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Can anyone splain what the Pope is trying to say here?

Can anyone splain what the Pope is trying to say here?

Spirituality

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http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/07/504701652/pope-francis-warns-media-against-infatuation-with-scandal-citing-coprophilia

Pope Francis is calling on those who use and control the media to avoid disinformation and "the sickness of coprophilia" — comparing a love of scandal to an abnormal interest in feces that can also include elements of sexual arousal.

An obsession with scandal can do great harm, Francis said Wednesday, in remarks that also cited people's tendency toward coprophagia (the eating of feces).

"I believe that the media should be very clear, very transparent, and not fall prey — without offence, please — to the sickness of coprophilia, which is always wanting to communicate scandal, to communicate ugly things, even though they may be true," the pope said in an interview with the Belgian Catholic weekly Tertio.

He added, "And since people have a tendency towards the sickness of coprophagia, it can do great harm."

Those comments were part of Francis' response to a short question about the media and means of communication. The question generated one of the longest replies of the interview, as Francis spoke both of the ills and the "immense good" modern communications and media can bring about.









"Nowadays they have in their hands the possibility and the capacity to form opinion: They can form a good or a bad opinion," the pope said.

"Disinformation is probably the greatest damage that the media can do, as opinion is guided in one direction, neglecting the other part of the truth," Francis said later.


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The pope seemed to be speaking at times of both the traditional news media and of other methods of communication that have become prevalent and influential.

Francis said:



"The means of communication are the builders of a society. In and of themselves, they are made to build, to interchange, to fraternize, to make us think, to educate. In themselves they are positive. It is obvious that, given that we are all sinners, also the media can — we who use the media, I am using a means of communication here — become harmful. And the communications media have their temptations. They can be tempted by calumny, and therefore used to slander, to sully people, especially in the world of politics."

Describing a hypothetical scenario in people's past actions might be used against them — "something that is true, but already in the past, and which has already been paid for with a jail sentence, with a fine, or whatever" — the pope stated, "There is no right to this. This is a sin and it is harmful."

The pontiff invoked another medical metaphor to describe the times in which we're living, as he spoke out against hardheartedness.

"Today there is a need for a revolution of tenderness in this world that suffers from 'cardiosclerosis,' " Francis said, prompting the interviewer to reply, "Cardio ...?"

"Cardiosclerosis," the pope repeated.


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Not that whodey, like Trump and his supporters, doesn't have the emotional maturity of a 14-year-old, but there's more to "splain" than you might think.

Here are a couple of excerpts:


'Splain' has become more visible in recent decades, but it's been in the language almost 200 years.

'Splain, the abbreviated form, shows up in stories in the 1800s, usually in phonetic renderings of a person’s accent. Our earliest example comes from 1821: "One fellow, who applied for a license, being asked if he could read, replied, 'Mother reads, and I spounds and splains!'" (from an unnamed English paper quoted in the Gettysburg Compiler, 15 Aug. 1821). It’s a straight rendering of explain for much of its life, including in the iconic TV show of the 1950s, "I Love Lucy," where Desi Arnez’s character, Ricky, would often ask his wife to 'splain.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/splain-splaining-meaning


Read the article in its entirety. It's interesting.


Originally posted by whodey
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/07/504701652/pope-francis-warns-media-against-infatuation-with-scandal-citing-coprophilia

Pope Francis is calling on those who use and control the media to avoid disinformation and "the sickness of coprophilia" — comparing a love of scandal to an abnormal interest in feces that can also include elements of sex ...[text shortened]... said, prompting the interviewer to reply, "Cardio ...?"

"Cardiosclerosis," the pope repeated.
The pope is a learned man, who is trying to say something here without stooping to the language some of us have become used to.

He's warning us to prefer consuming substance in media rather than s--t. A collolary to this is that we should inform media that we're not going to consume their bright, shiny s--t anymore and that we prefer substance, instead.

His "cardiosclerosis" statement is also good, warning against a "hardening of the heart".

I think maybe you can extrapolate from here, unless your aim here was just to make fun of him.

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He should have called the Pope lucy then you might have gotten it.

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I notice those of small brain do that a lot.

You say something droll about a stupid joke someone made and the morons in the room assume you didn't "get it" because they don't "get" your higher-brained response.

(Not "you" personally, I'm going for a more generic "you".)


I see irony here, a thread questioning (as if it were scandalous) the pope's comments on scandal.


Originally posted by apathist
I see irony here, a thread questioning (as if it were scandalous) the pope's comments on scandal.
whodey's just "got a thing" about Catholics.

Maybe he'll come around. Maybe.




My personal observation is that way too many Christians in this forum have a stick up their butt about "organized religion".

They seem to think it's synonymous with "organized crime".


Consuming trivial news is comparable to consuming feces. Supplying people addicted to consuming trivial news is comparable to pandering to people addicted to eating feces.

I suppose that was the pope's message.


In other words you don't know either.


Originally posted by Eladar
In other words you don't know either.
It is an inherently dubious thing to try to second-guess a man who claims to be infallible.


Originally posted by moonbus
It is an inherently dubious thing to try to second-guess a man who claims to be infallible.
Only for the true believers.

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Originally posted by moonbus
Consuming trivial news is comparable to consuming feces. Supplying people addicted to consuming trivial news is comparable to pandering to people addicted to eating feces.

I suppose that was the pope's message.
Yep, and he's absolutely right.

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Originally posted by Eladar
In other words you don't know either.
Just because you don't know doesn't mean no one knows.