habemus papam
Today, the Church got a new pope. I’m waiting to see how it goes. I’m all for orthodoxy, but I know there’s a lot of grumbling over the supression of free thought over the last twenty years. (Or, as the Church calls it, “heresy.”)
Today on IRC, the election of the pope caused a lot of banter, which is to be expected. I also expected that lots of the banter would be irreverant, which I’m pretty used to. Why should I expect anyone revere the same things I do?
Sometimes, though, I’m surprised when the normal IRC tactlessness gives way to something that seems to me beyond the pale. Today, someone got into a pretty heated line of ranting about the church that included the line (and this is nearly the quote), “The Catholic Church is no different from the Nazi party.”
There didn’t seem to be any discussing the point, so I left.
Yesterday, I was feeling the same kind of awkward discomfort when people were praising Castro for “annoying the US.” Meanwhile, I have family unable to express themselves in public or, say, buy milk.
One of the things that drove me away from #kuro5hin, some years ago, was the declaration that a DEA agent who had died accidentally while doing yardwork had “gotten what he deserved” and that the speaker was “totally happy” about it. This wasn’t some specific agent, it was just a nameless person who had died unfortunately.
I’m all for IRC being brutish and crass, but I keep thinking that there’s some underlying etiquette. I think I’m wrong.