Posted on 05/25/2005 4:57:31 PM PDT by wagglebee
When shareholders of media conglomerate Viacom show up for their annual meeting tomorrow, they'll face the wrath of Catholic League President Dr. William Donahue over a shocking Showtime episode that slandered the late Mother Teresa and her order of nuns in the vilest of terms.
According to Donahue, who plans a press conference in front of the hotel in New York City where the Viacom meeting is being held, an episode of Showtime's Penn and Teller show "Holier Than Thou” was a "Nazi-like assault on Catholicism, and on the person the show calls "Mother F***ing Teresa.” Showtime is owned by Viacom.
Stormed Donahue, "In the 12 years that I have been president of the Catholic League, I have never witnessed a more vicious attack on Catholicism than what appeared this week on the Showtime program, ‘Penn and Teller.’ The episode, ‘Holier Than Thou,’ was a frontal assault on Mother Teresa and her order of nuns, Missionaries of Charity (as well as Gandhi and the Dali Lama).
"Like most Americans, I like parodies and have no problem, per se, with irreverent humor. But when humor becomes insult, that is a different story. And that is what happens here: comedy quickly morphs to vitriol. Indeed, as the show progresses, the level of anger becomes palpable and the degree of distortion becomes mindboggling. This is no comedy—it is Nazi propaganda right out of the Leni Riefenstahl school of filmmaking.
"The Mother Teresa that the world has come to love and revere is made to look like a cruel, exploitative, self-serving nun who ripped off the poor. We are told that Mother Teresa intentionally let the poor suffer, providing neither beds nor bathroom facilities. ‘She had the f***ing coin and pissed it away on nunneries,’ says Penn. As for the nuns who worked with Mother Teresa, they are referred to as ‘f***ing c***s.’
"It does not bother me when they call me ‘Catholic Boy’ on the show (though the term ‘Jew Boy’ would never cross their lips), nor does it concern me when they talk about ‘f**ers like Bill Donohue [who] only see good in her.’ But when they mock the Catholic Church’s teaching on the meaning of suffering, and when they say of the poor that ‘They had to suffer so that Mother F***ing Teresa could be enlightened,’ then they are behaving like monsters.
"We will mail a tape of select portions of this broadcast to many interested parties, including the bishops. And we will hold a press conference tomorrow outside the hotel where Viacom is holding its annual stockholders meeting. They haven’t heard the end of this yet.”
Donohue, who will be joined by some Catholic League staff members, said he will answer any questions following a few remarks. He promised that copies the Catholic League news release on this subject, "Mother F***ing Teresa—Courtesy of Viacom,” will be distributed to Viacom shareholders as they enter the hotel.
Amen, "texasgal" (and me, too...a Texas gal, that is!).
I was taught that Ronald Reagan was the epitome of evil. As you can see from my screen name, I have since had a dramatic change of heart!
If you remain intellectual honest and actively seek the truth, you will come to learn that more than half of the what you are (or will be) fed in college is utter horse manure. When you come to that realization (or realizations, as they usually come one at a time), you will first be amazed, then outraged that your were lied to, and then just saddened that you went so long saying and believing such outrageously stupid things. And you will be even more saddened as you watch others fall for the same crap.
I have the feeling that you are a precocious 18 year old, which is why I thought the insult approach would be best for you. You're used to adults praising you for how smart you are (because you are). A good intellectual smack upside the head is what will get you outraged enough to stop for a moment and begin to really think.
BTW, the true hallmark of intellectual integrity is being able to admit when you are wrong. It does no good to stick to your guns when you your argument is fatuous.
Best of luck to you, my young friend! I look forward to sparring with you again.
It's okay to read it. You should read everything you can. But it is the analysis of the ideas that matter.
Question everything. Reported facts may not be facts at all. And opinions, while often finely crafted, are often worthless.
About ninety percent of everything we read is spin. Just ask yourself who is doing the spinning and why.
Common sense. Works every time.
100% agreed. I'm trying to teach that to my 7 year-old. Not only with what he reads, but what he's taught in school. I know 7's a little early to expect him to have experience to draw on to actually analyze it, but I want to ingrain in him the idea of not necesarrily accepting 'experts' as 'experts.'
...an awesome miracle!
Fancy strawman there, but no one said Mother Theresa was perfect.
We are better than that. We act the way our Lord acted. We know that the world will treat us the same way it treated Him. Acting like crazy Islamofascists is not the answer.
Read it or don't read it, but with anything you read, summon the wisdom to read it critically.
My wife ordered Showtime about 18 months ago. After the first couple of months, I noticed a pattern of movies about homosexuals. When they premiered "The L Word", I cancelled immediately. They have every right to show that dreck and I have every right to not pay for it.
So, I guess you were a liberal.
Well, if while she was getting her bell rung GipperGal learned to make a good stuffing and savory gravy I'd say that we can forgive her for any past indiscretions!
LLB...Don't take any of this personally. You're very bright and you're light years ahead of most 18 year olds.
It's all part of growing up I guess. Something I don't think any of us ever really stop doing.
My apologies for the lack of ping. I've put you on my pinglist.
This is not MONTY PYTHON here. THESE MEN ARE HATERS.
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