Re: Powerlessness Corrupts

[Jim Devine <jdevine03@xxxxxxxxx>]

Richard Hofstadter writes:
> A special significance attaches to the figure of the renegade from the
> enemy cause. The anti-Masonic movement seemed at times to be the
> creation of ex-Masons; certainly the highest significance was
> attributed to their revelations, and every word they said was
> believed. Anti-Catholicism used the runaway nun and the apostate
> priest...

there's a new film out about priestly abuse of kids (''Deliver Us From
Evil'' ) that is based on the testimony of one priest. I haven't seen
it yet, but I'm told it goes too far.  (BTW, it makes me wonder if my
late father were abused by a priest when he was a member of the
Catholic Church back in the 1920s. That might explain the extremity of
his rejection of the Church.)

there's point that Hofstadter misses. Those who break with an
organization such as the old Masons, the Catholic Church (especially
the pre-Vatical II version), or the CP are encouraged to think in
totally black and white terms. Those organizations themselves tended
to think in black/white terms. If you break with an organization that
helped to define your identity as a human being, you have to quickly
develop a new identity, often one that's the opposite of the old one.
(It's like kids who rebel from their parents by embracing some
"opposite.") And suddenly all of their old friends are gone and they
have new friends who want to hear all about how evil their old
organization was.

(BTW, what did Marc Foley think he was, a priest?)
--
Jim Devine / "You can't say that civilization don't advance, however,
for in every war they kill you in a new way." -- Will Rogers