Thanks Steve, you express much of what I've been thinking. I guess you could say that many of us love Tradition, it's Traditionalists we can't stand (with many exceptions!).
"Occasionally, though, when I would start to read a piece like the one at LifeSite so I could find some damning section to quote, only to not find anything really awful to grab hold of. I would realize — often with disappointment and frustration — that I was barking up the wrong tree, and only seeking out my own confirmation bias. I’d be forced to abandon my fixation on the piece and let it go if I didn’t want to try to mount a disingenuous attack."
This is why you are a good writer Steve. You were back then at 1P5, and you are now.
When I followed you at 1P5 I must confess that, as a theological spectrum agnostic (meaning I didn't automatically dismiss most views) I was more impressed with how you got to your conclusions than with the conclusions themselves. It was much like Eisenhower's dictum "The plan is nothing, planning is everything."
Or, as I put it regarding a new Trad Substack writer "I've tried reading [redacted]. Too much conjecture and innuendo for my taste. When I read something that seems uncertain I try to work it out by assigning probabilities. Somehow my 'range of uncertainty' ('error bars') with [redacted's] writings are just too broad to be useful to me." I never had that criticism of your 1P5 writing, though I did of many of your other commenters.
Steve, I think you are just too hard on yourself. You were as a Catholic and now as a somewhat ex-Catholic - "somewhat" because certain imprints remain. I pray that you will be merciful with yourself.
Definitely anti-vaxxer. They were quoting RFK Jr. at the time, who claimed that the RNA vaccines could alter our DNA, which is baloney. I called them on it, saying that I'm a Catholic and a scientist, and that they risked being dismissed as whack-jobs if they kept quoting fake science from RFK. Boy, did their leadership ever jump on me! But like you said, there's a lot of money to be made in the looney fringe.
Thanks Steve, you express much of what I've been thinking. I guess you could say that many of us love Tradition, it's Traditionalists we can't stand (with many exceptions!).
I recall seeing certain priests say that the TLM "is the Mass we love, for the people we hate" :D
Good post! Toxic anger online is not doing anyone any good.
"Occasionally, though, when I would start to read a piece like the one at LifeSite so I could find some damning section to quote, only to not find anything really awful to grab hold of. I would realize — often with disappointment and frustration — that I was barking up the wrong tree, and only seeking out my own confirmation bias. I’d be forced to abandon my fixation on the piece and let it go if I didn’t want to try to mount a disingenuous attack."
This is why you are a good writer Steve. You were back then at 1P5, and you are now.
When I followed you at 1P5 I must confess that, as a theological spectrum agnostic (meaning I didn't automatically dismiss most views) I was more impressed with how you got to your conclusions than with the conclusions themselves. It was much like Eisenhower's dictum "The plan is nothing, planning is everything."
Or, as I put it regarding a new Trad Substack writer "I've tried reading [redacted]. Too much conjecture and innuendo for my taste. When I read something that seems uncertain I try to work it out by assigning probabilities. Somehow my 'range of uncertainty' ('error bars') with [redacted's] writings are just too broad to be useful to me." I never had that criticism of your 1P5 writing, though I did of many of your other commenters.
Steve, I think you are just too hard on yourself. You were as a Catholic and now as a somewhat ex-Catholic - "somewhat" because certain imprints remain. I pray that you will be merciful with yourself.
I wish I knew how. I’m only aware of my fallibility. But thank you.
Steve, one day after you posted this Mary Harrington posted a very similar essay:
https://open.substack.com/pub/reactionaryfeminist/p/face-eating-leopards?r=bbwgp&utm_medium=ios
Lifesite News lost me several years ago after I got into a pissing match with them regarding vaccines.
Which way did they go with that?
Definitely anti-vaxxer. They were quoting RFK Jr. at the time, who claimed that the RNA vaccines could alter our DNA, which is baloney. I called them on it, saying that I'm a Catholic and a scientist, and that they risked being dismissed as whack-jobs if they kept quoting fake science from RFK. Boy, did their leadership ever jump on me! But like you said, there's a lot of money to be made in the looney fringe.