Shouting into the Storm Rantings, ramblings, observations and musings from the insipid to the sublime




Friday, August 02, 2002 :::
 
Well, so much for my self-imposed deadlines of 2-3 posts per week. Maybe the lengthy missives should be saved for special events, kind of like that huge, time-intensive dinner that your mom only makes for Christmas and your birthday. Regardless, on to today's topic.

I was in Barnes and Noble last night, glancing over the latest titles on display. While I do not remember the title or author, I noticed a new book regarding the priest scandal in the Catholic Church. Hmm, I thought, how curious to see this out so soon. My curiosity was vanquished as soon as I read the sub-title: "How the Liberals Destroyed the Institution of the Priesthood". I am paraphrasing for a few reasons. First, I don't want to give this yahoo anymore free publicity that need be. Secondly, I was repulsed by the very nature of the book. One of the reviewers comments slathered across the top of the book told how prevalent the homosexuals are in the seminaries, and how this was accepted and encouraged. I don't want to give you, Faithful Reader, that I can tell you what the book actually says. No, there will be no insightful researched opinion here. However, what I'd be willing to bet my truck on is that this book spends it's 150-200 pages ripping the Liberals of this country for daring to give any legitimacy to the gay lifestyle and letting it flourish over the past decade or so. And I have just a few minor problems with this.

Leading off, this wet spot on the bed sheets of the American political spectrum is making money off of this book. He most likely holds a deeply religious belief that gays are evil and ruining this country. He probably nods in agreement while Falwell and his ilk blame all of the short-comings of our culture on those Godless Gays. Of course, this agenda is all carefully gift wrapped as concerned whistle-blowing. If it isn't bad enough that he is profiting from that backwards thought process, he is also pulling in the green by exploiting a crisis that is intensely personal to those involved. If I had to guess, this gentleman's book focuses exclusively on the American Catholic Church, and most likely a few small sample of seminaries. How interesting, since the abuse crisis has been a hot topic in Europe for decades. Remember Sinead O'Connor tearing up the photo of the Pope on Saturday Night Live? Take three guesses what she was protesting.

And then there are the publishers. Someone had to have read the manuscript for this book and thought, "This is pretty good, and we can make money off of it. I'll green light it." It may be Constitutional Right to have an opinion and express it. However, when that opinion is printed and published, distributed to the major book distributors, it validates that opinion. Then the publisher, to whip up book sales, sends to author on a book tour, gets them booked to be guests on all the Shouting Head talk shows like Hardball, and that gives it more validity. And all the while, the publisher watches the bucks come rolling in. Two other great examples of this are Michael Moore's pseudo-liberal drivel "Stupid White Men" and Ann Coulter's new book "Slander". In fact, I can't even begin to discuss Coulter rationally, so let us move along quickly and quietly. I will get to her in this space soon enough. Yes, Blondie, your turn will come.

I don't have a great flourish to finish this up with. It isn't that I feel these books should be censored. I can even see some merit in having these types of people out in front of us, as opposed to working their silver-tongued bigotry under the social radar. So I pose a few questions to mull over. How exactly did the Liberals force gays to join and supposedly corrupt the priesthood? Is this part of that whole recruiting thing conservatives are always squawking about? Or when did homosexual activity become synonymous with child molestation? Does that mean that every drunk, wayward uncle who abused his nephew is gay?

Actually, I do have a solution, several of them, but one that is particularly fun and rewarding. Oh, sure, we could boycott stores that carry the book. We could picket outside the store when he speaks. Both are long-established protest tactics, but other than getting harassed by the police, what good would they do? No, instead, I say go to the book-signings, en masse. Get a bunch of your friends, the more gay they seem the better, and settle into the front row. When the question and answer period starts, pound his views into paste. Ask him the tough questions. Ask him absurd questions. Do whatever it takes to disrupt him and piss him off. Make yourself heard.

That's a great idea regardless of the issue.

::: posted by Chris at 5:11 PM


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Rantings, ramblings, observations and musings from the insipid to the sublime



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