Monday, January 28, 2019

Mark Shea's Celebration of the Heroic Sanctity of the Leftwing Media

I know, that headline is really over the top, right? But one good hyperbole deserves another, and if "The Feast of the Holy Child Martyrs of Covington" isn't hyperbole, I don't know what is. No parent I know says "I don't mind if people assault, abuse, falsely accuse or threaten my child and his reputation; he's no saint." However I have seven children, none of whom are saints, and my job is to protect them from all these ills. Here's an excerpt from his laughable post:

The MSM got a story wrong and feel bad about it and are trying to atone by providing balance. All the major media have published hand-wringing, soul-searching articles poring over how they got it wrong and the dangers of rash judgment and so forth. The supposedly “smug” liberal media that always allegedly knows they are right and never allegedly listen to anybody outside their effete liberal bubble have spent the last week in minute self-examination and self-flagellation. That’s why the Today Show has Nick Sandmann on (but not Nathan Phillips).

Notice that he provides no links whatsoever. I, too, missed the "trying to atone by providing balance", as did most people I know. But balance is not required in this situation. What is required is complete and utter retraction of the story. You can see repentance in the attitudes of some pieces outside the MSM, such as this one in the Atlantic. But even Julie Zimmerman, while contrite, misses the larger point of this story with the starry-eyed deep-though "the truth is sometimes unknowable." That truism most certainly does not apply to this case.

In fact there is one truth which is dictating many of the main stream media's though processes at this moment, and that truth is the impending libel lawsuits. Here's a rewrite of Shea's MSM paragraph, free of charge, reflecting the way most Catholics and sensible people view the situation with the Main Stream Media with regard to Covington:

The MSM got a story horribly wrong because their initial rush to press was based on the impression that it made Trump supporters look bad. They now are worried that it hurt their credibility and are terrified of law suits. They've pretended to feel sorry for their bias via articles which allegedly represent their hand-wringing and soul-searching — as if they had a soul. When the name of libel expert Attorney L. Lin Wood was initially whispered, the usually smug, effete liberal media began a crash course in minute self-examination and self-flagellation. The Today Show avoided inviting Nathan Phillips on after they realized that providing more exposure of his lies and craziness would hurt rather than help their devastated credibility. But they did have Nick Sandmann on hoping he'd screw up (he's just a kid after all) and hurt his case; alas, he didn't.

Further in Shea's self-embarrassing article, he spews some stuff about David Hogg and his completely different circumstance where he actually put himself forward and used a tragedy for self-promotion. The situations are in fact so dissimilar you can hardly even accuse Shea of "whataboutism", which is what he is seemingly attempting.



Mark Shea being pretty much a hold-out on this clear-cut issue shouldn't be that surprising to anyone. He has been trending this way for three or four years. But it seems like he is still in the stage of his leftism which requires him to prove how loyal he is, so he's sticking to his guns even when they are completely empty. Burning his credibility on this issue is noteworthy and will go "down on his permanent record" so to speak. I can imagine a future scene: Mark will refer to a normal Catholic writer as a Francis-hating, rad-trad, MAGA-cult bully. My reply to the raised eyebrows of someone who has never heard of him will be "He is one of the people who not only believed that Justice Brett Kavanaugh was a rapist on discredited evidence, but also believed that the Covington kids were guilty in the face of contrary evidence."

And that's all that needs to be said about him to provide an accurate estimate on the value of his work, unless and until he wakes up and rids himself the writhing hatred for people with different viewpoints. The saints are a minority. But not all minorities are holy. Some are just stubborn, pretentious and silly.

15 comments:

  1. For comparison just compare the 3 pieces he wrote on this issue to the many he wrote on the planned parenthood undercover videos and how lying was always, ALWAYS wrong.

    Also he STILL calls Kavanaugh a rapist.

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    1. Yes; "Kavanaugh is guilty of rape" is sort of an article of faith for him and the other Patheolics. Maybe it will make it into his book about the creed.

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    2. For those who think we're making it up. Statement Shea made #1:

      Sorry. Can't hear you over the sound of your fellow swine declaring his and Trump's victims to be nuts and sluts. You have very selective moral dudgeon and I don't give a shit what you think. The man is scum and I believe his victim.

      And a comment made a bit before that.

      I think they were celebrating the appointment of a sexual assaulter to the Supreme Court--in a fair and balanced way, of course.

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  2. At this point Mark is a hot mess with virtually no redeeming qualities left. When he's not factually wrong, he's launching forward with insults, accusations, lies, calumny, and almost any other sinful approach to discourse. I have boycotted him and only read his monstrously vulgar attacks on the Covington students and what followed because I still have a son who is Catholic who could easily get hit with what Mark and his leftist compatriots dished out on these kids. I'm returning to my happy ban, and the sun shines the brighter for it.

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    1. Mark Shea is not representative of Catholics -- not by a long, long, lonnnnng shot -- and I seriously doubt that he poses any real threat to your son.

      Also, *no one* is completely devoid of redeeming qualities, as long as he or she is this side of the grade.

      But I agree with everything else you say.

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    2. Diane, David didn't say *completely* he said *virtually*.

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    3. OK, duly noted. I apologize. I'm not sure "virtually" is fair or accurate, either, though. I'd say "virtually" about a serial killer, not about Mark Shea. But I'm kind of a wuss.

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    4. Well, let me say that there is nothing particularly great about his writing that you can't get somewhere else, and you can get it without the bitterness. So maybe in a relative sense, there are no redeeming qualities to his writing.

      For example, look at a "pure Catholic" site like Aleteia and compare it to Shea's activism. I have no doubt that when I spend some of my prayer time reading articles there I get uplifted. And I have no doubt that when I check to see what the Catholic left is spewing about current events there is no uplifting going on.

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    5. No redeeming qualities to his writing, sure. But to his *person*...that's another issue.

      Not worth arguing about, though. I think we are all. On the same page.

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    6. "grade" above was supposed to be "grave." Dang Autocorrect.

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  3. How can you stand reading that nutter?!! I try to stay away from sulfur. It burns my nose!

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    1. I read Mark Shea several times a week. He is still a smart person, so I am interested in what he thinks he can win people on. I don't react until he crosses a line, which he did in this post. His accusing of everyone defending the kids as calling them "martyrs" in the Christian/Catholic sense, coupled with his defense of the media as being virtually innocent [of all sins original and actual, he might add] is something both risible and wrongheaded.

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  4. Mark is now stalking me at my FB page. Apparently because I linked to (and commented on) this article.

    Please help if you have the time or inclination. I can't handle it alone. Thanks.

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    1. No on facebook, sorry.

      Though you may want to provide a link for folks to know where to go.

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    2. I tried to post the link, but it wouldn't work. No matter. Another guy chimed in, and Mark skedaddled. Typical cowardly bully.

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