| Hysteria and the 5 Signs of Intellectual Laziness |
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| Posted by Administrator | |
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I’ve written hundreds of letters to the editor, feature articles, and a book, and the reactions I’ve received range from the vitriolic to the sublime, and I love them all. We live in a free country, and I love it even when people disagree with me. What I don’t like, however, is when my critics resort to specious arguments that show, first, their lack of intellectual firepower to understand what I wrote (hence, they lack the authority to react intelligently) and, second, their lack of open-mindedness. The first leads to the second, so when I see the following five “ideas” in their letter or e-mail of criticism, my gut really twists inside me and either gets me puking or rushing to the nearest toilet. I want to share them with you so you see that many people (my critics are global, you see) are not ready for true democracy. 1. They blame the Catholic Church, Christianity, Jesus Christ and God for everything. Others ask me why I mouth the arguments of the Church so much. The answer is simple: study the history of the Church and you’ll learn how much she knows about life in the world, the rise and fall of civilizations, and the lessons of history. The Church has been around for 2,000 years despite all efforts to annihilate it, and it has faced the agents of population control, abortion and eugenics before. It knows what would happen; today’s modern critics don’t, so forgive me if I stay on the side of experience. 2. They bring up Galileo and the Inquisition as proofs that the Catholic Church is against progress. My blood boils when I see Galileo and The Inquisition in the same letter, same paragraph or, worse, in the same sentence. Those who use these cases do not know what they’re talking about, are too lazy to find out what really happened, and perhaps do not yet realize that the Church has apologized for their handling of the case (although a son apologizing for the sins of his father does not make the son, much less the family, evil). 3. Related to #2: They (mostly my U.S.A. critics) say the Church is against science. To which I say: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” If these people do a bit of research, they’ll know that many scientific discoveries (like the heliocentric theory Galileo supported) came from monks. To put it simply, the mistake happened because Galileo, a scientist, tried to be a theologian, the theologians Caccini and Lorini tried to be scientists, and a host of priests, bishops and the Pope tried to be politicians. 4. Some have the gall to write that unmarried priests should not meddle in family planning legislation. Many even add that if the Church cannot manage its ranks (yes, Virginia, there are philandering priests too), they should not dictate how married people should run their families. I agree, and the Church doesn’t dictate. All it’s doing is warning us that bad laws have bad consequences, and every single life and the fount of hope (that’s what kids are really) between husband and wife are more important than economics. 5. I’m sad to see that many of my critics praise the government for pushing the RH Bill, then turn around and attack the same government for corruption and incompetence. My heart bleeds because, while I’m sure they sincerely want to do something good, they are merely acting as puppets of selfish colonial interests. Pardon me for sounding hysterical, and I’m sorry I can’t be like my kumpadre from Cainta, so cool even when Ondoy’s floods started engulfing his home. My kumadre, hysterical at the oncoming danger, fled to the safety of the roof. My kumpadre drowned inside his toilet. And there’s a danger much worse than Ondoy’s floodwaters almost here... Manoling de Leon Senior Citizen Republic of the Philippines |
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