Comprehension questions and tasks. 1. Should parents or school play a leading part in their children’s sex education?

1. Should parents or school play a leading part in their children’s sex education?

2. Why are some children nor inclined to share their secrets with the parents?

3. Where and when should sex education begin and how far should it go?

4. What would you as a parent say to your child about the things in question?

Russian Culture Goes “Pop”

By Robert Bridge

Dear Russia, say good-bye to the stodgy Soviet days of sitting tight-lipped through Shostakovich operas and hello to the fast and freaky world of foot-stomping Eurovision. Yes, Russia has traded in its caviar days and vodka nights for a beer and popcorn daze as it struggles to absorb – without losing its bruised soul in the process – the juggernaut of the West’s massive industrial entertainment complex.

In case you haven’t heard the sensational news, Dima Bilan, Russia’s puppy-eyed crooner of English-challenged lyrics, took top prize at the 53rd Eurovision contest in Belgrade for his hit song “Believe”. The reaction to this much-coveted award may seem a bit misplaced, especially when we remember that past winners have included the heavy metal band from Finland, Lordi, which won in 2006 with its grating tune, “Hard Rock Hallelujah.” Lordi band members, in case you forgot, were dressed up as hideous swamp creatures, amphibians that somehow acquired the ability to play electric guitars and scream idiotic lyrics.

One year later, Vera Serduchka, a drag queen who wears glittering clothes and a huge metallic star on her head, brought home the second-place bacon for Ukraine with the hit song “Dancing lasha tumbai.”

So given this past history of circus performers, we must give a polite golf clap to Dima Bilan; after all, he made an honest effort to incorporate as much classical “Russian-ness” into his show as possible, probably as an apology for singing in the English language.

Bilan was accompanied on the stage by a violinist, as well as Evgeni Pluchenko, Russia’s figure skating champion who did turns on a tiny chunk of ice as Bilan belted out the notes. I was half-expecting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to jump up on stage with Bilan as well.

Eurovision screams Kitsch, but it comes on the heels of an assortment of other Russian victories, including Zenit’s triumph at the UEFA Cup, and the World Ice Hockey Championship. And with America’s entertainment train rolling over the global village, Russia will take its victories when it can. But it is certainly not desperate.

But why pay so much attention to the world of sports and pop culture? Is this normal? In a strange, twisted way, the answer is “yes.” Although it is a new phenomenon for Russia, the entertainment machine has been running at full speed in the West for many years. And then there are those who claim that the Soviet Union unwittingly contributed to its own collapse by denying its people all the hedonistic pleasures of rock, pop, soap operas, and what-not.

Even the geopolitical guru Zbigniew Brzezinski mentioned the soft power of pop culture in his recipe book for American global domination, The Grand Chessboard.

“Cultural domination has been an underappreciated facet of American global power, ” Brzezinski caws. “Whatever one may think of its aesthetic values, America’s mass culture exercises a magnetic appeal, especially on the world’s youth. Its attraction may be derived from the hedonistic quality of the lifestyle it projects, but its global appeal is undeniable.”

The between-the-lines message of this passage screams like an electric guitar: the quality of the culture being mass produced and exported around the globe for immediate consumption is not important; what is important, at least from Hollywood’s perspective, is that American culture – good or bad – tops consumer charts around the world. In other words, if more of the world’s population shows a stupid preference for violent films, second-rate literature and fast food, that is alright because those choices boost America’s economy – and let’s just forget the adage that “life imitates art.”

Russia under communism made a brave effort to give its people the highest level of culture; fortunately that tradition is still alive, albeit on life support. Now, abiding by the law that says “if you can’t beat them, join them, ” Russia is showing strong results. This infuriates the nation’s cultural elite, who still remember the days when people could sit still through operas, ballets and Tolstoy until the very end. However, the economic and even political advantages of winning at Eurovision 2008 (might) provide enough justification for embracing pop culture.

Whether Russia should applaud its victory at Eurovision 2008, hang its head in shame, or just laugh, I really don’t know. (Abridged)

From Moscow News, 2008, № 21