Hyperbole, inference, and the 8th Commandment

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kmaaj

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CCC 2477

The quality of recent journalism in general makes me ponder this often. Unfortunately, I’ve seen it raging in the Catholic world in my 9 years as a convert. And one recent instance has reached a boiling point with me. . . .

Group A produces content. Group B redistributes Group A’s content. At a certain point, strife arises among the people producing the content in Group A. Group B informs Group A that they will no longer redistribute Group A’s content until the strife is resolved. Group B makes an official statement that is clearly directed at all of the personnel in Group A and not directed at any one individual.

Because one of the individuals in Group A is black (actually 2 of them are), popular figures in the blogosphere and on social media have inferred that Group B’s action was directed solely at the one black individual in Group A and was racially motivated. Group B has now been labeled racist by the said popular figures, and their cast of commenters have hyperbolized it to feverish proportions…all claiming to be devout and holy Catholics. -NOTHING- in any of Group B’s public statements even hints at being directed towards one person in Group A, yet the said popular figures swear it is so and their commenters will call anyone that even dares to raise the question of false witness is labeled a racist and shewed away. It gets worse: these same group of people are now calling Group A racist for their “complicity”.

My own opinion is that the Catholic community outside of Group A and Group B need to just stand back and let them work it out amongst themselves. Let their respective bishops and priests get involved if need be.

The part that is making me sick to my stomach is that rather large faction of the Catholic community outside of this loop that have inferred and hyperbolized racism into this, when there is not even a lick of evidence that even suggest racism was involved. I see that as a clear violation of the 8th Commandment and contrary to CCC 2477. What say you?
 
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OK…though I made no mention of hiding…I expected people in the loop to know what I was talking about. I did say I would speak in general terms, and I did exactly that.

The reason I posted it in this sub forum is simply because I want to know of any Catholic thought process that says this is not contrary to CCC 2477 and in violation of the 8th Commandment.
 
Can one, as a Catholic, make inferences of racism when nothing stated either explicitly or implicitly expresses racism?

Are those inferences contrary to CCC 2477 and in violation of the 8th Commandment?

-THIS- is very important to this struggling convert.
-THIS- struggling convert needs to know.
 
puer.dei said:
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kmaaj:
What say you?
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I’d say you didn’t do very well in “hiding” who you were talking about. Too many specifics for there to be any doubt.
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“Too many specifics”? I have no clue.
 
I think that’s awesome. Can you comment on the general details from a Catholic perspective? If one infers that something you said or did is racist, when there is nothing explicit or implicit that expresses racism, is that person contrary to CCC 2477? Is that person in violation of the 8th Commandment?

If one person calls another racist when no evidence of racism exists, is that person in mortal sin?
 
I had to look up the CCC online (link):

http://ccc.usccb.org/flipbooks/catechism/596/index.html

I don’t know the specifics entities in question, but generally speaking, public defamation requires public reparation. When one goes to confession, the priest may require the penitent to make reparation to the person(s) involved.

IIRC, St. Philip Neri had a penitent who was gossiping about other people among other things. He told this person to get a chicken, pluck its feathers, strew them down the street and then come back to him. The person did so and came back to St. Philip Neri. The saint told the penitent to go and gather up the feathers, upon which the penitent objected because the feathers had blown away. St. Philip said that’s what happens when we sin by gossiping. No matter how much the person tries, they will not be able to truly restore the reputation of the person(s) who were hurt by the penitent’s gossiping.

In your OP, it seems like there are organizations involved as well as individuals.
kmaaj said:
If one person calls another racist when no evidence of racism exists, is that person in mortal sin?
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Objectively speaking, yes. However, only God knows definitely whether or not that person is in mortal sin.

In my opinion, it looks like you’re right re the 8th Commandment.

Maybe one of the priests can help answer your question.
 
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Thank you.

The “specific entities” are doubling down. I suspect one of them is lurking here.
 
Well, I must be totally clueless because I still have no idea of the groups & persons involved.

Btw, I edited my previous reply.
 
I just clicked on your user name. My catechist was of Ukranian descent, and an ordained priest in the Orthodox Church of America. He sadly passed away before we could finish. When I later expressed my desire to become Catholic, my boundary priest accepted the Orthodox catechism in lieu of RCIA and offered to let me go straight to confirmation. I have no regrets for the path God has lead me, but I miss Fr. John, may his memory be eternal!
 
Thank you. ☺️

To answer your last question: I can tell you that if someone called me a racist I’d demand that they take back what they said and publicly apologize to me.
 
Which I’ve done…only to have them double down and keep calling me a racist!
 
Yikes! You poor thing! Sending you :hugs:

Good night!
 
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kmaaj said:
only to have them double down and keep calling me a racist!
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Racism is kind of a general term with varying degrees of intensity. Some will say that racism is prejudice against someone because of his race. Others will say that it means that you believe that one race is superior to another. Do you believe so? Some types of racism are harmless, while others are quite troublesome and sinful. For example, suppose i say that I believe that Vietnamese cuisine is superior to Korean cuisine. Would that make me a racist? Possibly in some sense, but it would be harmless and IMHO, there is nothing really wrong with having an opinion like that. But if i were to say that I will only work or study or play with Vietnamese, and never with Koreans, because of some incidental occurrence, then that would be wrong and a possible example of racism which amounts to racial discrimination against a person. OTOH, there are differences in the two cultures and to refuse to recognize that would also be wrong.
kmaaj said:
keep calling me a racist!
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People here have called me all kinds of names, but so what? For example, recently someone here condemned me as being a Calvinist. It is difficult to stop others from saying things against you since there is freedom of speech, but the more important thing is to be careful about what you say about others and not to prejudge anyone because of his race. There are good people in all cultures and in all races. You are not going to like this, but many times I overhear ladies gossiping after Mass in the Church hall. Gossiping is wrong, even though it is common, so it is important to learn to guard your tongue against ruining someone’s reputation.
Your original comments seemed to me to be somewhat general so, without knowing more specifics, it is difficult to give a satisfactory response to your concerns.
 
kmaaj said:
If one person calls another racist when no evidence of racism exists, is that person in mortal sin?
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We cannot say that another person is in mortal sin. There’s no way for you to know all the factors that go into that determination. That’s for them and their confessor.
 
Ok…but we are to admonish the sinner, no?

My original post posed the question without mentioning mortal sin. Can you answer those questions?
 
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