Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Uncivil and Venomous Rhetoric toward Obama and Notre Dame?

I see the Bishop of St Petersburg has weighed in on the Obama visit to Notre Dame. While he says Notre Dame may have acted "may have acted way too early and too generously" he goes on to say:

"I am more alarmed that the rhetoric being employed is so uncivil and venomous that it weakens the case we place before our fellow citizens, alienates young college-age students who believe the older generation is behaving like an angry child and they do not wish to be any part of that, and ill-serves the cause of life. Notre Dame has in the past and continues to give this local Church fine, professional and very Catholic women and men who both know and live out their faith. Most of them I know are ardently pro-life and like myself are probably disappointed with their alma mater. They and I will choose to convey our sadness to the Board of Trustees and Administration in a calm and dignified manner"

First it would be interesting to see if a poll was commissioned how "ardently pro-life the student body at Notre Dame is. I would be afraid of the results but hopefully would be surprised

However where is all this uncivil and venomous rhetoric? It would be nice to see some examples. No doubt there are some blogs that have gone over the line. However it seems for the most part that those that oppose this visit have used very principled arguments. Now they are forceful arguments and they are demanding they be heard. But just because they are not done in a overly meek way does make them uncivil.

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