Making Sense of Catholic Rage

[Limoncello4021]

We are in a culture where everyone is expected to be outraged over all sorts of things, and we’re condemned by some if we are not. To be countercultural in this culture is to be calm, rational, silent in matters where others are losing their heads. The general Catholic population is no different, and journalists are always trying to be more outrageous than the next.
Strange recent example: I was on a forum (not this one) where people were expressing outrage over Covid lockdown restrictions. I mentioned that little was bothering me; that I just wore my mask as dictated by my state and carried on with life. Someone lit into me for not being outraged at not being able to attend sporting events! go to the movies! go to crowded bars for live music! etc. I was really taken aback, it was so comical.

 

[JanR]

I can’t “like” anything for at least 8 hours (when I signed off last night it was 20 hours!).

Are those Algorithms dictating to us again?

 

[Tis_Bearself]

The irony is that so many of these raging internet Catholics are profiting nicely off the name of the Church.

Exactly. They have turned their rage into a cottage industry.

This is one reason why I have little use for most lay Catholics who are pushing some opinion, agenda, book, etc. It’s hard to imagine that they are not driven by “what sells”.

To be countercultural in this culture is to be calm, rational, silent in matters where others are losing their heads.

My mother was very big on Rudyard Kipling’s “If” and would often quote it to me.
“If you can keep your head when all about you/ Are losing theirs and blaming it on you…”

The whole poem is actually great. Mom used to say it was great advice.
She did note that the last line said “you’ll be a MAN” and I was a girl, but she said I should be like that anyway (<—Reader’s Digest condensed version because Mom had some ideas about gender that are best not discussed on this forum).

 

[therese1998]

Amen!

Social media is not evil. How it is used is subject to judgement. As @Tis_Bearself shows, people are smarter than algorithms and we can order our feeds to support or avoid major issues.

I know I can struggle with things on Facebook and I am constantly evaluating and re-evaluating what I give my attention to. My friends and family have enormously divided opinions religiously, politically and socially, so my feed can quickly become inundated with things that are upsetting or contribute to my own “Catholic rage” or, as it almost exclusively manifests with me, in anxiety and/or depression. If I want the good of Facebook (keeping up with family and friends, 90% of whom, with the exception of my husband, live anywhere from 75 to several thousand miles away, it comes at the cost of monitoring my usage, the impact of others’ posts on my mental health and constantly evaluating/re-evaluating my need to hit that “hide” or “unfriend” button.