Comments | fpb: As the world waits

fpb

As the world waits

Apr 02, 2005 19:18

There can be no doubt that he has been a great Pope.( Read more... )

john paul ii, catholic church, history, catholicism

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To the person who left an irrelevant and poorly argued anonymous comment fpb April 2 2005, 17:04:07 UTC

Point one: this was about the Pope, so kindly stay on topic. Point two: you are neither serious enough (or you would have left your name) nor mature enough for your views to be worth the trouble of refuting them. I know the kind of pathetic literature to which you go for your "information," and I am not impressed. If I had been writing about someone else, I would have criticized him or her as I saw fit to criticize the Pope; the point remains that the person you attacked has lived a life you would never in a million years be able to so much as consider. And if you ask me why, I answer, again, that if you are gutless enough not to use your own name in a polemic, then you certainly do not have the moral strength to do anything worthwhile.

Re: To the person who left an irrelevant and poorly argued anonymous comment fpb April 2 2005, 18:19:14 UTC

People post anonymously on your journal because no one particularly wants to be the target of your polemics. You also continue to attack posters and not their ideas. It's obvious that you are fully able to argue perfectly well without the ad hominem, so it's a little disappointing to see it recurring over and over again. Furthermore, you don't know who I am so your judgements about my actions and moral strength are made from a position of astonishing certainty.

Sebba's biography is also scarely "pathetic literature", unlike Hitchens' raving polemic. Isn't it a little sad when any figure is put up beyond criticism, or it is assumed that only one group can engage in such?

Re: To the person who left an irrelevant and poorly argued anonymous comment fpb April 2 2005, 19:05:15 UTC

I will let this one stand. I repeat: this article is about the Pope, whom I freely criticized. It is not about anyone else. Your polemic is irrelevant, OT, and a waste of space. And if Christopher Hitchens is your main source of information, God help you. But if you want to argue about something, argue about the Pope. Or have I left you no reasons to insult him ( ... )

Re: To the person who left an irrelevant and poorly argued anonymous comment fpb April 2 2005, 19:39:17 UTC

I'll just respond to one thing, as it shows your clear inability to read and comprehend: I cited Sebba's book, as being UNLIKE the polemic of Hitchens which is unreliable. How do you go from that into "if Hitchens is your main source of information" other than by deliberately misreading what was said?

I am saying that there are photos of Mother Teresa visiting Albanian in photo ops with Enver Hoxha, laying a wreath at the base of the statue of Mother Albania. This is independently verifiable, as are the photos taken in Haiti with Baby Doc and Michelle Duvalier. I'm saying that she lent her image to those repulsive people, and I think the less of her for it--those were not situations one could have wandered into and simply been exploited by mercenary forces.

Re: To the person who left an irrelevant and poorly argued anonymous comment fpb April 2 2005, 19:57:52 UTC

I take your point about biographies. Where I was wrong, I apologize. Tell me, what does laying a wreath to the statue of her country, or even being seen with the Duvaliers (or with Princess Diana) do to invalidate her real life's work? And how many people have done much worse, without losing prestige? G.B.Shaw's Stalinism is notorious; Carl Orff was a Nazi within the meaning of the act; does that mean that we should not perform the Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant, or listen to the Carmina Burana? (This is a review of a more or less outright Nazi in my own field of research: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0405105584/ref=dp_nav_0/002-0828778-5768013?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=283155&s=books... )

Re: To the person who left an irrelevant and poorly argued anonymous comment fpb April 2 2005, 20:00:09 UTC

I correct myself. He has just died.

"Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful in little things, thou shalt be rewarded in great. Enter thou into the glory of thy Lord."

Mario Luzi - my grandmother - the Pope. I have suffered many losses this bitter season.

Re: To the person who left an irrelevant and poorly argued anonymous comment fpb April 2 2005, 20:18:22 UTC

It means that we should think long and hard about these figures and the nature of their work. In the case of Mother Teresa, what I mainly object to is the way in which she has been insulated from criticism and thus the nature of what she has done has been obscured. She, of course, did what she thought was correct; but she was always more about bringing the poor to Christ than helping their lives more directly, and that's not how she was portrayed to the public. People gave her mission money because they thought she was directly helping the poor; there are ways that she was, and ways that she was not.

I don't think she should be canonized. I am wary of the rush by the Pope to canonize as many figures as he has. I disagree with many of his policies, and do not think the scandal with the priests is restricted to the United States. The church has behaved shamefully with regard to it, and needs someone who can restore broad confidence in it.

And he has passed on; may he rest in peace.

Re: To the person who left an irrelevant and poorly argued anonymous comment fpb April 2 2005, 20:23:40 UTC

So why the Devil did you start your polemic in the first place, when my post was full of criticism of the Pope? MY POST WAS NOT ABOUT MOTHER TERESA, and if it had been I would have put in all the criticism I felt right to put in. You have been wasting my time on a non-issue at a highly emotional time. Thank you very much.

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