One of them is this good, solid old salt of the earth priest in Ireland who still understands that Lying for Jesus is evil and a scandal and will have none of it. Following Paul, he obeys the command, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them” (Ephesians 5:11)
In February, as part of a general cleanup effort of social media that also saw the deplatforming of a host of chronic liars, Lifesite got kicked off of Youtube. The liars call this “cancelling”. Normals call it what it is: accountability. Lifesite long ago chose the way of the father of lies. I am grateful their ability to spread lies has been hindered by Normals.
The moral of Lifesite News–which the entire MAGA “prolife” cult has yet to learn–is that just because you are prolife and feel extra super-duper righteous about that does not constitute a 007 to lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, and everlastingly lie forevermore about everything and everybody.
It should not be that hard to understand, but the Cult will lie everlastingly that Youtube “censored” this gigantic lie machine when, in fact, they simply exercised their first amendment right to not platform deadly, toxic liars.
I celebrate this triumph of civic, moral, and spiritual hygiene and hope that other massive lie machines soon be deplatformed.
None of this should even be hard–for a Catholic who takes his faith seriously and understands that, as Augustine put it, “God does not need your lie.” Augustine had to write a whole thing Against Lying:
“I wrote a book Against Lying, the occasion of which work was this. In order to discover the Priscillianist heretics… it seemed to certain Catholics that they ought to pretend themselves Priscillianists, in order that they might penetrate their lurking places. In prohibition of which thing, I composed this book.” – St. Augustine
In Augustine’s day, Christians feared the second death more than the first and, as humans ever do, some decided that it was okay to do the evil of lying that good may come of it. Augustine (and Thomas and the whole Catholic tradition right down to CCC 2482-83) reminded them that this is… a lie and a sin. But MAGA antichristianity, having fully embraced the worship of a chronic liar, chose to embrace the job description of antichrist Jesus gave in John 8:44:
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Lifesite News, like Trump and his entire cult, have made themselves into People of the Lie. They lie constantly. And it’s not even to save themselves or others from the Second Death. Nor is in the service of saving human life from the first death anymore. It is simply for the sake of MAGA power and spite. Lying about COVID is the opposite of defending the unborn or human life. Indeed, it is killing the unborn since pregnant women get COVID too.
As this good solid old priest still understands, you cannot preach a Faith which promises Jesus as the Truth while lying. MAGA’s seduction of conservative Christians into a cult of lies is straight from Hell. Thank God there are still good, solid old priests out there with their heads screwed on straight.
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8 Responses
Fantastic. There are few things more spectacular than a devout Irish priest filled with righteous indignation. After he said, “And Lie Number Seven!” I was fully expecting a days’ long video where he eventually got to “And Lie Number nine-thousand one-hundred and twenty-five!” And I probably would have watched the whole thing.
I’ve picked up a habit from LeVar Burton, and taken to correcting people using the term “Cancel Culture” and telling them that it’s actually “Consequence Culture” – they’re actually experiencing the consequences of their speech, when they previously never had.
“Lifesite got kicked off of Youtube. The liars call this “cancelling”. Normals call it what it is: accountability. “
I have observed the problems with Lifesite for years, avoided them, and made a habit of double-checking claims others present to me based on Lifesite articles.
But for a businesses like Youtube and Amazon Web Services that thrive in part on hosting the content of liars of a wide variety of stripes, it still bothered me how this recent “deplatforming” was handled. In a society that values free speech in part for the sake of letting bad arguments and lies be exposed to light so their errors can be confronted, censorship (in a broad sense of the term) is even less likely to be effective than it has historically been.
IDK, taking away Trump’s social media toys have done wonders for the public discourse.
The problem with the sunlight thesis is it was made before the social media age where people had the time to confront and debate lies, and reveal the truth. But now? With social media you can bury people in bull***. As soon as you finally debunk one lie, ten thousand more have already come out. Eventually, people get exhausted and give up. This was Trump’s entire strategy such as it was during his campaigns and presidency.
Ireland COVID restrictions are like the oppression they endured under British rule? These guys are unbelievable.
FYI, this isn’t the first time the Catholic hierarchy had to suspend mass (at least indoors w/congregations present). They also had to do that during that whole Black Death thing back in the 14th Century. You may have heard of it!
Oh, and on a note related to this video, a pope during that era even had to issue a proclamation that, no, the Jews didn’t cause the Black Death, so please stop spreading that lie.
You are lucky your church is an international polity, because American Christianity has really beclowned itself over the last twenty and especially the last five years.
jj
I did not hear about Lifesite being kicked off by Youtube. This is enormously welcome news. They have such malignant influence over so many Catholics–I hope they lose their other platforms besides.
Mark, may I suggest adding links to articles related to your book to its store page?