I don't spend much time being "outraged." I do spend time being amused when the usual Easter onslaught of vitriol and nonsense aimed at Christians and in particular, at Catholics, hits the airwaves.
This morning The Blaze posted a story of "outrage" entitled "Child Denied First Communion Because of His Cerebral Palsy."
The original story from KSAT in San Antonio was entitled:
Child Denied First Communion
Family Of Floresville 8-Year-Old Fighting For Holy Sacrament
Notice how the title at The Blaze morphed and now says something different from the original. The fact is, the pastor had decided that the young boy is profoundly developmentally delayed, and would not have the faintest clue that he was receiving the body and blood of Christ. The boy is not being denied communion because he has cerebral palsy. There are many, many people with cerebral palsy who are capable of understanding the doctrines concerning the Holy Eucharist and receive regularly.
For some reason, the combox at The Blaze is not functioning properly so I checked out the comments at KSAT. As expected, they quickly dissolved into a bunch of non-Catholics deciding how the Church should be run, and also as expected, then progressed to the terrible priest sex abuse scandal.
Why should this matter to you?
First, the sensationalism of the title posted at The Blaze points up a growing concern. Bloggers and self-identified "news" sources have been becoming more and more overt in their quest to make their hit counters spin like an electric meter on a hot day. Nothing wrong with that on the face of it. After all, if you write the best content in the world and no one reads it, does it have an impact? But if you distort the content with a misleading title or with improperly vetted material, then you become part of the problem.
Second, what should be of interest to everyone is the following two comments. Comment number one points out (correctly) that the problems with sexual abuse of minors is rampant in many other segments of society. Read carefully how another person responded.
Okay, I admit to making it easy by highlighting the obvious. Just read the news? Because as we all know, the "news" doesn't lie. We could line up facts and figures to back up the truth of the first comment above, and it would make no difference to the person who responded. Because the "news" told him otherwise. And that my friends, is a microcosm of what is going on in this country. And that is not amusing...Comment: Rose, there are fewer problems with Catholic priests than their are with other religious leaders, teachers, police officers, or psychologists. So why do you pick on priests?
Response: That is a bunch of bull and you know it. Take your head out of the sand and just read the news. We pick on priests because for many, many years they have been picking on and abusing young children and it looks like they are not going to stop as long at the Pope does not stop it.
More:
From Weasel Zippers: Another case of the "news" not doing it's job
Maggie's Notebook: Cultural Marxism: The Doom of Language
Ordered Liberty: The question of language
Pundette: A stupid DCCC ad for ignorant people
Thank you all for the wonderful Easter messages. We had a lovely day. After high Mass we hit our favorite cafe for donuts and coffee. Dinner was tri-tip steaks, risotto, grilled zucchini, and cole slaw, followed by raiding hubby's Easter basket full of chocolate delights.
8 comments:
Wow. The comments exchange you quote essentially goes like this:
Com 1: The news misrepresents the Church.
Com 2: That's not true! That's not what the news says!
Patrick - that about sums it up...
Indeed.
Thanks for the link!
Ya know Adrienne, there are a lot of idiots out there.... :)
Thank you ma'am, for sharing this.
Now I have an idea--a group of Catholic laity get together, and sue the paper/tv/station/whatever for hate speech and endangerment. Don't have to win--just have to make them look bad and cost them money.
We haven't tried that.
It seems like the thing to do--take their tactics and use them against them.
It's a great disservice when the media, any media, distorts or sensationalizes to make an attractive headline. I have to say that I'm disappointed with The Blaze.
Hi.... I find your blog very interesting... please visit me too!
Love, Lorraine
Adrienne, thanks so much for the lovely link. That was a guest article and I thought it was fascinating - and scary.
Can't imagine a nicer Easter morning than having doughnuts. Why haven't I thought of that.
Headlines are one thing, the story is another. The problem is, the story often matches the headline which makes the whole thing a lie. Most people don't read past the headline and the first 4 lines.
Christian bashing is a favorite past time these days.
I didn't get out and about with Easter greetings, but sounds like you and your family had a glorious day.
Post a Comment