From: bdboyle@erenj.com (Bryan D. Boyle)
Subject: Re: sinead o'connor
Organization: Exxon Research and Engineering Co., NJ
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 01:34:54 GMT

In article <oneil.718329834@cwis> oneil@cwis.unomaha.edu (Sharon O'Neil) writes:
>pol30546@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Peder Larsen) writes:
>
>>I think I'll have the address within 24 hours.  I'll post it as soon as I
>>get it.  NBC has been flooded with calls already about Sinead and EVERY
>>one was negative in nature.


just for your info, the address is: NBC Television Network, 30
Rockefeller Plaza, NY, NY 10019, Attn: Broadcast Standards and
Practices 
>

>   While 1) I don't believe in censorship and 2) I am not a practicing
>Catholic, I am still very disturbed Sinead O'Connor's action on Saturday
>Night Live last weekend.  While I figure that she has every right to her
>own opinion and to express it, I still question WHY she did it.
>
>>From the rock-n-roll newsgroup: people are now saying that she is upset with
>>the Catholic Church for MANY reasons (apparently the Church is the source
>>of everything evil in her eyes, with the Pope being the embodiment of that
>>evil).  Among her complaints: abortion, poor, AIDS, homosexuals, war (the
>>church has caused many in history she says), extravagence within the church,
>>etc.  The list goes on and on.
>
>   I have some of the same problems with the Catholic Church that Sinead
>O'Connor does -- contraception, homophobia, AIDS hysteria, women's rights --
>I still think she shouldn't have done what she did.  There are a lot of
>ways to express one's opinions.  The way she chose alienated Catholics.  
>She might have started a dialogue, but instead she chose to insult and 
>inflame people. 
>
>   I guess maybe I'd be less irate if she had some sort of focus for her
>actions.  Rather than saying something like, "I think that the Pope needs
>to show more compassion for AIDS victims," she chose to tear up his picture.
>At least if she'd said something that indicated what her problem is, then
>maybe it would have gotten people thinking.  Maybe she wouldn't have changed
>any minds, but at least she wouldn't come off looking like, well, a bigot.



A wiser philosopher than myself (and I forget this author, but, as I 
seem to remember, he is well known...) once stated that
"anti-catholicism is the antisemitism of the intellectual set" or words
to that effect.  Let's face it, just because of the sheer size, the 
Church will be attacked by those with a personal agenda or vendetta-
and, because the Church does not shy away from controversy, but states,
in clear, sometimes ringing tones, moral and ethical certainties, it
will be attacked by the moral relativists and other hacks with a
personal point to get across.  In the general scheme of things, who is
this female?  A strident, hate-filled, publicity-seeking harlot that
will use any device, including live tv, to insult, abuse, or otherwise
be intolerant towards a group of people.  Add to that her blatant
hypocracy-if she cares so much about not harming others, then why did
she do what she did, other than to put herself back in the spotlight.
And we are doing just what she would want us to do: we all know her
name, and are talking about her...think about it...
>
>   I interpret her tearing of the Pope's picture as an insult to Catholics.
>Had she given some focus to her criticism, I might at least have been able
>to accept it.  But you can't even argue with her because she hasn't even
>said what's really bothering her.
>
>>Another interesting point was made that she may have guessed incorrectly as
>>to how her American audience would take her performance.  I guess she is
>>more understood in Ireland.

In Ireland, she would have been arrested and probably heavily fined.
Most countries other than the US don't maintain such a blatant double
standard when it comes to religious tolerance.  She is not understood
in Eire, is not popular there, and spends very little time there.  I
guess the US is more fertile for her feverish rantings about the Church.

>
>  I don't know: I have this feeling that she may really have angered a lot
>of Irish too.  Remember that Ireland is extremely Catholic.
>
>Sharon
>oneil@cwis.unomaha.edu
>
Bryan D. Boyle   |Opinions are mine, not Exxon's
Senior Engineer  |Fly because you can...


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