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From the beginning, the Catholic League was marked by a schizophrenic attitude that would become its hallmark: It simultaneously argued for the right of conservative Catholics to impose their values in the public sphere, while arguing against the right of others in the public sphere to offer legitimate criticism of Catholics or Catholicism.
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The Catholic League tactics are i) manufacture controversy; ii) try to intimidate the "enemy"; iii) bully the opposition; iv) complain early and often; v) attack popular culture; and vi) silence the loyal opposition.
I thought of my heart sister NP when I read this. She's one of the people who kept me from looking at Catholics as a whole with a jaundiced eye, and now she's got a whole army's worth of backup. These folks probably won't need to read my book, but they're the kinds of Christians I mean when I say Christians and atheists have plenty to talk about. I don't mind standing shoulder-to-shoulder with religious folk against stupid, intolerant fuckwits.
In fact, I think we could all have a good time of it.
Be sure to read that report - it's a hoot. It's like a microcosm of the self-promoting pressure groups that abound in the DC area. Here's a bit I liked, talking about one of their little jihads against popular entertainment that was supposedly disrespectful of Catholics:
ReplyDeleteEventually ABC pulled [the TV series Nothing Sacred] due to low ratings. The Catholic League, however, was quick to take credit for the demise of the show and tout it as a demonstration of its considerable power. It claimed it had driven 34 advertisers from the show; however, only two, Isuzu and Weight Watchers, confirmed they had pulled their ads due to viewer protest. In fact, many of the sponsors who pulled ads from the show said they did so because of poor ratings.
In any sane universe these guys wouldn't get the time of day, but they manage to be on "serious" news shows as if they represent a substantial group of people, instead of themselves and a couple of people nuts enough to send them money.