Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Some Rad-Trads Are Lazy Curmudgeons

I've written in the past about some strange things I've noticed about those who identify themselves as Catholics faithful to the magisterium but who hold themselves aloof from other faithful Catholics.  For lack of a better term, I'll call them either "rad trads" or (probably more accurately) curmudgeons.  I've described some of their characteristics in earlier posts: disdain for democracy, poo-pooing any votes for anyone less than a saint, condescension towards those of us active within politics or speaking in the public arena, etc.

I've tried for some time to understand just what might be the driving force behind their beliefs and behavior and realize that the answer isn't really that complicated.  To wit:

Quite a few are lazy - and quite pompous about it.  They justify their laziness to themselves by imperiously  proclaiming that the actions that they eschew (voting, boycotts, prolife activism, etc) are at best a waste of their oh-so-precious time and at worst a compromise of the One True Faith.  In other words, pride comes into play as they mock us from their insular conclaves.

Yep!  Why else would they put down the efforts of other Catholics, pretending that those efforts aren't good enough?  Why else would they mock President Trump non-stop without uttering a peep about those Democrats who are openly against God, life, family, human freedom, etc?  They mock our efforts to justify their own unwillingness to get off their duffs and do something.

I've even heard one of them mock pro-life action as "prolifeism" as though our efforts constituted a form of idolatry against the One True Faith.  Their big beef is that many of us in the pro-life movement work alongside non-Catholics.  Well, so what?  When they get off their rears and join the effort, maybe they will have some room to talk - that is, if they don't learn to appreciate the contributions of non-Catholic people.  To paraphrase one pro-life leader, I like what some non-Catholics are doing better than what some "rad-trads" aren't doing.

I recently was involved in a facebook discussion with some of these individuals, with the topic revolving around the intentions of some Catholics to boycott Netflix because of their portrayal of Jesus as a homosexual pervert.  The boycott effort was - of course - belittled by these "rad-trads".  Here's an interesting snippet.

Two of them are conversing here. Now why on earth to they pretend that we hold boycotts to be sacraments, of all things?



Here's another, with them dismissing the right and responsibility to vote.  Again, they like to bandy the word "sacrament" around, using it as a perjorative.  The one guy is calling the act of voting "material cooperation in evil".  On the contrary, I've explained my belief in previous posts why I believe the disdain of voting to be its own evil.

As I write this, news comes to us that the House just voted to impeach President Trump on very specious pretenses.  It is reasonable to believe that the absent Catholic vote in 2018 is largely to blame for putting the Dems back in control of the House.  Shall we now pray that the GOP in the Senate has the wisdom and courage to do the right thing?

Moreover, in 2020 elections will be upon us.  We've already suffered through enough Democrat debates to know that whoever is the victor will usher in baby slaughter, gay agendas, transgenders, you name it.  We will have to get involved (if we aren't already).  When we hear our very confused rad-trads spout their non-voting crap, well, let's recall that "rebuke the sinner" is a Spiritual Work of Mercy.

8 comments:

  1. I used to be involved with these sorts of people. I can indeed confirm they are "lazy curmudgeons!" (Great monkeir, by the way.)

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  2. I don't disdain voting per se. When it comes to the presidential election though, statistically speaking your individual vote doesn't matter that much. Practically it is much for effective to change things politically by influencing the way many people vote. Which is precisely what the wealthy oligarchy that controls this country does through the schools and the media. Catholics in this country are in a bad position to change things because we just go along with this system. We are a safe controlled opposition that complained once in a while, but can't actually to anything to stop the march of global homo and abortion.

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    1. Your vote matters just as much as anyone else's. You can cite statistics, but those statistics count.. individual votes! One reason why we are in the mess that we are in is because otherwise good Catholics (and others) ignored the larger nation around them and sinfully abdicated their responsibilities as citizens. I agree we must change how the people vote, but how can we do that if we don't vote ourselves? By the way - in the 1960 presidential election, John Kennedy beat Richard Nixon by a margin of less than one vote per precinct.

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  3. I remember comments from NeverTrump RadTrads in 2015-16 to the effect that a vote for Trump was FORMAL COOPERATION in every sexual sin he had ever committed. I kid you not.

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  4. How are these people rad trads? I don’t get it. I’m a trad and hang with trads and we are very active politically and otherwise...

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    1. Notice that I said "some". Please read those Facebook clips and other comments for a flavor of what some of us have encountered. I thank you and your friends for your activism.

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  5. Nonsense. Of course votes count, every one. For one thing it honors the men who died for others to have that privilege, serves as a civics lesson for children and young people, and certainly numbers matter to pollsters which then impacts politics indirectly.
    I get frustrated as heck by people who can't be bothered. I've voted in every single election since I was old enough, quite a few decades ago. It's always been a pleasure and a privilege I never take for granted. If we had enough people who can't be bothered to vote, that's when we will be so stupid and lazy we ought to lose all. Stupid and lazy people can't expect to keep freedom.

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