The unimportant news thread

[Florestan]

Theological niceties aside, he actually believes people who report being raped by priests. That is a big plus. Pope John Paul II, who is saint now for all I know, support the systematic suppression of rape accusations, and all but accepted that the Catholic Church was a human trafficking ring.

There are no theological niceties regarding paedophilia in the Gospels, only firm and uncompromising conviction:

But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. (Mt 18:6, KJV)

He was involved in burying the scandal

He might not have taken any concrete steps yet but at least he has openly acknowledged the problem and condemned the practice.

Speaking of which, here's a question: what do you guys think is the explanation for such a big number of both alleged and proven paedophiles amongst the Catholic clergy, high and low? It can't be Catholicism itself because the vast majority of Catholics are not paedophiles. It can't be priest's celibacy because the vast majority of celibates are not paedophiles. What is it, then? I confess I'm at a loss to answer.

EDIT: And why is it that this disgrace started only a few decades ago? If it had been such a widespread practice then all past anti-Catholic thinkers and writers should have been delving into it at length, indignantly and rightly so. Yet neither Luther nor Calvin nor Voltaire nor Marx had anything to say about it. I find it puzzling, to say the least.

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

Speaking of which, here's a question: what do you guys think is the explanation for such a big number of both alleged and proven paedophiles amongst the Catholic clergy, high and low? It can't be Catholicism itself because the vast majority of Catholics are not paedophiles. It can't be priest's celibacy because the vast majority of celibates are not paedophiles. What is it, then? I confess I'm at a loss to answer.

They gravitated to an organization that protected their criminal behavior. I suppose it is conceivable that emotional damage to abused minors makes them susceptible to his perversion, and they know from experience the Catholic church facilitates it.

[Florestan]

They gravitated to an organization that protected their criminal behavior. I suppose it is conceivable that emotional damage to abused minors makes them susceptible to his perversion, and they know from experience the Catholic church facilitates it.

Possibly, but see miy EDIT above.

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

On the lighter side, iOS announced a new version of iOS (iPhone and iPad operating system) with supposedly life-altering new features.

Reading the fine print, devices sold as recently as March 2017 ago are not supported by the new iOS (iPad Mini 2, iPad Air, iPhone 6). Apparently Apple thinks that someone who buys a new Apple device in a glitzy apple store should only expect 2 1/2 years of support before the device is orphaned.

[Florestan]

He was involved in burying the scandal while a cardinals believe.

I concede you might have a point with this. At least you didn't accuse him of being leftist/Marxist/Communist. I am relieved.

NB: I'm neither Catholic nor leftist/Marxist/Communist.

[Jo498]

I actually read somewhere that the rate of pedophilic occurrences in the Catholic church is NOT extraordinarily high. It's only that for several reasons (among others the coverup strategies) it is deemed particularly outrageous. While stats comparing the Catholic church with other churches, educational institutions, sports clubs etc. wrt abuse are hard to come by, the argument as I recall it was that since such institutions have actually insurances for such legal and compensational costs and that the Cath. church does not pay a higher insurance premium than comparable large institutions.

https://www.newsweek.com/priests-commit-no-more-abuse-other-males-70625
https://ethicsdaily.com/insurance-companies-shed-light-on-extent-of-sex-abuse-in-protestant-churches-cms-9149/

Obviously, men with pedophilic tendencies will tend to look for jobs around children and this includes priests. This should not be used as a defence for these horrible crimes and the frequent coverups etc. by the church are scandalous. But it seems that the claim that the particular structures and conditions of the church (hierarchy, celibacy etc.) do not by themselves lead to a higher rate of abuse than occurs in sports or schools.

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

The issue is that a generally person accused of abuse is arrested, convicted and imprisoned. A priest accused of abuse was moved to another diocese and the full weight of the church was used to discourage the victim from bringing charges. This facilitates recidivism. The church may experience a high rate of abuse even with a normal fraction of abusers.

[Jo498]

This is possible but not a necessary consequence. Because generally an abuser is not arrested quickly. Many coaches and teachers (or that british DJ) practiced their abuse for years or decades before or without ever being arrested and convicted.
Anyway, around here (Germany) the abuse scandal is used as an obvious argument against celibate priest and I think this is simply not based on the actual facts.

[Ken B]

I concede you might have a point with this. At least you didn't accuse him of being leftist/Marxist/Communist. I am relieved.

NB: I'm neither Catholic nor leftist/Marxist/Communist.

He's that too.

Clear out your mail box!

[drogulus]

It apears the WP has closed the private browsing loophole.

     I didn't even know about that. I think I must be a subscriber.

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

     I didn't even know about that. I think I must be a subscriber.

Seems to be browser dependent. I was turned away using Chrome (private mode not allowed unless logged in) but not Safari. Maybe they have a flaky way of detecting private browsing.

[Florestan]

He's that too.

A leftist who opposes abortion and gay marriages.

A Marxist who stated that Marxism is wrong.

A communist who came to Romania with the specific purpose of beatifying seven bishops of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, who died either in communist prisons or as a result of the maltreatments suffered there.

[Ken B]

YouTube cracks down on Romanian hate monger!

Actually not, they just called him a hate monger because his course includes clips of Hitler.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Timcast/status/1136392008795398145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1136392008795398145&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fbrettt-3136%2F2019%2F06%2F05%2Fgreat-job-history-teacher-who-posted-nazi-propaganda-videos-banned-by-youtube-for-hate-speech%2F

[Florestan]

YouTube cracks down on Romanian hate monger!

Actually not, they just called him a hate monger because his course includes clips of Hitler.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Timcast/status/1136392008795398145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1136392008795398145&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fbrettt-3136%2F2019%2F06%2F05%2Fgreat-job-history-teacher-who-posted-nazi-propaganda-videos-banned-by-youtube-for-hate-speech%2F

Why Romanian?

[North Star]

Why Romanian?

That's where he's set his location on Twitter.

https://mobile.twitter.com/MrAllsopHistory

YouTube cracks down on Romanian hate monger!

Actually not, they just called him a hate monger because his course includes clips of Hitler.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Timcast/status/1136392008795398145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1136392008795398145&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fbrettt-3136%2F2019%2F06%2F05%2Fgreat-job-history-teacher-who-posted-nazi-propaganda-videos-banned-by-youtube-for-hate-speech%2F

Don't you mean: actually they didn't call him a hate monger (or anything else), their algorithm was just designed without considering educational aspects, and the problem was largely fixed in a few hours. But yeah, it's pretty dumb that they didn't realize they need to refine the algorithm beforehand. Reminds me of when artworks with nudity were removed from Facebook.

[Ken B]

Why Romanian?

As Florestan click-bait. But it says Romanian.

[Ken B]

That's where he's set his location on Twitter.

https://mobile.twitter.com/MrAllsopHistory
Don't you mean: actually they didn't call him a hate monger (or anything else), their algorithm was just designed without considering educational aspects, and the problem was largely fixed in a few hours. But yeah, it's pretty dumb that they didn't realize they need to refine the algorithm beforehand. Reminds me of when artworks with nudity were removed from Facebook.

I don't think it was necessarily the algorithm, because it has been done to other such site with a comments about knowing the clips are sources. Example
https://mobile.twitter.com/FordFischer/status/1136334778670518273

Scroll down to the note from youtube

Update. Now they have pulled "Triumph of the Will".

How many of you have seen it? Fascists!

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

I just read that the international space station will be open to paying tourists. Trump must be defeated before he manages to get it transformed into a Trump branded hotel.

[Ken B]

Burger King as been selling meat whoppers as vegetarian burgers. People order and pay for a veggie burger, get a meat one. Charming.

[drogulus]

     Physicists Debate Hawking's Idea That the Universe Had No Beginning

     Ordinarily I'm a consensus guy on science. They know, I don't, that's the conservative assumption. I draw the line on the Big Bang, though. It's too philosophically extravagant.