Tag: affirmative action

Carl Gustav Carus, Memorial Monument to Goethe, 1835

1,030 words

V roce 1787 ruský hrab? Grigorij Alexandrovi? Pot?mkin zorganizoval po nov? získaných teritoriích na Krymu vyhlídkovou jízdu pro carevnu Kate?inu. Všude, kam Kate?ina vkro?ila, uvid?la nádherné vesnice se š?astnými, prosperujícími vesni?any a usoudila, že je všechno v po?ádku. I když se Pot?mkinovi nep?átelé snažili hrab?te obvinit z oklamání carevny a z toho, že falešné vesnice sám nechal postavit, Pot?mkinovy ostrovy prosperity se staly fenoménem. Od té doby se výrazu „Pot?mkinova vesnice“ používá pro situaci, kdy faleš budí zdání reality. (more…)

1,576 words

January 30, 2005

This satirical story is from Michael Polignano’s book Taking Our Own Side, available in a limited, signed and personalized hardcover edition here.

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991 words

French translation here

In 1787 the Russian count Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin organized a tour for Catherine the Great of recently annexed territories in the Crimea. Everywhere Catherine went, she saw villages filled with happy, prosperous peasants and concluded that all was well. Potemkin’s enemies, however, accused him of fooling the Empress by constructing fake villages, (more…)