{"id":2009,"date":"2013-03-16T10:28:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-16T10:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/03\/hating-on-america-in-the-catholic-blogosphere.html"},"modified":"2013-03-16T10:28:00","modified_gmt":"2013-03-16T10:28:00","slug":"hating-on-america-in-the-catholic-blogosphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/03\/hating-on-america-in-the-catholic-blogosphere.html","title":{"rendered":"Hating on America in the Catholic Blogosphere"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
<\/a><\/div>\n


<\/span>Mark Shea posts <\/span>on the recent reaction of the Cuomo\u2019s to Pope Francis I<\/a>. \u00a0 The basic take is that this is typical NE liberal elitism. \u00a0Read the article and conclude for yourself. \u00a0But what I found fascinating is some of the comments on Mark\u2019s page. \u00a0This:<\/span><\/p>\n

I see the Cuomo reaction as another indication of the tendency to see the US as having the right to police the world, as well as eliminating the leaders of countries when they disapprove of the choice (remember Allende and Pinochet?) . Now they decide that the Catholic church is fair game too \u2013 when are they going to organize a military coup in order to get a Pope to their liking? (emphasis mine)<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And this:<\/span><\/p>\n

It is sad that so many are simply ignorant of U.S. foreign policy and its effects in so many places throughout the world, especially Latin America. But hey, why inform yourself when your living off the benefits of Empire? So the ignorance and the exaltation of the U.S. centric view continues.<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jumped out at me. \u00a0Mark\u2019s site has become one of the rallying points for Catholics Who Hate America. \u00a0Really. \u00a0There is an entire swath of the Catholic internet that hates, and I mean hates, the United States. \u00a0Whether it\u2019s Catholics here or Catholics abroad, hating on the US is almost a sacramental badge of honor.<\/span>

<\/span>None of this is to say the US isn\u2019t above reproach. \u00a0And goodness knows, it\u2019s not as if we\u2019re heading in the right direction. \u00a0But let\u2019s be honest. \u00a0There\u2019s a difference between someone who criticizes something because they care, and someone who criticizes to buttress contempt and hatred. \u00a0<\/span>

<\/span>These are not folks saying that this or that US policy is bad, or even that the US is heading in the wrong direction. \u00a0These are people who speak of the US the way the US used to speak about the USSR, or in the war years, Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan. \u00a0The US, in no particular case, is simply the blame. \u00a0The cause. \u00a0The problem. \u00a0There\u2019s an assumption that the US just is \u2013 evil, rotten, the reason for problems, inferior. \u00a0Read those quotes again. \u00a0These aren\u2019t thoughtful statements that say \u2018in this case, America has certainly been wrong.\u2019 \u00a0These are statements that\u00a0<\/span>basically\u00a0say evil is in the nature of America, and the world\u2019s sufferings are the direct result.<\/span>

<\/span>Why did they attack us on 9\/11? \u00a0America made them hate us. \u00a0Why does Latin America struggle? \u00a0Because of US policies. \u00a0Why are there tensions in Asia? \u00a0The US, that\u2019s why. \u00a0And on and on. \u00a0The Catholics who see things this way appear to come from different molds. \u00a0Though this is the hallmark of America and European liberalism (you don\u2019t get change\u00a0<\/span>until\u00a0you convince people that things are completely horrible \u2013 just ask our Founding Fathers), it\u2019s not confined to only the progressive wing of American Catholicism. Some are traditionalists, others not. \u00a0Some are American (a major problem, more on that in a minute), others are not. \u00a0But it is a unifying attitude for many across the Catholic blogosphere that the US is really a pretty rotten place, and always has been.<\/span>

<\/span>Now for those in other countries, what can we say? \u00a0Other countries have disliked the US for ages. \u00a0The Iraq war didn\u2019t make countries hate us, it simply gave people who hated us a valid excuse to finally express it. \u00a0But those in America? \u00a0Especially Christians, especially Catholics? I once had a professor who spoke to the issue of properly and improperly criticizing our nation. \u00a0To nothing would be wrong. \u00a0To not point out our country\u2019s failings is to deny reality. \u00a0America has done horrible things, allowed horrible things, partaken in horrible things. \u00a0Just like any nation, kingdom, empire, or civilization.\u00a0<\/span>

<\/span>But there\u2019s a limit. \u00a0Like anything, it should be criticism to construct, to build up, to improve. \u00a0To help right wrongs and turn the people back to the face of God. \u00a0To beat up on the US just to beat up the US, to act as if the\u00a0<\/span>eighth\u00a0sacrament of the Holy Church, is to declare your eternal\u00a0<\/span>disgust\u00a0with an entire nation of people, a nation with blessings and benefits you\u2019re more than prepared to enjoy. \u00a0To be stupid and blind enough to lump the US into the same mold as a Nazi Germany or USSR, is beyond the pale. \u00a0If you think it\u2019s that bad \u2013 leave. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike Nazi Germany or the USSR, you lose nothing by trashing the country. \u00a0Despite rumors to the contrary, there are no secret death camps in the Nevada deserts to which you will be\u00a0<\/span>whisked\u00a0away by men in sunglasses driving vans with tinted\u00a0<\/span>windows\u00a0 \u00a0 You can pretty much say anything about our country and, as of now, get by without a hitch. Unlike, again, other nations. \u00a0Likewise, you can leave. \u00a0If you were in Nazi\u00a0<\/span>Germany\u00a0or the Khmer Rouge, you were screwed. \u00a0Try getting out of there. \u00a0If you labored to change, not only did you risk of injury or death, but you also had little other choice.\u00a0<\/span>

<\/span>In America, you can leave. \u00a0So standing about and trashing the nation day after day, declaring it bad and evil, and making no real and honest attempt to do anything other than get your pound of flesh, is a bit like having sex with a\u00a0<\/span>prostitute\u00a0while insisting that\u00a0<\/span>prostitution\u00a0is a sin. \u00a0You don\u2019t have to have sex with a prostitute at all, but you want that orgasm all the while making yourself feel so\u00a0<\/span>righteous\u00a0for\u00a0<\/span>calling\u00a0her a sinful slut. \u00a0<\/span>

<\/span>Why Mark\u2019s blog has become particularly popular for\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0\u2018Good Catholics Hate America\u2019\u00a0<\/span>contingent\u00a0 I don\u2019t know. \u00a0Mark doesn\u2019t seem to be there himself.\u00a0Though I admit Mark\u2019s own tendencies have certainly shifted over the years. \u00a0One of Mark\u2019s first pieces I read that turned me on to the possibility of not being an America Hating Catholic was a rousing defense of our urgent need to respond to the 9\/11 attacks. \u00a0Why we must fight! \u00a0That was its title. \u00a0It was a call for Catholics to understand why America must take up arms and defend our nation against the real and immediate\u00a0<\/span>threat\u00a0of Islamic terrorism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, the link is disabled and the\u00a0<\/span>piece\u00a0cannot be found anywhere. \u00a0Likewise, I noticed last year, Mark \u2013 for the first time I think \u2013 had no real kudos on Veterans Day. \u00a0Perhaps a coincidence. \u00a0I don\u2019t know. \u00a0Again, nothing wrong with criticizing the US. \u00a0Just make sure we do the same for other countries by name. \u00a0And nothing wrong with\u00a0<\/span>wanting\u00a0to see the US improve and come closer to what God would bless upon this earth. \u00a0Just make sure that\u2019s the reason for the criticism. \u00a0Having specific criticisms of specific issues as well as solutions would go a long way in that department.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s impossible not to notice that there are those across the Catholic blogosphere who, for whatever reasons, are convinced that in the\u00a0<\/span>annals\u00a0of history, few nations have been simultaneously inferior and yet the single cause of human\u00a0<\/span>suffering\u00a0in the way the US has. \u00a0And they do it with no apparent desire for anything to change. \u00a0There appears only the desire to condemn a country in the way that anti-Catholic bigots of old said they would. \u00a0And as I said before, we don\u2019t need to live up to negative anti-Catholic stereotypes, no matter how much we may want to.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Shea posts on the recent reaction of the Cuomo\u2019s to Pope Francis I. \u00a0 The basic take is that this is typical NE liberal elitism. \u00a0Read the article and conclude for yourself. \u00a0But what I found fascinating is some of the comments on Mark\u2019s page. \u00a0This: I see the Cuomo reaction as another indication […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHating on America in the Catholic Blogosphere<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mark Shea posts on the recent reaction of the Cuomo's to Pope Francis I.   The basic take is that this is typical NE liberal elitism.  Read the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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