The article I chose was about the Vatican and how it is seemingly corrupted. Culturally, the Vatican is known worldwide as being the stronghold of Catholic religion. It has also been subject of many books, movies, and controversy. A good amount of people will look up to the Vatican and see all that is good while others will do everything in their power to find anything wrong with it.
In U.S. culture, the only thing I can really compare this to is every controversy anyone in the U.S. will make up at all times of any day. What surprised me is that the article isn't really what I expected. When I read the title, I expected it to be something on those letters that would really stir up the system. Also, I wasn't expecting the working conditions at the Vatican to be that bad. I guess I was surprised because I expect more out of the Vatican. I also expected them to be cautious with their money... for some reason.
When thinking about what this article means in Swiss terms, I am, again, surprised. Everybody knows that Switzerland is a country that doesn't take sides and tries to stay at peace with everybody, yet this article is very controversial and can stir up a lot of trouble. On Swiss terms, this is a very bold jump on their part. This doesn't change my perception of them, though. To me it says they aren't afraid to write articles that will stir up trouble.
I feel this was a good article to chose. It had a bunch of cultural facts and I also had the same reaction you did. Switz is a very neutral country yet they stir up this much trouble. And them knowing they have this perception of them being netural and still being able to write this article to show they also have faults proves they are a very honest country
ReplyDeleteThe Vatican though a public place is quite secretive but is such with every major organization, and I wouldn't think of the Vatican to be cheap considering how they have gold, gem covered or other precious materials in their alters or chalices. I myself as a catholic have realized and even my friend has brought it to my attention that people give a lot of money to the church so they can spend less cautiously than most. As for the Swiss I agree with how for being so neutral they tend to stick their nose in places they don’t belong. Over all this is a good review and article.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how this relates to Switzerland, since the Vatican is in Italy. Was there something about the Swiss Guard in the Vatican? What did the letters say? Were the leaked letters from a Swiss source? The Vatican is certainly Catholic, but most of Switzerland is Protestant, in fact, Switzerland was a hotspot of protestantism at the beginning of the Reformation.
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