By Ryan Denson
·
This time it concerns the right’s newest
endeavor — spreading fake news.
With reports of Pizzagate and now Newtown
threats causing a rise in violence by right-wing ideologues (and Trump
supporters), his holiness is taking on the epidemic of fake news, calling it
“sin” and equating it to eating feces.
Speaking to to Tertio, a Belgian Catholic weekly, the Pope said in rather strong terms:
I think the media have to be very clear, very transparent, and not fall into—no offense intended—the sickness of coprophagia, that is, always wanting to cover scandals, covering nasty things, even if they are true.
And since people have a tendency towards the sickness of coprophagia, a lot of damage can be done…
The means of communication have their own temptations, they can be tempted by slander, and therefore used to slander people, to smear them, this above all in the world of politics. They can be used as means of defamation. No one has a right to do this.
It is a sin and it is hurtful.
Not
only is it hurtful and sinful, it’s dangerous, it’s poisonous, and it’s beneath
our political discourse.
Perhaps
Christian conservatives should take heed – but they won’t. They haven’t when it
comes to climate change, poverty, Muslims and refugees.
Considering
how much the right hates the Pope, one shouldn’t hold their breath.
With General Michael Flynn and his unhinged son passing around
fake news in these sensitive, tumultuous times, the Pope’s blunt and truthful
words should be ringing throughout all media outlets.
EDITOR’S
NOTE: Rhode Island media have been gaga over Flynn’s appointment since he’s a
Rhode Islander from Portsmouth and a URI grad, despite his eating habits.
Treating fake news as the scum it is should be priority number
one, and combating Russian influence should be priority number two.
What does it say about the United States when the Pope takes a
more hard-line stance against it than 95 percent of those in the American
media?
Pope
Francis had the guts to speak the truth, as always.
