A reader writes in Defense of Traditionalists

First two things: I’m sure as a blogger you end up seeing pretty much the worst any group has to offer, be it the torture supporters, the ‘pro-Choice Catholics’, or now, Anti-Pants Jihadists. Second, I DO NOT think you’re trying to smear everyone who loves the old Mass as some kind of pants-hating, Bishop Williamson devotee.

But I do wonder, have you ever met any normal people who love the traditional Mass? I’m not sure who these anti-pantsers are, or how many of them there are, but I wonder how they get so much play, unless it is simply their freak-show quality. I’ve been going to several Latin Mass parishes in several states over my lifetime (Fraternity of St. Peter and more recently, Institute of Christ the King and yes, all of them were approved and had local permission), had friends among them, and not once has my wife be approached about her wearing of pants when she wants. Nor have we been approached about going to the Novus Ordo Mass on busy weekends, a Mass that no one in the parishes I’ve been at says is ‘invalid’. Perhaps I’ve had some sort of astounding luck, but I’ve never really met these people in any parish I’ve been at.

With all the play these people get on your site, one would think these people are all there are, that anyone who likes the Latin Mass is going to automatically also be some pants hating, Vatican II denying, possible sedevacantist. I would compare it to the British media’s general reporting of the Holy Father’s visit: if you were to believe what the press there was to writing, 80% of all Britons must be New Atheists who think the Pope should be arrested.

Closer to home, if one is to believe popular media, are not most Jollies sweaty, obese, single, jobless losers who pound Twinkies, read nothing but Manga, live in their parents’ basement and play WoW all day?

Like I said, no, I DON’T think you’re trying to smear anybody. But perhaps you should ‘get out more’ on the web?

If you ever come to Kansas City, let me know. I can take you to at LEAST two Latin Mass parishes where no one will attempt to burn you at the stake for your position on the subject of pants! 🙂

Actually, I know a number of self-described Traditionalists in real life, none of whom are the crabbed Pharisees one so often encounters in Web.Tradism. That’s why I made the distinction between Web.Traddies and the rest when I kvetched last week. For whatever reason, the Traddies one runs into on the web seem to feel free to get in touch with their Inner Pharisee much more easily. I’m not sure why that is, but I suspect it has something to do with the way in which the Web both alters the human voice and, for some reason, frees people to say things they would not say face to face. There is some essential social lubricant, like a pheromone or something, that takes place in face to face communication which the web lacks.

My point is not and never has been that all Trads are like this. However, the fact remains that there is a certain “universe of discourse” on the conservative side of the Church where you can expect to encounter certain pathologies you will not encounter in other sectors of the Church. Certain shibboleths, trigger words, and petty tribalisms are taken seriously as topics for discussion on the Right that simply would not be taken seriously on the Left–pants among them. Similarly, one has to mind one’s P’s and Q’s within that universe of discourse, lest one trip over a land mine by saying something nice about Harry Potter, or show insufficient enthusiasm for the theory that Obama is a socialist/Nazi/communist, or insufficient passion in supporting the death penalty (God forbid you should oppose it), or enjoyment of Stephen Colbert’s comedy or dozens of other little tripwires I weary of tiptoeing past from people who write to complain that you once posted some recording of Barbara Streisand singing “Ave Maria” and they *never* listen to anything Streisand sings because of her politics, etc. etc. blah blah blah. They are like Soviet ideologues who have killed their sense of enjoyment of life out of a zeal for maintaining rigid political purity.

The Left, of course, has its shibboleths as well. Smoking, or an esteem for Ronald Reagan, puritanical environmentalism that checks off some mental inventory depending on whether you throw your Coke can in the garbage or recycling, hawklike watchfulness about your taste in entertainment (do you like John Wayne movies? Then you are clearly suspect), etc.

I find all of this stifling and deeply un-Catholic. One of the things I love most about the Catholic faith is that is it *Catholic* and can, when Catholics are not hemming themselves up in little pockets of ideology, talk about, digest, and absorb a vast amount of human experience. Thomas Aquinas could digest the work of a great pagan and a great Muslim philosopher and discover in their thought all sorts of treasure. Today, if I were to propose the Church could benefit from something like this, I would be denounced on the Right as a Spirit of Vatican II ecumaniac and indifferentist, as well as a fool who wants to throw open both our country and our faith to the domination of terrorists. On the Left, I would be denounced as a sexist whose focus on the western tradition disenfranchises women and gays.

One gets sick of the tripwire nature of discourse. Happily, one runs into it less in real life. Which is probably why my encounters with both lefties and righties in the real world are so much happier.

Speaking of which, I’m honored by your invitation and if I ever get out your way, I’d be happy to come to your parish(es) and visit with anybody who would like to chat!