Selective veneration

One of the reasons no one should rely on a single media source for their news is simply to get a diversity of points of view. If you can use at least one foreign news source, all the better. (Though I consult many, the one I use most often is The BBC)

The reason is because the domestic news media can be maddeningly self-referential. This is particularly true of the American media; not only because it considers the United States to be the center of the news universe, but because international media outlets often treat us the same way.

The BBC journalist noted how the late pope's greatest legacy may have been in having been so outspoken in "opposing war as a means for resolving disputes" and on behalf of the poor.

This is in stark contrast to the America media consensus who treated the pope's opposition to Soviet communism as his most important legacy, at least in the international sphere.

It was thus interesting to see how this meshes with the guest list. President Bush certainly didn't heed the pope's denunciations of the Iraq aggression has certainly not shown any aversion to "opposing war as a means for resolving disputes."

Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe is defying a European travel ban to attend the pope's funeral. Mugabe hasn't done much for the poor, except make them poorer. And he has essentially waged war on large segments of his own population. The visit of Mugabe, a supposed Catholic, is even more ironic in light of recent events. The CATHOLIC archbishop of Bulawayo, in southern Zimbabwe, recently called for a peaceful uprising against Mugabe. "People should pluck up just a bit of courage and stand up against him and chase him away," declared Archbishop Pius Ncube. A spokesman for the Catholic Mugabe called the Catholic archbishop, "a mad, inveterate liar. He has been lying for the past two years. As an Archbishop, we expect him to tell the truth."

Though he won't be travelling to Rome, Cuban strongman Fidel Castro even attended a funeral mass in Havana for the pope. This despite John Paul II's hostility to communism and communism's hostility to religion.

While most Americans know Martin Luther King Jr for his civil rights' activism, my friend Matt often points out that he was also outspoken in his opposition to the Vietnam War, something far fewer Americans know. It's a question of hearing what you want to hear of a deified figure and brushing aside as unimportant those pronouncements you don't want to hear. So it's not surprising that many people, Catholic and otherwise, focus on the teachings of the pope they agree with (eg: on communism, homosexuality, abortion) while not even acknowledging teachings that go against their personal ideology (eg: against war, the death penalty, social justice).