They Cannot Censor, Cancel, or “Rectify “The Truth
In the dystopian world of 1984, the totalitarians in power, the “Party,” create a Ministry of Truth whose employees literally rewrite history. Winston Smith, the main character, works in the Ministry’s Records Department, “rectifying” historical records so that they reflect the latest statements and goals of those in power. Everything the Party says is made to appear to be true.
So that our present day rulers, the “world rulers of this present darkness,” cannot rectify the truth, and so that some small part of our current history is preserved, this article presents a form to be used, filled in, and then spread via the internet.
Insert a name of your choice, and check all the categories for that person that apply. If you are unsure, or sufficient evidence has not yet been made public, leave blank or insert a “?” question mark. Any addition of other categories that are appropriate will be very much appreciated.
Insert Name: ______________________
_____Liar: deceiver, prevaricator, rogue, knave, cheat, fraud, swindler, four flusher, quack, charlatan, mountebank, deceiver, sneak, dissembler, sophist, Pharisee, Judas, snake in the grass, wolf in sheep’s clothing, impostor, pretender, conjuror, trickster.
____Tyrant: despot, dictator, bully, autocrat, oppressor, usurper, brute, coercer, martinet.
____Hypocrite (see “liar”)
____Snake: viper, serpent, basilisk, asp, constrictor, reptile
____Heretic: heretic, antichrist, pantheist, polytheist, idolator, schismatic, recusant, iconoclast, dissenter, dissident, atheist, skeptic, unbeliever, deist, infidel, pyrrhonist, rationalist; materialist, communist, socialist, positivist, nihilist.
____Demon: fiend, evil genius, devil, bad spirit, unclean spirit, ogre, jinn, bogie, bogeyman, bad fairy, nix, hobglobin, goblin, orc, wraith.
____Evildoer: wrongdoer, monster, satanist, worker of iniquity, wretch, reptile, viper, serpent, cockatrice, basilisk, villain, bad man, scoundrel, devil incarnate, demon in human shape, hellhound, hellcat, mean mother, terrorist, malefactor, blackguard, mean wretch, cur, dog, mongrel, knave, scum of the earth.
____Criminal: thug, crook, culprit, fraud, delinquent, assaulter, murderer, hoodlum, hood, perpetrator, outlaw, scofflaw; vandal, felon, con, grifter.
____Destroyer: demolisher, ruiner, dissolver, disrupter, overthrower, smasher, wrecker, annihilator, ravager, sabotage, abrogator, nullifier, squasher, batterer, crusher, scuttler, expunger, eraser, devastator, dismantler, trampler, killer.
____Pervert: degenerate, deviant, abomination, profligate, debaucher.
____Divider: disrupter, disuniter, dissenter, quarreler, squabble, brawler, disturber, nagger, splitter, entangler, breaker, separator, dissolve, oppose, antagonist,
____Pagan: misbeliever, apostate, heathen (see “heretic”)
Example
Here is a sample re: Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien of the Phoenix AZ diocese 1982-2003. O’Brien admitted in June 2003 to the cover up child sexual abuse in the Phoenix diocese. He was arrested on charges related to a fatal hit-and-run auto accident, convicted, and sentenced. He resigned at age 67. He was named in a lawsuit filed in 2016 accusing him of repeated sexual abuse of a boy while the boy was in 2nd to 5th grades, the abuse allegedly including oral sex. He denied the allegations. He was bishop emeritus until his death in 2018.
__x_Liar
__x_Tyrant
__x_Hypocrite
__x_Snake
__?_Heretic
__?_Demon
__x_Evildoer
_x_Criminal
_x__Destroyer
_x__Pervert
__?_Pagan
For additional information re: various persons (there are many thousands), see these sites:
https://www.complicitclergy.com/
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/bishops/removed/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_sex_abuse_cases_in_the_United_States
Exercise
You can assist in these efforts to preserve history. Here are some exercises for two “JB” folks:
Jorge Mario Bergoglio
____Liar
____Tyrant
____Hypocrite
____Snake
____Heretic
____Demon
____Evildoer
____Criminal
____Destroyer
____Pervert
____Pagan
Joseph Robinette Biden
____Liar
____Tyrant
____Hypocrite
____Snake
____Heretic
____Demon
____Evildoer
____Criminal
____Destroyer
____Pervert
____Pagan
Great list. I’d add another category all tooooo prevalent today:
_ENABLER -limp wrist-ed, weak minded, man-without-chest, desire for human approval, coward, sin of omission, timidity, faithless, careerist.
I understand the frustration behind this, but this is basically just structured name-calling. It might be interesting to have some of these categories on a scale, but it wouldn’t make it any more constructive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GIBBxM6Hxo
Hard-hitting, Mr. McClung: but hard to dispute.
Living in the diocese of Phoenix during O’Brien’s reign was a surreal dystopian experience. Flagrantly misbehaving priests were regularly defended, and complainants could depend on getting a threatening letter from the diocesan attorney warning of civil suit for libel. It was the way O’Brien rolled; while solid accounts of collection-basket-dipping and brown paperbags of money being distributed on Sunday afternoons from diocese parishes to selected members of the episcopal court were rife.
Naively I wrote to the Papal Nuncio at the time (Gabriel Montalvo Higuera, d. 2006) regarding objective examples of malfeasance with documentation: A copy of the letter was simply handed over to the misbehaving priest, who wasted no time in threatening me with civil suit and assured me he would seek excommunication through the good bishop. And then Bp. O’Brien hit-run and killed the Native American at 19th Ave and Glendale and all that went on hold.
Yes, O’Brien was quite something. When asked very politely by a very large and faithful donor to the diocese, if they could have a Latin Mass, meekly advising “the Catholic Church allows it now,” he rounded on her with flames in his eyes, with a resounding “No! I AM the Catholic Church in Phoenix.” Ah yes.
As my late father used to often say, it will be a very interesting day on Judgment Day.
Oh: that misbehaving priest finally found his niche in the Metropolitan Church, living fully his lifestyle in San Diego: So, there is a happy ending for all.
I apologize in advance.
It seems The Blessed Virgin Mary appears to simple people like the three shepherd children at Fatima, not to priests, prelates, politicians, predators, . . .
A favorite Yogi Berra-ism, “It ain’t bragging if you did it.” Or something like that.
It isn’t ‘name-calling’ (or ad hominem) if they actually did it.
Thanks for confining the defense of the indefensible to 50 words, or less.
I sincerely apologize.
I understand the frustration behind this, but this is basically just structured name-calling. I
Those aren’t names. Those are descriptive terms.
While we’re at it, Tick Tock. We’ve had 120 hours and no clarification or qualification from the Bush Center.
Dear Pinky, Thank you for reading what I wrote and for taking the time to comment. Yes, among other things, this is “name calling.” Just as with “discrimination,” there is bad, good, and neutral “name calling.”
I thought about that – what you have said – before I wrote this and, after it was written, before I posted it. I also thought that for too long – many decades now – we have had our heads in the sand and we have refused to say the emperor – in our case the ordained clergy and the power folks who rule us – not only has no clothes but is a liar and a criminal, often a sexual predator. The clergy, all the way to the top, have for too long hidden behind the status of their ordination and their offices, often demanding that they be respected and that no one “call them by name.” They have often seen to it that those who do “name call” them for what they are, those who speak truth to their this-world ecclesial power, are shunned, silenced, and marginalized.
Once upon a time a pastor who did not like my so speaking told me to leave HIS parish. Some time later it became public knowledge that not only was he a practicing homosexual, but on several occasions the local law enforcement authorities, after arresting him for drunk driving, brought him from jail to the rectory, without charges.
Names are words of power. There is a reason in the church’s exorcism rite that the exorcist asks the demon’s name. One exorcist said this:
“Why do you ask for the demon’s name? “ “The Ritual requires it, for a specific purpose. Naming something, or knowing its name, means having power over that thing. In fact, God gives Adam the power to name things. At the instant that the demon reveals his name, it shows that he has been weakened; if he doesn’t say it, he is still strong. . . .In the case of the French man in the first exorcism I participated in, I remember that, when the demon manifested itself, I had the impression of being surrounded by pride, as if it were smoke or fog. It’s hard to explain, but pride seemed like something you could touch; it filled the room. The exorcist asked him for his name, and he responded, “I am rex.” There is no demon named rex, king. The exorcist insisted, “Tell me your name,” and finally he responded, “I am Satan, the prince of this world.” “
Jesus Himself showed us the example of virtuous name calling. He did not do this in private. He spoke “to the crowds.”
“You serpents, you brood of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” Mt 23:32
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” Mt 23:13
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” Mt 23:27
Jesus referring to the Pharisees as snakes was a direct allusion to the devil, Satan, taking the form of a serpent in the Garden of Eden. Jesus was fully aware of the “offense” taken by the Pharisees, but He still condemned them publicly:
“Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. . . . Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” . . . Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” Mt. 15:10, 12, 14.
John the Baptist, as recounted in divinely-inspired Holy Scirpture, also engaged in the public “name calling” of the Pharisees:
“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” Mt 3:7.
Pinky, some time ago I read what I quote here and I decided not to be silent:
”Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
“We’ve had enough exhortations to be silent. Cry out with a thousand tongues – I see the world is rotten because of silence.” St Catherine of Siena.
Guy, Texas
O’Brien:
I don’t know the details of his story. If he’s found guilty or the preponderance of the evidence indicates he should be, then there’s nothing wrong with labelling him a pervert, a liar, and a criminal. The fact that you accuse him of being a snake and a tyrant shows how an exercise like this can encourage excess.
Biden:
There’s about four of those labels that I’d be confident in, and I have a hunch that a few more apply. Those who oppose Biden haven’t lacked words, though, so there doesn’t seem to be a value this analysis.
Francis:
It seems to me that the presentation of this article is to encourage people to apply those labels to Pope Francis. Chesterton talks about the dangers of list-making, that when you see a series of items on a list, you get lulled into assuming commonality. It’s like, if I don’t like the president and a perverted bishop, I should condemn the pope too?
You quoted St. Catherine of Siena. Here’s another quote from her: “He who rebels against our Father, Christ on earth, is condemned to death, for that which we do to him, we do to Christ in heaven – we honor Christ if we honor the pope, we dishonor Christ if we dishonor the pope… I tell you that God will and has so commanded that even if the priests and the pastors of the Church and Christ on earth were incarnate devils, it is seemly that we are obedient and subject to them, not for their sake, but for the sake of God, out of obedience to Him, for He wills that we should act thus.”
Also, your quote appears to be wrong. Catherine doesn’t seem to have ever said “we’ve had enough exhortations to be silent”. It would be very un-Italian for there to have been exhortations to be silent in the first place. Catherine was passionate in her condemnations of bad deeds by religious leaders, but as far as I know never called anyone out by name.
Dear Pinky-this re: Catherine quote:
“You can see the medieval Italian version here. The relevant passage is as follows:
Oimè, non più tacere! Gridate con cento migliaia di lingue. Veggo che, per tacere, il mondo è guasto, la Sposa di Cristo è impallidita, toltogli è il colore, perchè gli è succhiato il sangue da dosso, cìoè che il sangue di Cristo, che è dato per grazia e non per debito.
Fr. Jerabek renders that as:
Be silent no more! Cry out with one hundred thousand tongues. I see that, because of this silence, the world is in ruins, the Spouse of Christ has grown pale; the color is taken from her face because her blood has been sucked out, that is the blood of Christ, which is given as a free gift and not by right.”
It’s passionate, and not in a bad way. I wanted to note two things about it, though. One, there was no mention that I see of people being compelled to silence, which was the body of the first sentence in your translation. Secondly, Catherine wasn’t calling for all our tongues to be rebuking specific leaders by name. She never did anything like that. By all means, we should speak up about what a good church leader should do! We can even point out the bad behaviours that we see in general. But if we’re using Catherine of Siena as a model, we can’t justify applying insulting terms to individual church leaders.