The Blog's The Thing

Wikipedia

Hamlet:

I'll have these players
Play something like the murder of my father
Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks;
I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench,
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen
May be the devil: and the devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds
More relative than this: the play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.

- Hamlet Act II Scene II

For those of us tilted enough to blog, we must live with the possibility that what we blog about may very well reveal more about ourselves than our intended subject. Viewed through such a lens, it is easy to understand why certain subjects appear at certain blogs.

Bloggers play to their strengths. Why wouldn't they/we? Occasionally, some more than others, they risk offerings that stretch the limits of their comprehension and comfort in order to honour a shared purpose, to lend weight to contributions initiated by others that merit the label 'authority'. Others just pretend at being an authority. Self-appointed pundits are many.

There is at least one risk and at least one advantage with regards to speaking above one's pay grade. The obvious risk is

• exposure as a fraud;

and the obvious advantage of willing to step out on a limb is

• a kernel of truth otherwise overlooked or suppressed by those who remain entirely within their communication comfort zone is made available.

Bloggers are often amateurs, in the best sense of that word. They pursue that which they love, giving little or no thought to reward save the enjoyment of pursuing a mission (of service). Once upon a time, Olympic athletes were amateurs.

1. Many professional journalists lack the competence of their amateur brethren. How many times have we read religion stories by so-called professionals that are rife with error, saturated with historical inaccuracies and blatant mischaracterizations of contemporary events?
2. Too often, journalists operate like hired guns, hit men contracted by corrupt organizations that have as much integrity as any number of politicians who identify as devout Catholics while advocating for diabolical programs.
3. Every mainstream information-as-social-engineering or information-as-entertainment media enterprise today is participating in the manufacture of an artificial social construct that in so many respects mimics the most dreadful operations of the 20th Century: abortion (eugenics; genocide); demagoguery and suppression of inalienable rights (fascism; socialism).
4. Journalists allied to agendas hostile to the common good make themselves inertia, obstacles to the operation of democracies, obstacles which burden people with unreliable information that prevents them from exercising a responsible participation in a democracy.

Yes, there was a time when journalists or reporters commonly demonstrated the ability to communicate the facts, just the facts. Those who did not demonstrate journalistic integrity were ridiculed along with their fiction.

The Citizen Journalist

Bloggers are journal-ists. They/we keep journals:

• about our own lives;
• the experience, for example, of being a faithful Catholic in a society hostile to faith and reason;
• about what we see/hear going on in our communities;
• to float or test ideas;
• to fawn over our own contributions?

On that last point, a recommended neologism commissioned by yours truly to describe that condition:

• autotextophilia - the inordinate love of one's own written/typed/texted/tweeted word.

Catholic bloggers should not speak for the Church. We should speak with Her. That means, of course, we have a responsibility to offer fraternal correction when a brother or sister pretends at something he or she should not.

We should not be defined by anger. We are reminded (1 Peter 3:13-17):

Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is right? But even if you do suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence; and keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are abused, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing right, if that should be God’s will, than for doing wrong.

It is impossible, of course, not to offend. Many people lack the resilience and honesty to accept loving criticism of their behaviour or their intellectual possessions. However, targeting an issue merely to offend others is useless and annoying. Targeting an issue to point out error, even if others are offended by genuine debate and the critical assessment of an idea or action, is a prophetic duty of the faithful Catholic.