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This site is a little project that lets me make fun of some things and sense of others. I use it to think a little more relationally without resorting to doing actual math.Subscribe
This site is a little project that lets me make fun of some things and sense of others. I use it to think a little more relationally without resorting to doing actual math.
Actually, when I was a kid, any adult uttering “Go on with your story…” would imply a high threat level for me, as I would be in a situation where I’d have to do some “explaining” – so I’d classify C as upper right corner as well. ;-)
Ha ha. Love this one. Back when I was a confused pre-teen, I was strongly guided toward serving mass. I hated it even though I was one of the lucky ones that came out “untouched”. So glad to be living with a reality worldview now.
Dude, can we please stop it with the molesting priest shtick? Having had to tell a friend’s mom that the priest who baptized her daughter was indited for child molestation kinda takes all the fun out of it. Also, it’s been done before. It’s old. It’s uncreative. It’s like making fat jokes.
Seriously the whole Priest thing is ancient, mean spirited and anymore, its factually wrong: last year there were 6 documented cases in the entire US. Your kid is more at risk in Public School.
6 is more than 0.
People are defending child molesters? Religion must be involved.
Religion / Flaming graph would be interesting.
How many religions can boast that their spiritual leaders have never molested anyone?
For that matter, how many families can boast their relatives have never molested anyone?
I would suggest for D: Go play on the internet.
I thought the ‘danger to kids’ bit was more to do with the mental damage than the simply *tiresome* routine of referring to the priestly penchant for paedophilia. Suz and Nightsapper are totally correct: how could you keep going on about the latter? It’s just old and uncreative! And why are people still going on about the Holocaust? Come to think of it, why do people still mention Jesus?
The comments bursted out all the fun of this pic. e__e Take easy guys, it is just about mass.
Wow, as a Catholic and victim of child abuse by several people who were neither priests nor Catholics, I’m really tired of priests getting the blame for everything and being the brunt of all the jokes. Child molesters fake, intimidate, or manipulate their way into any position of power over children that they can get their hands on. The drive of their psychosis makes them very creative, convincing, and compulsive liars as they build themselves up in the eyes of communities and families just to get access to children.
If folks took the time to learn just a little about the issue, no one would be surprised at where they show up. Teachers, coaches, priests, foster parents, babysitters etc. are all positions targeted by these psychotics. Worse, it’s nearly impossible to figure out who they really are before something happens.
Nightsapper is right. Just looking at percentages, it’s between 4x and 10x more likely that your child will be molested by a public school official than a Catholic priest.
Then again Pablo most don’t have a multinational multi-billion dollar business to protect them from any punishment
There are about 3,439,000 teachers in the U.S., and 43,634 Catholic priests (bls.gov and beliefnet.com). The average Catholic kid in public schools has 1 priest and 55 teachers. Assuming that a kid is 10x more likely to be molested in public school (where’s that statistic from?), that still means that teachers are 5-8 times less likely to be child molesters. This rate is far lower than the general population, too. People love to smear public education, but in this regard, it’s doing a darn good job.
Yeah I think this was more about how they want to fuck your brain than your body.
Also, no other institution in the world maintains that a man who helped shield child molesters from prosecution/incapacitation is literally infallible. Not trying to troll or flame Catholics, but as long as they keep saying that, and doing that, then it’s still topical and relevant.
I’d like to echo what beleg wrote.
This ~needs~ to stay in people’s minds, it needs to be talked about. There is a ~huge~ problem in the way the RCC handled this issue over the years – and I’m not convinced they take it seriously enough yet. Hell – they keep some of the worst offenders (of the cover-up) on staff to this very day! Look up Bernard Law if you want a reminder about the level of disdain the RCC has for children/victims. Instead of being fired or going to jail, Bernard Law got promoted and is now living the high-life in the Vatican. It’s disgusting…
At a public school – the principal wouldn’t cover up for the teacher. The school board wouldn’t cover up for the teacher. There certainly wouldn’t be a worldwide scheme enacted to allow the boards to shuffle child-raping teachers to different unsuspecting schools to offend over and over again.
@Pablo, Nightsapper and Suz: Can you really not see the difference??
Ouch, hot topic!
As neither a Catholic nor a victim of public school related child abuse, I LOL’d.
But I do know first hand of a priest who was shuttled around by the Monsignor, rather than face child abuse charges. Shameful.
Bravo,good post!
Beleg do you understand eventhe slightest thing about the Catholic doctrine of Infallibility? There have, in the history of the Church, been precisely two declarations that was deemed an Infallible teaching of the Church: The virginity of May, and the Assumption of Mary.
Papal infallibility does not signify that the Pope is impeccable, i.e.., that he is specially exempt from liability to sin.
I suggest you learn something factual instead of repeating commonly held prejudiced misconceptions, like that, lest you betray your ignorance again.
@joe – I see you more concerned with ragging on the Catholic Church which, unlike public schools, has implemented safeguards, a zero tolerance policy, and publicly corrected itself. That was the point – that ragging on the Catholic Church was unfair to huge amounts of the faithful, and to the huge number of priests who are innocent of any such deeds, smearing them with a broad brush. Secondariy, have you READ the outside independent investigation? It found no “world wide” systemic cover-up that you allege – in other words, you’re lying. What it did find is that the Bishops, in accordance with psychiatric recommendations of the 1980′s (when most of this happened), attempted to rehabilitate the bad priests., because the consensus was that paedophiles could be reformed with treatment.
We now know different, and that is why there is a ZERO tolerance policy in place, at least in the US.
@cathie – report that priest to the USCCB or the local bishop, and the local paper. Guarantee there will be action if you have a specific time/place/person to name.
They report the incident to the local police, and the remove the priest from practice immediately upon even a marginally credible accusation — i.e. was the priest in that parish, and was that person in the parish? that’s enough to remove the priest anymore, as just happened in Denver thsi spring for an incident in the 1970′s that was just brought forward. The state cannot prosecute (and has said as much due to statue of limitations), but the Catholic Church is taking action, getting the victim counseling, removing the priest, and trying to make amends.
What next, making comedy of cross burnings to try to get a laugh out of southern redneck hillbillies, or “go play in the ghetto” to make fun of minority poor people – or go Mel Gibson and smear my wife’s Jewish ancestors as Jesus Killers?
Wrong is wrong. And smearing people as a group for the actions of a criminal minority in their numbers is ALWAYS a bad thing, especially when they are trying to remedy the errors of the past.
Making fun of molestation is no joke. Its something that destroys lives, and the smears here show other, mean spirited and political motives.
Wow… There appears to be no getting through to Nightsapper. Sad.
You appear more concerned with the RCC ‘brand’ than actually dealing with the issue.
Nightsapper wrote: “…the Catholic Church which, unlike public schools, has implemented safeguards, a zero tolerance policy, and publicly corrected itself.”
The public schools ~do~ have procedures in place for this type of thing… it’s what any moral person would do – call the cops!
The RCC promoted Cardinal Bernard Law – how do you explain that? Is that part of their “publicly corrected” behavior in action?
Then there are the official vatican orders, issued to Bishops worldwide, that had explicit instructions in how to deal with this issue. It included SILENCING the victim (by threat of ex-communication), covering the whole thing up and sending the offending priest off to counseling and then a new parish.
You can’t deny the effect this RCC position had on children… that you defend it in the manner that you do speaks to your moral failings.
Lets give the RCC some time to see if they’re taking this seriously – and in the mean time we must NEVER forget this horror that they inflicted on so many for so long.
Nightsapper also wrote: “…smearing people as a group for the actions of a criminal minority in their numbers is ALWAYS a bad thing…”
I don’t hold individual Catholics accountable… but the “group”, from the priests and bishops right up to the pope ARE to blame! This isn’t an isolated instance involving a few rogue priests… it was a systematic cover up for decades involving the raping of young children from the VERY TOP of the organization!
Chill. It was intended as a joke. If you don’t find it funny, move along and shut up. No need to go on for 4 freaking paragraphs about your views on your religious doctrine like anyone will read it or even care.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:
What we have here is a failure to excommunicate.
I find this in very bad taste. If you want to criticize the priests who were involved, that’s one thing. But to imply that simply being much involved in the Catholic religion (i.e., serving at Mass) makes someone a victim of pedophilia is more a smear against the religion than a comment on world events. For an equivalent, think what the reaction would be if the comic implied that attending a mosque makes a kid likely to blow himself up. Partially grounded in real events? Yes. Bigoted and in bad taste? Also yes.
No longer subscribing here.
@nightsapper
I’m saying the church claims a man who was involved in the protection of child predators, and who is very likely complicit in egregious violations of many childrens’ basic civil rights by allowing the abuse to continue, has the super power of infallibility. I’m well aware that it doesn’t mean he’s incapable of sin. But he’s got the power (along with other quasi-supernatural powers bestowed by God). Yes, it is rarely used, but they still believe the creator of the universe would put that arrow in the quiver of a man who shields child predators. That makes it relevant, and all the hedging around it doesn’t change that.
@passing through
The catholic church is a monolithic organization with institutional policies about which definitive, non-stereotyping things can be said. Islam is not. Now if you were to liken attending one of a series of wahabi madrasas with institutional histories of enabling, knowingly shielding, or training bombers, that would be completely reasonable.
Regardless, the joke is rather in bad taste.
Generally speaking, an extremely small percentage of kids who serve mass get molested, and an implication otherwise is very offensive to millions of people.
If this comic merely refers to the perils of enforced dogma, it’s still anti-religious and rather offensive too.
I didn’t find this very funny, honestly, and hope the next card will be clever and not, well, hateful.
Beleg:
That’s one of the good things about the infallibility doctrine. It means the Church’s body of teaching is protected from bad men who become Pope. There’s another example far earlier in the Church’s history, when a Gnostic heretic used political maneuvering to get himself made Pope, but was then unable to change the Church’s teachings to match his own beliefs — God prevented him.
It’s unfortunate that this protection only extends to Church doctrine, yes.
Somewhat related: Do you believe every US military officer is personally responsible for the Abu Graib torture? Or do you correctly only hold accountable those who did it, authorized it, or knew about it?
Melanie: Would you say the same thing if the joke was about Jews or blacks?
The joke is in poor taste, and really not that funny to those of us who, when we mention we’re Catholic or ex-Catholic (I’m a recovering Catholic), automatically get pedophiliac priest jokes.
My point is that it is a serious issue, and the comic serves to reconfirm stereotypes rather than actually being witty/cutting or helping to bring about dialogue about the issue.
Yes, the worst part of the Catholic priest pedophilia issue is the huge problem of the hirearchy’s cover-up of what happened. To me that was the real betrayal, because abuse happens in any situation in which adults have power over children. Including parents.
I’m just sad Jessica hasn’t made any comment about this.
I don’t know if Jessica’s intentions were mean-spirited, but she was only making a joke. Even though IMO the joke was in bad taste, there doesn’t have to be all this drama going around.
Wow, this entire discussion has literally sucked every ounce of funny from this graph.
The original joke doesn’t even mention pedophilia. For all we know, she could have meant the card to imply that simply being religious is dangerous for children (as it is).
I thought the card was funny.
The “adult attention” part means it wasn’t merely saying that religion was dangerous.
Excellent card Jessica – you know if you get more than 20 comments you’ve struck just the right nerve! Good work :)
I’m with you fishboy! A great card!
Crazy idea. Maybe she didn’t mean the priests? There’s alot of people in those pews.
Man I hope the rapture comes soon. Earth would be a much better place without all of you religious idiots.
I laughed at the card, and though I may be an asshole, at least I’m not a hypocrite.
Firstly, an education in Papal Infallibility. The Pope is considered “infallible” when speaking Ex Cathedra(from the big chair) in union with the Magisterium(the bishops), and only on matters of faith and morals. So it’s not like he can say “Chicken is best deep fried.” and the whole Catholic Church has to agree.
Secondly, what evidence is there that the Vatican was issuing directives to silence victims, I’ve never heard of such a document before now, so if I’m wrong educate me.
Thirdly, I am an eighteen year old Catholic, I was raised Catholic, went to Catholic School, from the kindergarten to graduation a few months ago(St. Ignatius High School -Cleveland). I volunteer at a youth retreat group. I have been involved with 4 different parishes, worked in two rectories, and have personally known dozens of priests, many of them good men a few of them assholes. You see an organization that you have some grudge with because you think they’re judging you, I see people. I know the men who your prejudice hurts now, and I know that prejudice against Catholics in this country will hurt me, and soon.
Penultimately, you cannot fire someone from being a priest. The idea is that once you take you are ordained your soul is marked, and you cannot be un-ordained. So it’s not like they can wash their hands of the matter.
Finally, the Catholic Church is not the Galactic Empire, its not a “monolithic organization”, it’s hardly organized at all. Cover ups in the Church would be just as hidden from the Vatican as stealing office supplies would be hidden from your boss.
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