The NYTimes recently mentioned the Fermi game of figuring “ballpark” estimates of real-world numbers for questions you, at first glance, think of as un-estimatable – for example, how many piano tuners are there in Chicago? Though I am generally bad at math (and shun it), I like this game, and…
There may be a cultural component.
When I was at BYU, I attended a play with my then boyfriend, and pointed this out about Utah audiences: Whether they paid attention or liked the performance or not, they give everybody a standing ovation.
He may have been right. It seems like in other places, a standing ovation is reserved for an exceptional performance, whereas in Utah it may not mean more than ordinary applause.
Now, whether either of these guys deserves any applause at all, that’s another question…
In Utah, everyone knows everyone.
So you’re kinda obligated to stand. Like being at your daughters high school orchestra performance.
Yeah, I used to get down to Cedar City and seem to remember standing O’s being de rigueur. Mostly, I’m just complaining because I think the response to Cardinal Francis George at BYU was nearly as inappropriate as the applause in the Utah House for former Majority Leader Kevin Garn’s sick floor confession: Hey, look at me, I took the 15-year-old daughter of my business partner out to get liquored up and nekkid in my hot tub. Response: Clap clap, whoop whoop, wipe a tear, make a face like you’re consoling your daughter after her puppy’s just died, repeat.
Anyways, as I mentioned to Rosalynde, I think the only fortress Francis is defending is the one protecting Papa Ratzi and the rest of the Catholic hierarchy from the scrutiny (and criminal prosecution) they deserve.
Perhaps if Americans got more int’l news, there’d be awareness of the abuses of the Irish Catholic hierarchy that have been reported during the past year, and folks like Rosalynde might think to do a little checking before singing any Cardinal’s praises. Perhaps the latest BSA lawsuit will have something like the same impact as the Murphy and Ryan reports, but I doubt it. The LDS church has already settled in that suit. Still, it doesn’t seem like a particularly useful time to be touting how cozy the Catholic hierarchy and LDS leadership have become over the years. Another LDS Public Affairs master stroke.
P.S. This is not me dogpiling on RW, a blogger whose alacrity has always impressed.
But speaking of alacrity, and Catholics, and Bloggernacle bloggers of the female persuasion, wouldn’t this latest from Maureen Dowd make for a great guest post at FMH? Between bishops and nuns and the LDS Priesthood and Relief Society, there’d seem to be something like a shared experience.
The NY Times has a new report out today that begins:
And, right on cue, there’s a fresh Catholic-themed post at T&S: James Alison and the reconciled discourse of dissent
I’m dropping this comment here, b/c I never know how long it will remain available over there.
How could ecclesiology not be a broken-hearted discourse when the only church youve ever studied also happens to disapprove of nearly everything about you and your inquiry?
Were talking about a Catholic hierarchy that has achieved the most highly-developed sense of aggrieved victimhood on the planet.
How much heartbreak does one spare for such a hierarchy?
I dont think Im alone in having grown tired of hearing lectures on civics delivered by ridiculously-titled religious royalty from the least democratic of our Western institutions. Never mind that its 2010 and this crowd still hasnt gotten around to figuring out the difference between sin and crime.
Words like magisterium will sweep some folks off their feet. Id suggest trying to stay grounded by remembering good ol-fashioned Mormon words like righteous anger.