Imagine that you are a distinguished academic, a sociologist say, or a historian. You have a nice job in an American university, your family background is Catholic Polish and though you are well known to experts in your own area of study the broader public has never heard of you.

Then, one day, you write a long essay in which you call for the Polish state to be dismantled and replaced by a tri-national German-Polish-Jewish confederation. You point to the fact that a large part of Poland’s territory was inhabited by Germans for hundreds of years and that within living memory they were ethnically cleansed from their ancestral homes. You also mention the historic role of Jews in Polish life and note their current absence from it. You identify a tendency among contemporary Catholic Poles to emphasize their historic suffering as simply a way of distracting attention from their past and present crimes against non-Catholic Poles. You tell the story of a trip you made to Poland as a young man to do voluntary work and recall with disgust your drunken Polish workmates saying that it was a pity that Hitler hadn’t finished the job with the Jews.

You condemn what you see as the excessive influence of the Roman Catholic Church on Polish life. You don’t hesitate to warn Poles, both those resident in Poland and outside it, that they risk terrible retaliation if they don’t mend their ways.  Finally, you name those members of your own Catholic family who were murdered during the German occupation of Poland and say how much their memory means to you.

Your essay is greeted with acclaim by many learned and distinguished people. They salute your courage and  are puzzled by the fact that your views find so little favor in Poland. These people also note how perceptive and sensitive to the sufferings of others you are by comparison with the general run of Catholic Poles. Encouraged by the attention you go on to produce more essays and articles that plough the same furrow.  Your fame grows. People who have never read any of the books on which your reputation as an academic is based heap praise on your intellectual prowess.  When a terrible illness finally kills you you’re  canonized by progressive and enlightened commentators in many countries.

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Read this piece by Benjamin Kerstein too.