Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Who not to trust on the Internet

So this came to my attention, from Mark Shea's Twitter page: 

Here was Scott Eric Alt's initial Twitter post:

So that we know it's not some strange thing Scott Eric Alt pulled out of the air - the equating Biden's student loan debt proposal to the Gospel  message - can be seen here:   


And just to make sure it's not all about equating policy to religion, we have a bold activist stating that as one who paid off his debts, he's thrilled that people's lives will be forever changed by Biden's actions. Apparently there will be no negative side effects because, well, none of these brilliant commenters seem aware that there is anything but perfection with Biden's proposal: 

There is much that is obviously wrong with all this.  The equating of a dashed off political policy to the Gospel is something right wing Christians were once accused of doing.  And if they did it, it was wrong.  As it is wrong now.  But the point is, all they are doing is defending Biden.  That's what all of this is about.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Everything else is irrelevant. 

That they elevated a controversial - from all sides - policy to the equivalent of the Christian message shows why they shouldn't be trusted to speak to things of the Faith.  That they clearly don't care about who might be hurt by this shows why none of them should be listened to regarding the needs of the hurting.  That they seem oblivious to the many criticisms of Biden's proposal from all sides shows why they shouldn't be listened to about politics. 

Facts, data, context, and basic mature and reasoned approach to the subject are as far from these posts as east is from the west.  Which is why, unless you conform to their particular brand of same-think, they probably shouldn't be listened to at all.  

Oh, and have I mentioned I wouldn't do Twitter if my life depended on it?  If you need a reason, just look at the sampling above.  I could get better from kindergarteners on a playground. 

20 comments:

  1. "There is much that is obviously wrong with all this." Yes, and intelligent men (and women) should know better.

    "I wouldn't do Twitter if my life depended on it?" Sadly I have seen virtue signaling like Mr. Tiedrich's on LinkedIn posts recently. We are getting called grievance babies for protesting a basic injustice which favors rich, white people. You couldn't make this up ten or even five years ago.

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    1. The rich white people exclusively as a pejorative only works when white as pejorative is convenient. Like most things in our modern age, especially among the left, it's only important when it's convenient.

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  2. I used to be on Twitter. No more. Never again. It is a miserable place full of weeping and gnashing of teeth...

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    1. Agree. I never even tried to sign up. Usually whenever I read something on Twitter I can feel one brain cell die per character. And at 280 characters, that's too many brain cells.

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  3. "The Bible doesn't say anything about banning child murder, but Jesus clearly stated that student loan cancellation is a Christian value."

    I'm actually in favor of student loan cancellation, but it has to be subsidized by a tax on woke corporations and university endowments.

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    1. That fake quote is supposed to be Mark Shea's interpretation of the Bible.

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    2. I assumed that quote was a dig at Mark, though hardly an inaccurate one. I agree that if not flat out loan cancellations, then something needs to be done. I would like us to look at the root causes of why college tuitions are off the scale, including the incomes and salaries of those involved in higher education, and the spending practices of colleges and universities. Not to mention why so many corporations mandate a college degree when none is needed, and the degrees themselves usually irrelevant to the job. I doubt we'll ever go there, but it's probably where we should go first.

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    3. " I would like us to look at the root causes of why college tuitions are off the scale, including the incomes and salaries of those involved in higher education, and the spending practices of colleges and universities"

      It seems to me that tuition went through the roof as soon as the government started with the student grants and loans. The colleges saw this as a never ending supply of money. Same thing happened in the sixties with the health system when it came to Medicare and Medicaid and other government related funding of medical services. It's the endless supply of money through the generosity of the American tax payer.

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    4. I suspect if you unpacked it you'd discover that tuition conjoined to room and board has risen pari passu with nominal incomes. The thing is, in 1928, about 6% of each cohort enrolled in colleges and universities and another increment in various other sorts of tertiary schooling. By 1970, about 25% of each cohort was cadging a baccalaureate degree. Now it's 45%. The share of the population investing in higher education gets larger and larger and the population in each era partaking of it are on average less able to shoulder the costs. Time to squeeze the pus out.

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  4. Interesting, because according to my recent studies, "sin as a debt" seems to be more of a protestant thing than any real Catholic or Orthodox teaching. Or at least original church fathers teaching.

    Again, why convert if there's no real different between the branches or if just being democrat can cover over a multitude of sins?

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    1. Sin as a debt is most definitely a pretty big deal for serious Catholics or we wouldn't talk or worry about purgatory. We generally quote Mt. 5:26 on this topic: "Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing."

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    2. On the Catholic side I don't think that's an absent view. The Orthodox insist it sort of isn't their view, but I'll be if I could ever pin them on just what they meant by that. That was one thing that irked me about the Orthodox - the just wouldn't lay things out simply, but made statements and then seemed to be content with nobody quite getting it.

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    3. We Westerners just don't "get" Orthodoxy, right

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    4. That is true. And sometimes Orthodoxy doesn't seem to go out of its way to remedy that.

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    5. At least some of my weak understanding is that it's more like a disease being cured.

      I can understand Jesus use of debt in parables to convey a deeper idea but can also see how some have run with the idea too far to the point of believing that forgiveness means no consequences.

      Well we must be like Zacchaeus. Following Jesus and showing it by paying back those who we cheated.

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  5. Those who compare the student loan repayment to Christ’s offering of Himself for our salvation ignore an essential difference. Our Lord offered His life freely without any coercion.

    The student loan forgiveness is forced on others at the point of agun

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    1. Oh, there are so many things wrong with this. You can certainly argue that you think the loan forgiveness is in line with Christian ethics. That's fine, though debatable. But the sudden equation of this loan to the very Gospel message itself borders on the same heresy that conservatives were once accused of flirting with by being too pro-free market or similar.

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    2. Oh, there are so many things wrong with this

      Yes; it is difficult to know where to begin.

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    3. Oh yeah. I think the growing tendency of those Christian on the Left to uncritical equate anything that proceeds from the political left with the Gospel. I mean, there is some room for debate there, but they seem to want to pull the old fundamentalist trick of 'why do you not believe the Gospel - that is, my opinions?'

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  6. Scott Alt as I've said before is nothing more than the little sidekick to Mark Shea much like the Looney Tunes character who follows his friend around "Whatever you say you're my friend whatever you say". Shea has anger management issues and I believe I've read that Alt is on the Autism spectrum. Best to just ignore both of them. All they want to do is belittle and argue with faithful Catholics.

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Let me know your thoughts