Timothy Gordon Fired

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No way you’re confused. It just seems sarcastic, but I get it. I’ve been there.

But that’s fine. Maybe it would be better received by you this way.

I was wrong to respond in the way I did. Can you please stop discussing Tim Gordon’s personal matters? I’m concerned that it makes an unfortunate situation worse.
 
The Traditional Catholic movement does not need the likes of Tim Gordon, his wife, and his brother speaking on their behalf. They represent the type of off-putting personalities that distort what it means to be a Traditional Catholic.

From Tim and his wife proudly defending the fact that they refer to their disabled daughter as “retarded,” (yes, a twitter post I saw several months ago), to their unending crusade in shaming working Catholic women, they speak and write in the most unappealing way.

They fall into what seems to be a common occurrence in their brand of Traditional Catholicism, which is to be brash, rude, and awful to people, but then claim they are actually being charitable through their righteous anger.
 
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I certainly respect your decision to stop discussing Gordon. That said, were you he, it would be a bit disingenuous to ask others to stop discussing what clearly are not simply personal matters. First, the only reason any of us know he was fired was his own accounting of it, which he himself made public. Second, he was employed as the head of the theology dept. at a Catholic school – his, let’s generously say, public “missteps” have created scandal affecting the Church. Finally, if you’re familiar with Gordon and his work, you know he prides himself on his very public “resistance.”
 
dcs6f4 said:
I was wrong to respond in the way I did. Can you please stop discussing Tim Gordon’s personal matters? I’m concerned that it makes an unfortunate situation worse.
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I share your concern about the emotional/psychological impact it may have on Tim Gordon if he were to see people discussing their views about his public dismissal, online. I hope he has a strong support network around him to help him cope with the distressing events unfolding around him, and I certainly hope he doesn’t scroll through internet forums looking for what strangers think about his actions (though surely he’d agree it’s somewhat legitimate for strangers to talk about his conduct as a public figure, because he talks about public figures himself, and he’s put himself on camera to be a public figure?).

That said, you criticize the “I told you so” nature of many of these comments… but the thing is, people did tell him so. Tim’s addressed this on video before, that he’s aware of the criticisms about his mannerisms and how counter-productive and risky many people consider them… and he persevered in his choice to continue to speak brashly and in ways that others find unnecessarily disrespectful and lacking the gentleness all Christians are called to.

I honestly hope this can mark a turning point for him. That though he hasn’t acknowledged his own errors in this area before, this time it’ll somehow register and he’ll go: “Oh. I messed up. That was me. I shouldn’t have spoken in this way. I’m sorry I did. I’m going to start speaking differently now.”

Unless and until he does that, I don’t see how things can get much better for him. And considering that, I’m not sure it would even benefit Tim much if everybody online just suddenly pretended not to know that his uncharitable language was uncharitable. Maybe he needs to see himself as, well, seen. And to learn to see himself anew, maybe for the first time. To drop this “I’m just telling it how I see it!” adolescent approach. To humble himself and change his ways (the un-gentle part of his ways; not the truth-telling part of his ways).

I LIKE Tim. I honestly do. I’m sorry this happened to him. At the same time, I recognize that he conducted himself in unnecessarily uncharitable ways, at times. And I hope he can learn from this (and that others will indeed remember to be charitable towards him, as well).
 
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I agree with and support nearly everything you’ve said. But this
I share your concern about the emotional/psychological impact it may have on Tim Gordon if he were to see people discussing their views about his public dismissal, online.
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makes me wonder if you’ve ever read his Twitter comments.
 
gracepoole said:
I agree with and support nearly everything you’ve said. But this
I share your concern about the emotional/psychological impact it may have on Tim Gordon if he were to see people discussing their views about his public dismissal, online.
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Nah, I don’t use Twitter. It sounds like you think I’m being over concerned about someone’s psychological state? I dunno. I think even people who come off as brash and aggressive can be vulnerable inside (and indeed, sometimes the brashness can be part of their defence mechanism to protect the vulnerable parts of themselves). I wouldn’t like to presume that any human (with a functioning heart) is immune from feeling hurt and humiliated when they see the judgements that others make about them.

It’s a painful thing; the desire for human respect is real, and even for people who seemingly try hard not to seek it… all else being equal, I think they’d like to have it. And that not having it is a painful cross.
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Yeah I get where you’re coming from. He has certainly opened himself up to criticism. I guess my point is that I don’t see much benefit in actually participating in it on the day of his dismissal. It seems the potential consequences for his actions have come to pass and can speak for themselves.
 
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MNathaniel said:
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gracepoole:
I agree with and support nearly everything you’ve said. But this
I share your concern about the emotional/psychological impact it may have on Tim Gordon if he were to see people discussing their views about his public dismissal, online.
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Nah, I don’t use Twitter. It sounds like you think I’m being over concerned about someone’s psychological state?
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No, I think it’s an admirable concern. But if you read his tweets (you don’t need an account to do so) and, more importantly, his book Rules for Retrogrades, you will quickly find that he sees this sort of experience as a rallying cry. Far from shying away from public discussion, he has encouraged and embraced it. Watch Michael Knowles’ interview with him for more on this:

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I know, let’s build more cults of personality, cause like, everyone should participate in Andy Warhol’s fame paradise.
 
I am generally unfamiliar with his work, other than the tiny bit I have referenced here. I have never seen/listened to any of the Rules for Retrogrades or TnT stuff, for instance. I have seen his name mentioned in passing in various places.
 

(Apparently it was during the filming of this video that Gordon found out he’d been fired.)
 
The Terry & Jesse Show – Gordon makes an appearance to discuss his firing at the 2:16 mark:
 
Certain insurances have different plans according to family size but I think you are right, probably COBRA doesn’t differentiate in the family plan.
Anyway the reason for the contract termination could make it difficult for him to qualify for COBRA.
 
What a world where people (teachers) get fired for opinions who are expressed outside of work and be left with nothing to provide for them and their family…
 
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