Guest Post by Jim Kunstler
The just-released movie Spotlight is about a Boston Globe investigative reporting team circa 2001-02 that uncovered and documented a vast network of child sex abuse by priests in the Catholic Church that had been on-going for decades. More to the point, Spotlight revealed the institutional rot at the very top of the Boston Catholic Church hierarchy, led by then-Cardinal Bernard Law — which marinated church personnel in a code of secret atrocious behavior enabled by systematic lying and deception. In effect, the church gave permission to its foot-soldiers, the parish priests, to engage in whatever sexual antics they wished to, with a tacit promise to shield them from the reach of the courts. The civil authorities of Boston, heavily Catholic due to Boston’s demographics, assisted the church by throwing up every legal obstacle they could to deter the victims and their advocates in the search for justice — and to put an end to the predation of children by priests.
That was the story that Spotlight told, and it did that very economically, without grandstanding. But the movie had another message for me, as someone who has been involved in the media going back more than forty years when I was an investigative newspaper reporter myself. The message was that the institutional support for great journalism that allowed the Globe’s Spotlight reporting team to do its job is now gone-baby-gone. All the newspapers in the USA, and even the TV and radio news networks, are running these days on skeleton crews. At least that is true of the old flagship organizations such as the Boston Globe and CNN. They just don’t have the reporters out in the field. The front-page or flatscreen interface that the public sees conceals ghost organizations that barely have the reporting resources and the reach to discover what is actually going on in the world.
The dying newspapers — and they really are on life-support at this point, including the Globe and The New York Times — can’t pay teams of reporters like the Spotlight crew to work through years-long investigations. But what the movie also ought to remind us is that the hierarchical competence at such an enterprise, the layers of editors who know what they are doing and understand the boundaries and conventions of their own society, is also disastrously AWOL in the new Wowee-Zowie era of instant cell-phone networking, Facebook, and Instagram. In a word, leadership has been made to seem dispensable.
What gets left out of the story, as usual, are the diminishing returns of technology. In the news business — that is, the business of informing society what is actually going on — that blowback is leaving the public not just uninformed or misinformed, but additionally clueless about what they have lost. The result is a society increasingly shaped by delusion and paralysis. For example, The New York Times has gone from being the “newspaper of record” to being the leading dispenser of wishful thinking by a feminized political Left preoccupied with feelings over truth. (This, by the way, helps to account for the remnant media’s hatred of Vladimir Putin, a leader who doesn’t apologize for acting one like one. And, of course, a man.) The Old Gray Lady is also reduced to overt cheerleading for its avatar (Monday’s lead op-ed: HILLARY CLINTON — How I’d Rein In Wall Street Ha!), and making excuses for our grift-and rackets-based polity (Paul Krugman: The Not-So-Bad Economy Ha Ha Ha!).
At the local level, the news situation is simply pathetic. The surviving local newspapers are little more than bulletin boards for news releases from interested parties. They’ve fired all their reporters. Soon the papers will all be gone and the vaunted wondrous Internet will be little more than a grapevine and a rumor mill. The “cloud” that everybody thinks is so marvelous will look more and more like an epochal fog — and we’ll be lost in it. These are the wages of our techno-narcissism, a society now marinating in cluelessness the way the Catholic church, as depicted in Spotlight, marinates in pederasty and deceit. It is frankly hard to see a way out of the cultural predicament. Two things, at least, are necessary to break out of this hall of mirrors: men acting like honorable men, and hierarchies of leadership with the integrity to actually lead. For now, the USA is not interested in those things.
Coming in 2016
World Made By Hand 4 (and final)
The third World Made By Hand novel
!! Is available !!
(The Fourth and final is complete
and in production for May 2016 publication)
“Kunstler skewers everything from kitsch to greed, prejudice, bloodshed, and brainwashing in this wily, funny, rip-roaring, and profoundly provocative page- turner, leaving no doubt that the prescriptive yet devilishly satiric A World Made by Hand series will continue.” — Booklist
My local indie booksellers… Battenkill Books (Autographed by the Author) … or Northshire Books…
or Amazon…
Men acting like men, and leadership with the integrity to lead. USA is not interested. Wake TF up kunstler, and check out trump’s poll numbers. America is VERY interested. Howz those obama votes holding up, JK?
They are still there, the honorable men (and women) who care; they teach their children, support their churches, build their dreams and till their fields.
It is not fashionable to be honorable; they are denigrated,vilified, castigated, denounced as racists, sexists, oppressors, and tools of the patriarchy at every turn.
They have learned that they are unfashionable, and keep their heads down – but they are here, and when the whims of the fashionable lead to bloody death, the honorable will survive in part – but the trendoid mindless will be totally blown away.
We will not mourn them.
The most network TV I watch is in the morning, while getting my lunch together. I’m really watching for the traffic report. The local news reporting is so bad, it’s painful to watch. News? Like high school sports scores? Mostly human interest stories. They keep reporting on the where about’s of Jacob Wetterling – who disappeared 25 years ago. Nothing like a good pedophile story – even decades old.
The Minneapolis Star/Tribune (known as the Red Star and Tribune or Minneapolis Star and Sickle) blindly supports every Democrat / Liberal cause that comes down the pike. There is no analysis, no probing, no questioning, no investigation. They simply print press releases. The articles that are written by the staff contain obvious grammatical errors, and lack depth. If there’s an issue that embarrasses the left, they simply don’t print it, or put it on page 17.
Just another slanderous hit piece on the Catholic church at large yet they (the media )never say a Damn word about the child molesting rabbinical Jewish monsters in their places of worship who rape children because the Talmud tells them it’s ok.
Christian Doctrine forbids sex with children. Jewish Doctrine of the Talmud approves sex with children.You have to go deep into the Talmud to find this but it’s there.
bb
Did you once have a priest for a boyfriend?
@bb: “Just another slanderous hit piece on the Catholic church”
Definition: Slander: the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation.
A goddamn bunch of pedophiles – it’s been proven in court – all over this country. It’s a fact – not slander.
The Catholic Church is a cult. Holy water, confession, smoke, mirrors, Latin chants, saints, miracles, Virgin Mary, exorcism – it’s all bullshit. All the stupid spics in Latin America eat that shit up – fine with the Pope – as long as they send money.
What makes it worse is that the fucking Pope pretends to be holier than thou – he’s probably the head cocksucker.
This whole child abuse scandal and the way it was handled by the highest levels of the Catholic Church is why I left the Church and will likely never go back, especially with this complete moonbat dipshit Pope Francis.
(Granted, there are a large number of “victims” coming forward with their hands out that were never abused, but there were plenty who were.)
But if the Church had handled it properly IN THE FIRST PLACE BY PROSECUTING AND DEFROCKING THE OFFENDING PRIESTS, none of this would have been necessary.
I guess I am not a good enough Christian to hate the sin not the sinner, sigh, I just can’t get past this shameful and disgusting episode like I could the Vatican Bank scandal.
@Hope: You are missing the larger point.
As I see it the Catholic Church is the primary christian church that claims it’s right next to God / Christ / whatever.
I can see a isolated instance of pedophilia, and chalk it up to ‘a bad apple’. But what we have here is wholesale pedophilia over decades.
While nobody can prove / disprove the existence of god – I have a difficult time believing that a god would have allowed this level of debauchery.
These priests / bishops / cardinals and their ‘pope’ are nothing more than a band of charlatans.
Atheist Jews in the old Soviet Union concoct a plan back in the 1930’s to infiltrate the Catholic Church with pederasts, deviants, radicals and communists…
By the 1950’s, CPUSA was testifying in front of Congress about that very same infiltration, etc.
By the 1960’s, Vatican II was hijacked by radical theologians.
By the 1970’s, the pederasts, radicals, etc, are all firmly ensconced in the Catholic Church and abusing kids.
By the 1980’s, the story breaks. Catholic Church takes a tremendous body blow…
Today: Jew Kunstler says “This movie dredges up some real heinous shit about the Catholic Church – they really suck, don’t they? But nevermind about all the Catholic bashing – that’s not what I want to talk about…”
Well, if it ain’t what you wanted to fucking talk about, KUNT-ler, then why fuckin bring it up? Just like to gloat about the past dirty laundry of the Catholic Church, doncha?
Why don’t you talk shit about AIPAC or Israel running the US by proxy?
Oh wait… I know why not….
Go write another mediocre book about TEOTWAWKI…. toss in the requisite Southerners you love to talk shit about, the Christians you love to talk shit about, in fact, anyone that ain’t YOU and your demographic, you talk shit about them….
Go fuck yourself, KUNT-ler…
bb
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I just love how dumbasses make comments on subjects they’re not informed on. How many of you actually saw this movie? My wife and I did, and thanks, Admin for the post. Go see it, then make your comment.
From the Mpls Red Star: “The Duluth Diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday, a month after a victim of priest sex abuse there was awarded $8 million in damages. The diocese was found responsible for $4.8 million.
The northern Minnesota diocese becomes the 15th diocese in the nation to file for bankruptcy protection following clergy abuse litigation, including the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which declared bankruptcy last January.”
http://www.startribune.com/duluth-diocese-files-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy-after-8-million-abuse-award/360831211/
I like how JK uses the politically correct terms, “children”, and “child”, instead of the far more accurate and damning term “boys”.
Time to get rabbinical on kuntsler’s ass. Put on the kipa. Bb is correct in that child sex abuse is a serious and systemic problem in the Jewish community. But let’s not make statements. Let’s state facts and name names shall we? Below is a partial list of recent Jewish sex offenders.
In May of 2014, 71 Jews were nabbed in a child porn bust. Did you see this scandal on Jew run 60 minutes? Me neither.
Here are some names not connected with said bust: rabbi yoel Malik, rabbi friedlander, rabbi grunwald, yehuda nussbaum, Robert kirshner, Baruch lanner, Martin levy, schlomo carelbach, Robert Shapiro, Joel Jordan, rabbi david Cohen (hey, whatcha doin’ rabbi?), bernard frielich, martis Weinberg, david weinberger, yaakov weiner, Fred Neulander, Sidney goldenberg, Lewis brenner, max zucker, Jacob frank, mordecai magencey, hirsch Travis, Lewis cohen, isadore trachtman, ephraim Goldberg. Do you want me to go on? I could.
There is a VICE episode on Orthodox Jew abuse of boys. See it on jew tube. The poor Jew who blew the whistle got pummeled by his fellow tribesmen. He walked in some Jew fucking a little boy in the steam bath or whatever and went public. He was then shat on by everyone involved, including the abused.
In related news, porn star james deen, a diminutive Jew, has been accused of multiple rapes by fellow porn stars. Some of the details prohibit me from reporting further,out of respect to SSS. The man is obviously deranged. You should read his interview with an Israeli newspaper in which he repeats the mantra that the Jews are the chosen ones by god, and are better than everyone else. What can I say? If the Jews are the chosen by god, knowing what I know, then god does not exist.
In related news, the movie “carol” was voted best movie by critics or some such body. I forget. It is about a woman loving another woman in the 1950’s. The director is a Jew, and is produced by Jews. OMG, I can’t believe it! Yes I can. See, the 1950’s, a kind of golden era for whites, is viciously attacked by Jews, in print, in movies, everywhere.
What billy says is probably true, though it have not studied it. I am not catholic. So I have no horse in the race. But it rings true since that is what communists did, infiltrate every stronghold of whitey. Do I even need to point out, at this juncture, that the Jews were at the forefront of communism?
I’ve read several accounts of Catholic Seminaries being run by queers and straight students quit.
@ Billy and Archie…+100
On the topic of print media I say oh boohoo on them. If they were any good they wouldn’t be in the shitter now would they? The Internet has been the only true source for truth (for me at least) for many years. The old print media are the buggy whip industry of today.
See, the jews easily controlled all the other forms of communication for a long time, but the Internet is fucking them up. What do you think would happen to sites like TBP if the jews controlled the Internet? In how many seconds would this place be closed down? Yeah, yeah, I know that the Chosen People own google/You Tube and facebook and all the rest. But they can’t totally control it…..yet.
Ever notice how the Internet is bad-mouthed on TV shows and in the movies? Just like White heterosexual males are bashed. If you want to see what the jews hate, just see what is demonized on their stupid shows and movies. The opposite is true as well, which is obvious in the amount of queer, nigger, latino, jewish, and metro-sexual White males that are glorified every day.
NAMBLA has way to much influence and not just in the Church. When they find out about this crap, parents need to hunt the queer baby fuckers down and ISIS them.
SFM here sorta , I have read most religious texts and, with very few exceptions , the underlying motive ,at the root , is an increase in the power and influence of whatever nature that group wishes to have.
If that group has a depraved mind , so will the texts support it .
If that group has a moral mind , so will the texts support it .
Unfortunately , all texts have both minds in it and thus I call foul on the basic premise .
The religious texts ,of all sorts , are founded on men , or groups of men .
Thus , institutionalized religion can , at best be only partially correct .
Thus ,Jews think they are the chosenite’s , thus Christians gotta convert the rest of the world
Thus the musloids gotta dominate the whole world . Etc , Etc, Etc.
Ok , I think I threw enough crap out there lol whatever)
Lysander – what is it about the Jews that you really hate? They control .6 of 1% of the middle East. What’s the problem?Be honest. Again – Israel is the only democracy there. In every war since 1948 they have kicked ass. How do you explain that? They let their women walk around free WITHOUT looking like “black ghosts” in burqas. U gotta problem with that? When’s the last time you saw an Israeli suicide bomber? I’m with Howard Stern on this one. Sorry, but U R wrong
In spite of my own personal opinions above – I am still Lysander (and Pink Floyd) fan. Can’t help myself, I guess
The movie “Spotlight” is excellent; my wife & I went out of our way to see it this weekend and it’s an all-around excellent movie. I’ve worked in and around newspapers over the years, and the movie subtly captures what a newspaper is like, including shots where the characters are conversing while walking through the press plant, docks, and delivery trucks, even the “morgue” down in the basement complete with a dead rat! Anyway, see the movie, preferably in the theater, but fersure on DVD.
In a way it’s kind of a send-off because that kind of investigative reporting has long since been cut by the beancounters. They’re doing it in every media in every way. Which is why today’s entertainers are about as genuine as a 20th generation through a copier. I see flat, plastic, uninspiring performances with today’s younger talent, but I digress. Tom Petty has a song that nails it:
Hey, jfish, can you tell me with a straight face that American foreign policy is divorced from Israel’s? No, I didn’t think so.
Admin ,I’m not Catholic but I know the good the church does around the world. The church has its share of problems but so does every other organization.It is always the liberal leftists Jews that do their best to slander , degrade or debase Christian culture while turning a blind eye to their own depravity within their communities.
At the local level, the news situation is simply pathetic…
My opinion is that the local newspapers like Kunstler says don’t have the resources to properly investigate and expose local nefarious transgressions. Reporting costs money. These newspapers rather than focusing on local stories decided long before the internet to fill their pages with shit from other places that their readers didn’t really care about. Then along came the internet and Joe Six Pack and his wife Betty Big Steins morph into citizens with the attention spans of gnats.
Some years back I decided to expose what I knew about the Westray Mine Disaster. Since then I have had a problematic relationship with media. One time I sat down with a local reporter and told my story about the cover up in aftermath of explosion. I did this because the local newspaper had posted a notice asking for people to come forward with their Westray stories for some anniversary edition. I think it was 2007. Would have been 15 years. I told him about person responsible for coal dust lying at Inquiry set up in aftermath to find out what happened. Even after I poured my heart out to him he answered not with a question but sounding more like a Priest by saying to the effect something like. It takes great courage to come forward and tell me your story.
I was so pissed off. It wasn’t first Confession and I was raised Catholic if it matters.
But I thought maybe he is going to go with it. Anyways once the “stories’ were published I realized that what they wanted was pap not news. That paper gave up being relevant a long time ago.
Not surprising though when you think about it. The Casket was owned by the Catholic Church. The reason why they didn’t have the money to do this story is because the Diocese of Antigonish was, like so many others, embroiled in a sex scandal. That paper ended up being sold to pay victims for the evil deeds of the black robes lurking around Northern Nova Scotia.
http://www.churchpropertysales.info/
Even still I kept my subscription. I have always felt it was important to support local news. However as I type I am awaiting a refund. The paper publishing since 1852 has ceased to be a paid publication. It will now be sent out with the flyers that want to cajole me into buying shit I don’t need. So in a weird way like a lot of things in life it has come full circle in my community. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Maybe I should go with the attitude and saying in my favourite movie from 80’s
Platoon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0NHuuuklYQ
It don’t mean nothing………….
“Religion is the greatest wall separating people from God, and theologians are the worst assassins devised by Satan.” the Lame Cherry
@ Hope@ZeroKelvin, the Christian church is no more defined by the clergy than the American people are defined by those two parties of corporate controlled vermin that now ass rape all America. The institution of faith supersedes the leadership of the fallen.
Rob in NS: Similar story here about efforts to end 1) AA and 2) get publicity for The Christian Coalition etc. The local paper is the Democrat and they refuse to cover anything Conservative because they say all stories have to come from Knight Ridder but they have no problems covering every local pro-homo, liberal racist event/cause, etc. Same with the TV channels and the public is dumber than Nancy Pelosi. .
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