{"id":78390,"date":"2015-09-04T11:05:22","date_gmt":"2015-09-04T16:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aleteia.org\/?post_type=post&p=78390"},"modified":"2015-09-04T11:05:22","modified_gmt":"2015-09-04T16:05:22","slug":"whos-the-guy-behind-eye-of-the-tiber-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2015\/09\/whos-the-guy-behind-eye-of-the-tiber-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Who\u2019s the guy behind Eye of the Tiber?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Eye_of_the_Tiber_logo_1_Credit_Eye_of_the_Tiber_CNA_9_3_15\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now it can be told:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a Catholic on Facebook, or the internet in general, chances are Samer Noam has made you laugh. Or he\u2019s made you angry.<\/p>\n

If he\u2019s done his job the way he wants, he\u2019s done both.<\/p>\n

Noam is the man, the myth, the legend behind the Catholic satire site,\u00a0Eye of the Tiber<\/a>. Catholic News Agency had a chance to sit down with the Californian writer and professional smart aleck to talk inspiration, excommunication (well, his nightmares of it), and of course all those people who think it\u2019s actual news.<\/p>\n

1: What first inspired you to start writing Eye of the Tiber?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve loved satire for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, anyone who loves the Church can recognizes that satire, like most everything else that\u2019s good in this world, like literature, poetry, music, the sciences and so on has been secularized. Heck, even Judeo-Christian symbols like the rainbow and the thunderbolt were taken by those typically most hostile to the Church. The rainbow, of course, represents God\u2019s covenant with Noah. The world now sees it as a symbol representing man\u2019s covenant with another man. The thunderbolt, I understand, never really represented anything for the Church, but I kinda wish it did, because thunderbolts are pretty awesome, and I\u2019d love an excuse to get one of them tattooed on me.<\/p>\n

Where the heck was I? Ah yes, what inspired me? Love for the Church and love for good satire. The Onion is wonderful. Their ability to poke fun and to reveal truths with sometimes subtle, sometimes absurd headlines is breathtaking. But there was so many times I thought, and still do think, that they could tone down the sacrilege a notch or ten. And so, cue light bulb, and the idea of a Catholic satire site was born.<\/p>\n

2: What is your goal for Eye of the Tiber?<\/strong><\/p>\n

To piss off every Catholic at least once. If you\u2019re not happy with that answer, please delete and insert this: to shed light on the absurdity of some of the things going on in the Church while giving people an opportunity to laugh at themselves. And also not getting excommunicated. You think the last part\u2019s a joke, but it\u2019s not. I\u2019ve literally had nightmares of being excommunicated because of an article. But the nightmare\u2019s always followed by a happy dream about me being handcuffed and led to a tribunal during the Spanish Inquisition, and realizing that Toquemada is the Grand Inquisitor for my case, and he sets me free because Torqumada wasn\u2019t as bad as he\u2019s been made out to be.<\/p>\n

Anyhow, that\u2019s my goal for EOTT. Not the weird dream part per se, but letting readers know about random Catholic facts that I find interesting, while poking fun on important things like liturgical dancing and the other 7 Deadly Sins.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read it all.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

And check\u00a0out the website itself right here.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now it can be told:\u00a0 If you\u2019re a Catholic on Facebook, or the internet in general, chances are Samer Noam has made you laugh. Or he\u2019s made you angry. If he\u2019s done his job the way he wants, he\u2019s done both. Noam is the man, the myth, the legend behind the Catholic satire site,\u00a0Eye of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humor"],"yoast_head":"\nWho\u2019s the guy behind Eye of the Tiber?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Now it can be told:\u00a0 If you\u2019re a Catholic on Facebook, or the internet in general, chances are Samer Noam has made you laugh. Or he\u2019s made you angry. 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