Thursday, December 08, 2011

Quote of the day...

And we must not have a dystopian view of the twenty-one ecumenical councils of the Church, as the Orthodox pick and choose.

From here.

People wonder why I grind my teeth every time I hear references to "online Orthodox."

6 comments:

Stephen said...

John, every traditionalist Catholic is suffering from a mix of cognitive dissonance and cognitive disequilibrium, described below from wikipedia. Ain't much you can about it when they lash out, all part of what they are going through. Very sad, of course, but fascinating at the same time, given the depth, length of years and number of people affected. Little do people in our era recognize the charity behind the hurling anathemas, as our church fathers did. It was done so in part precisely to protect the faithful from the bad fruit of heresy, such as the pain experienced by traditionalist Catholics since Vatican II.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions.[1] Dissonance is also reduced by justifying, blaming, and denying. The phrase was coined by Leon Festinger in his 1956 book When Prophecy Fails, which chronicled the followers of a UFO cult as reality clashed with their fervent beliefs.[2][3] It is one of the most influential and extensively studied theories in social psychology. A closely related term, cognitive disequilibrium, was coined by Jean Piaget to refer to the experience of a discrepancy between something new and something already known or believed.

Experience can clash with expectations as, for example, with buyer's remorse following the purchase of an expensive item. In a state of dissonance, people may feel surprise,[1] dread, guilt, anger, or embarrassment. People are biased to think of their choices as correct, despite any contrary evidence. This bias gives dissonance theory its predictive power, shedding light on otherwise puzzling irrational and destructive behavior.

August said...

I would fuss at them but it would be like trying to explain to patriotic Republicans how they are ruining America.

Ingemar said...

>People wonder why I grind my teeth every time I hear references to "online Orthodox."

You're going to have to explain that.

John (Ad Orientem) said...

Stephen
How about being a monarchist with libertarian sympathies? Or as my barber once described it, the feelings one experiences watching your mother in law drive over a cliff... in your brand new caddy.

John (Ad Orientem) said...

Ingemar
"Online Orthodox" is a dismissive term commonly employed by Catholics against those Orthodox who are insufficiently ecumenically minded or viewed as being snarky, especially towards the RCC. In fairness, there are some Orthodox who are decidedly lacking in charity, overly triumphalist and just plain rude. My problem with the term is that those who use it seem to think that we have a monopoly on all of that.

IOW they hold their nose while piously acting like their fecal matter doesn't stink.

Anonymous said...

What do you expect from the Rorate Caeli blog? Why do you look to them as being representative of all online Catholics? Then you come back to your blog and fume about Catholics based on something stupid you read at Rorate Caeli.