Are (Polish) Politicians Out of this World? 71Originally, a genuine report signalling a life-threatening situation,
when applied as in (31), it heightens the sense of absurdity. Another
comment openly speculates about the possibility of Macierewicz’s
extraterrestrial origins. The citation begins in a fabulous narrative style
with the application of the diminutive form of the name Antoni to further
belittle the politician and his political influence:
(32) “Przygody Antka w Kosmosie (...) moĪe Antek jest kosmitą,
zielonym ludkiem smoleĔskim. Obcym.”
(Antek’s adventures in space (...) Antek may be an
extraterrestrial, a little green Smolensk man. An alien).The text and image are in the relationship of relay (Barthes 1977:
41 ff.); the text is complementary, not explanatory since the metaphorical
interpretation is unmistakable and the message conveyed obvious to Polish
readers.
The only Polish astronaut, Mirosáaw Hermaszewski, reacted to this
cover and its essential point in the following way:
(33) “przyszáoĞü kolejnych pokoleĔ bĊdzie związana z kosmosem.
Nie naleĪy wiĊc go zaĞmiecaü.”
(The future of successive generations will be linked with
space. For this reason, you shouldn’t litter it),further discrediting the credibility and political significance of Antoni
Macierewicz.
While Antoni Macierewicz metaphorically placed in space appears to
be well-prepared in terms of the appropriate astronaut outfit, Mr Barroso,
seems to be extremely careless in his purposeless (and destinationless)
drift across space: