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tree_and_leafI've been wondering for a while why I don't really get on with tumblr. I look at it occasionally, mostly for the photos, but I haven't warmed to it. Part of the issue is that it's really hard to find anything, but I think the key is the lack of interactivity - all you can do is pass things on with comment, but you don't get a dialogue going.
And I end up finding it frustrating.
There's a special kind of frustrating when you can see someone talking bollocks, and it getting approvingly forwarded on - I mean, when they're saying something which is demonstrably untrue/ the result of completely misunderstanding a situation (largely because you're feeding it through your own prejudice).
Take this tumblr entry (which I saw via someone on my flist, or whatever you call it, reblogging it), on the "Confession" iPhone app, which the US RC church approved as an aid to the penitent. The post is based on an entirely false - factually false - premise Kylemonk interpreted this as the church greedily selling grace:
The catholic church needs to find a new PR guy. If you needed any more convincing that organised religion is BS, the Catholic church have blessed an iPhone app that aids in receiving forgiveness by organising your sins digitally. If you thought as part of the unwashed masses you might be able to receive this merciful act of salvation for free you would, of course, be wrong. True to form the Catholic church are offering penitence for the low, low price of $1.99. Because avoiding eternal damnation for the price of a coffee is just too good a deal to pass up, right? I can’t put into words quite how ridiculous this is, so I will leave you to work out how bemused and/or outraged you should be for yourself. Source: BBC
The answer is, of course, not at all, because if you make any effort to find out what the app actually does, you discover it's completely innocuous. Admittedly the BBC story Kylemonk linked to is somewhat sloppily written - the Reuters story the BBC gives as its source is much better, but it's clear that the app is a tool for preparing to go to confession and examining your conscience before you go (in fact, the questions in the photo look suspiciously like the mirror of conscience I remember from the German misalette/ hymnbooks), and is not purporting to be equivalent to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.* We're not talking about the sale of "salvation"** or of a sacrament or of indulgences - it's no different from selling a prayerbook, which no-one has yet been paranoid enough to get upset about.
But I suppose a narrative about the evol money grubbing Catholic church is more interesting *sigh*
Of course, it's possible that not having the temptation to get wanky in the comments to someone's blog is no bad thing, but still, flagrant misrepresentation makes me cross.
* And of course, if it did, it would never have got episcopal imprimatur.
** "Going to confession" =/= "salvation" in any case, but compared to the other issues of the post, that's a minor point.
And I end up finding it frustrating.
There's a special kind of frustrating when you can see someone talking bollocks, and it getting approvingly forwarded on - I mean, when they're saying something which is demonstrably untrue/ the result of completely misunderstanding a situation (largely because you're feeding it through your own prejudice).
Take this tumblr entry (which I saw via someone on my flist, or whatever you call it, reblogging it), on the "Confession" iPhone app, which the US RC church approved as an aid to the penitent. The post is based on an entirely false - factually false - premise Kylemonk interpreted this as the church greedily selling grace:
The catholic church needs to find a new PR guy. If you needed any more convincing that organised religion is BS, the Catholic church have blessed an iPhone app that aids in receiving forgiveness by organising your sins digitally. If you thought as part of the unwashed masses you might be able to receive this merciful act of salvation for free you would, of course, be wrong. True to form the Catholic church are offering penitence for the low, low price of $1.99. Because avoiding eternal damnation for the price of a coffee is just too good a deal to pass up, right? I can’t put into words quite how ridiculous this is, so I will leave you to work out how bemused and/or outraged you should be for yourself. Source: BBC
The answer is, of course, not at all, because if you make any effort to find out what the app actually does, you discover it's completely innocuous. Admittedly the BBC story Kylemonk linked to is somewhat sloppily written - the Reuters story the BBC gives as its source is much better, but it's clear that the app is a tool for preparing to go to confession and examining your conscience before you go (in fact, the questions in the photo look suspiciously like the mirror of conscience I remember from the German misalette/ hymnbooks), and is not purporting to be equivalent to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.* We're not talking about the sale of "salvation"** or of a sacrament or of indulgences - it's no different from selling a prayerbook, which no-one has yet been paranoid enough to get upset about.
But I suppose a narrative about the evol money grubbing Catholic church is more interesting *sigh*
Of course, it's possible that not having the temptation to get wanky in the comments to someone's blog is no bad thing, but still, flagrant misrepresentation makes me cross.
* And of course, if it did, it would never have got episcopal imprimatur.
** "Going to confession" =/= "salvation" in any case, but compared to the other issues of the post, that's a minor point.