle" – and reporters immediately began to wonder if there was any hidden symbolism in this mise-en-scène.
They also played a fragment of an interview with Zheni Marcheva, taken some time ago by Plevneliev.
Following is a confession from the man who pretended to be president for five years:
„Recently, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and I were sitting here and said to ourselves – well, this is the people – and who is leading them, where are they leading them, are they leading them well – are we leading them in the right direction, this picture has its own deep meaning and I believe that the Bulgarian people are wise and they sense when the direction is right and when it is not”.”
When I heard these words, I was simply enraged by the impudence of the anthropologist Plevneliev – the cattle are the people, and their chosen ones, like Plevneliev, are their shepherds. Do you understand what this little man is telling you: The people are a herd of cattle, and he is their shepherd!!!
Forget everything else – this poisonous phrase is enough for you to be aware of what types of people “lead” you, what they think of you, how they actually despise you.
It is not enough to just chase them away from time to time, at some random flash. And finally understand what some of your shepherds are – What is in their cloudy brains, how they actually hate you, even though they came to power on your backs.
These are incomparable brats, since they allow themselves to express themselves in a similar way: "Let's see how we will fix this people, these scoundrels, these cattle!"
This attitude is unbearable, but if you don't pay attention to it, don't expect anything good.
Sleep tight, "cattle" - is this how Poor Bulgaria will drag on?
As long as you tolerate and don't pay attention to such abominations, nothing good awaits you.