Scratching my head about Mark Shea
Reading Mark Shea's post supporting universal handgun registration in Washington (which, by the way, passed) sort of left me scratching my head about his stance on firearms and the imposition of gun control on the populace. I guess this incident immediately came to mind with the famous Facebook banner we immortalized in this post several years ago.
I wouldn't even bring it up; even if he just stated, "Hey, I'm for gun control," I'd probably shrug it off. But vitriolic accusations like "threadbare lies and sophistries of the gun cult" and prayers like "May God break the power of the NRA and the gun cult" clash with the factual claims and measured arguments which the NRA presented against the ballot issue.
I was told two years ago that the picture is a still-frame from an independent film which Mr. Shea was in back in 2012. It appears that he, like many other Hollywood types who point guns at the camera, remains reality-challenged about their proper use.
As another rider on the my-day-job-is-writing-about-religion-no-really bandwagon but without Dreher's stylistic chops Shea no doubt sees his explorations in this area as a vitally necessary stab at another income stream. I'm sure he had equally informed opinions about ranching emus back in the day, too, and for similar reasons. As I keep telling you guys, the map seller is not the terrain.
ReplyDeleteAs you can tell, I'm still searching for a term in the religious/social conservative sphere analogous to what "foodie" captures in the way of utterly oblivious preciousness, passionate self-importance, and general social parasitism. I'll let you know when I'm successful. In the meantime, what's the evidence that he's not a clockwork assembled from a kit and supplied with a phrase book chip?
What disconcerts you is that Shea has been at times in the last dozen years (and may still be by some metrics) just about the most widely circulated opinion journalist in Catholic media.
DeleteRalph McInerney has died, Richard John Neuhaus has died, Peter Kreeft is quite elderly, Michael Novak ditto, Fr. Fessio is both elderly and largely pre-occupied with administrative matters. Deal Hudson and others who once wrote for Crisis have largely ceased any sort of public commentary.
We once had a corps of people who could intermediate between the academy and the general reader. We once had a network of Catholic colleges. We once had...
Achhh.
Well, Art, you could blog here and elevate the dialogue a bit until the next Neuhaus comes along. I've invited you before and I'm doing so again.
DeletePeter Kreeft is quite elderly, Michael Novak ditto
DeleteCan you imagine Kreeft, Novak, Wiegel -- any of these gentlemen -- engaging in a practice called a "tin cup rattle"?
I didn't think so.
IMHO Mark has a lot more stylistic chops than Dreher has. His apologetical books are models of clarity, accessibility, and persuasiveness. I wish he would routinely show those same authorial virtues at his blog!
DeleteWhen Mark Shea decides he doesn't like something, any old stick will do.
ReplyDeleteThat's just too bad. He purports to be speaking for the Church and he ends up just making Catholicism seem like an incoherent, reactionary system.
DeleteHis latest post critical of Pope Francis assures us that this is legitimate criticism. Well, legitimate is my word, he calls it an "actual real thing" for the benefit of his readers. I guess.
Pauli, Mark has to say that because he -- like his comrades at Patheos -- are de facto Ultramontanists. I've said that about him for years. Otherwise, why would he treat prudential decisions by a sitting pope as de facto doctrine (capital punishment being the prime example)? I think a lot of these people are beginning to see either that Francis is a gross incompetent, or that his warped sense of "mercy" (and I do mean warped; otherwise, why would he even allow Daneels into the synod?) overrides any sense of moral judgement, let alone common sense.
DeleteI have no idea why the Pope has made common cause with the people he has unless it's the whole "keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer" thing.
DeleteThe Pope can make tons of strategic mistakes, errors in judgment, etc. I do believe there is sort of a general overreaction by some people to him, but measured critiques by Fr. Longnecker and that Brit from Crisis have been useful, I think.
I consider Mark a friend. I don't agree with all of his opinions, I don't always agree with how he expresses opinions I agree with, and I certainly won't attempt a full apologia on his behalf here.
ReplyDeleteBut I will suggest that his blogging is influenced by the years he's spent staring into the abyss of his inbox. It's a lot easier to ignore the lunatic fringe -- which is sometimes nearer to the center than the center notices -- when the lunatic fringe ignores you
Tom, good point. I get some crazy email and if I took it seriously it would drive me crazy.
DeleteBut do you think people like George Wiegel don't get hate mail? I mean, people hate him; you don't need to look far on the Catholic left to see that. And yet he hasn't cracked.
Yikes, I also had a response to Tom, which disappeared into the black hole of cyberspace. sigh. too stressed (by Life) to reconstruct.
DeleteI wasn't thinking of hate mail so much as crazy mail and banally evil mail. Though I suppose, yeah, if Mark had Weigel's gig as court theologian to politically conservative American Catholics, he might be mellower, or at least less anxious about paying next month's mortgage.
DeleteOk, crazy mail? Like Nigerian scam emails? or v1agra spam? or what? And banally evil mail; meaning... recruiting emails from the American Nazi Party? Could you be more specific?
DeleteBy "crazy" I mean crazy. The monomaniacs, the conspiracy theorists, the apparition chasers. Just a day or two ago I saw someone (was it on Mark's Facebook page?) saying she would be safe because she was staying with John Corapi.
DeleteThe banally evil are in part those whose hearts are completely unformed by Jesus' teaching on mercy and forgiveness. Or they think what they think can't be evil because they aren't evil. Or they say, "I don't care if it's a sin, I'd do it in a heartbeat every time, and ask forgiveness later." I was going to describe them as pagan Christians, but the Pope beat me to it.
Tom, thank you for clarifying. Email is new, but this "craziness" is age old. I feel bad that Mark has so let himself be scandalized by monomania, conspiracy theories and re-paganized Christians-in-name-only that he lashes out at legitimate lobbying for constitutional rights.
Delete