This weekend I bought and read The Irish Times. I am still in the process of reading it. For me it has some interesting articles. For instance I enjoyed reading Harry Magee's piece on opinion polls. The Saturday obituaries are an interesting read, informative too. I learned a lot from the obit of the late Benedictine Fr Andrew Nugent. Gordon Linney's 'Thinking Anew' column is always reflective.
A Japanese airline is to buy three new A380s. That's the superjumbo built by Airbus. Anyone who has ever seen it take off will be amazed with its power, elegance too.
So far, there has been nothing in the newspaper that has annoyed or made me angry. May not agree with everything I read in it but there is a wide variety of reading in the paper.
Indeed, the second editorial in Saturday's Irish Times is on the accommodation crisis. It seems reasonable and gentle too.
Indeed, the second editorial in Saturday's Irish Times is on the accommodation crisis. It seems reasonable and gentle too.
I contribute a column once a month to the newspaper.
On Sunday I acquired a copy of the January issue of the freesheet Alive.
In the past this blog has been critical of specific articles in Alive.
Reading through the current issue, it is stirking how every page of the newspaper oozes nastiness to the world, to the media, to everyone and everything that is not in line with the editorial policy of the freesheet.
It is also worth noting how much the freesheet concerns itself with matters dealing with sexuality.
Reading Saturday's Irish Times I never once got the impression the paper was attempting to force views and opinions down my throat. Reading Alive, along with getting annoyed, I also felt that I was being told what was right and wrong and that the paper knows exactly the mind of God.
If Alive is a truly 'Catholic' newspaper, then I am not a Catholic nor do I want to be a Catholic.
3 comments:
You're right, Michael. I wonder if religion has helped me or killed me. I don't read Dead or Alive anymore. I'm in enough pain already.
Gerry
Alive is a scandal. The laissez faire tolerance shown by the authorities of the Irish Dominican province towards it is ... questionable.
I have come to the conclusion that Alive does in fact represent the views and ideological orientation of the Irish Dominican Provincial leadership team. It allows them to hide behind the editor and his clear non-engagement policy -- there is no letters to the editor page nor any right of reply. The diatribes are high on polemic and very short on both intellectual argument and quality. The sole mode of operation is transmit. The implicit level of arrogance in the editorial content reveals an ongoing smugness and a very nasty, almost vindictive streak. Alive is really a black and white publication, trying (and failing) to bring Irish society and the Irish church back to the early 19th century. The failure of its approach is self-evident: Irish people go to church in lower and lower numbers, year after year, and the attendee profile is increasingly elderly. The courage, talent and learning of the Dominican congregation is being dragged into the tabloid gutter -- that the Province has failed to intervene sends it own message of tacit support. How very sad. Dominic must be spinning.
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