Michael Sean Winters writes.
The news keeps getting in the way of a blogpost I have been meaning to write in response to my colleague Father Jim Martin’s request for civility in the blogosphere. (Unfortunately, I can’t find his original posting in the archives.) Father, we love you to death, but have to give you a noisy, blatty, Bronx cheer on this one.
I think the blogosphere has restored happily some of the rough-and-tumble esprit of democracy, buried so long under Victorian notions of propriety. Surely, the nastiest election in American history remains that of 1800, when John Adams accused Thomas Jefferson of being a radical and an atheist and Jefferson charged Adams with being a closet monarchist and worse. The attacks were ad hominem as well as political, and vicious in the extreme. Link (here) to the full post
Fr. James Martin, S.J. responds.
Gunning for me? Uh oh. I guess I agree with you that we should not be afraid of controversy, or calling people to account for their actions or words. But by the same token, the blogosphere often seems to elicit the worst from us, Catholics included-snotty, unfounded, mean-spirited, anonymous, ad hominem attacks that call people's faith and humanity into question. I'm all for playful, but when's the last time you saw playful in the blogosphere? Vicious is more like it: you should see the comments we delete before they're posted! Anyway, I take your point, but, on the other hand, I reserve the use of the Bronx cheer only for those who live within a subway ride of the Bronx.
James Martin, SJ
Link (here)
Now Father Martin you can get a little rough and tumble yourself.
Remember your comments regarding Diogenes at DotCommonweal?
An excerpt.
Best of luck in your noble hunt for the hate-spewing Diogenes, one of those people who seems to have forgotten that being Catholic also means being Christian.
Link (here) to the Fr. James Martin's full statement down in the combox.
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