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Whistle While You Work
Report Details Abuse Of Thousands Of Children At Irish Catholic Schools
"Worst Mother In The World" Competition Heats Up!
Will Ferrell: Caught In The Act With An Office Supply

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NellMood
07/24/09

In reply to Whistle While You Work
This really, really bothers me, and makes me want to go hide in a cave. I wonder what other kind of harassment competitions they'll come up with?
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GirlFailer
07/24/09

@NellMood: Possibly an upskirt photo competition, or a yelling disgusting things competition, or even a slap on the behind competition. The whole thing is gross.
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NellMood
07/24/09

@GirlSailor: Ugh, now I'm depressed even thinking of hypothetical things.
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medeasdragons
07/24/09

@NellMood: It's interesting, you know, because I'm not opposed to the idea of a whistling competition where the whistles being judged happen to sound like wolf whistles, but the setup of this competition is definitely not okay.
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Raederle
07/24/09

In reply to Whistle While You Work
Give 'em a break, they're only trying to find their soul mates. Well, 36% of them are.
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whats_in_a_name
07/24/09

@Raederle:Don't forget the 75% who believe that whistling is a form of marriage proposal.
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Mad May
07/24/09

In reply to Whistle While You Work
How does one measure the quality of wolf-whistling?, they all sound the same right?
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whats_in_a_name promoted this comment Edited by Mad May at 07/24/09 6:28 PM Mad May was starred Mad May was unstarred

whats_in_a_name
07/24/09

@jaffacakes: By measuring the force of the resulting slap or punch.
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GirlFailer
07/24/09

In reply to Whistle While You Work
Did the women gather together in Irvinestone for the first ever FUCK YOU, BUDDY! contest?
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Edited by GirlFailer at 07/24/09 6:23 PM GirlFailer was starred GirlFailer was unstarred

Erda
05/21/09

In reply to Report Details Abuse Of Thousands Of Children At Irish Catholic Schools
Part of me really wants to show this article to the arch-conservative Catholic girl I know who keeps posting articles on Facebook about the sexual abuse that is allegedly going on in Planned Parenthoods across the country. (All this info coming from "Life Site News," of course.)
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Pizza!Pizza!Pizza!
05/22/09

@Erda: Whaaaa? How on earth is that happening? They're groping the feminist volunteers? Getting a thrill from pap smears?
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Maulleigh
05/21/09

In reply to Report Details Abuse Of Thousands Of Children At Irish Catholic Schools
I guess Sinead was right to rip up that picture on Saturday Night Live.
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Remedios Varo can't see no huevos.
05/21/09

In reply to Report Details Abuse Of Thousands Of Children At Irish Catholic Schools
I nor either of my two older siblings go to Mass, but our mother still goes every weekend. I've never fully explained to my mother why I don't go anymore, but it's mostly because I think the Catholic Church is for the most part a horrifyingly patriarchal institution with outdated ideas and which has no room for me, a young, gay, intellectual woman. And I dislike it because of bullshit like this. I often wonder why my mother does still hold on the Church even when she's pro-choice, pro-gay, etc. She needs to be saved ... from Catholicism.
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Trulymadlyme
05/21/09

In reply to Report Details Abuse Of Thousands Of Children At Irish Catholic Schools
This shit isn't limited to the Catholic Church. Has anyone read "Jesus Land"?
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judgingamy
05/21/09

In reply to Report Details Abuse Of Thousands Of Children At Irish Catholic Schools
I'm sorry, but how is this news? Maybe it's because my family is super Irish Catholic and went to those schools, but it's a well known fact within the community that abuse went on. And not something that anyone hides. I can't tell you how many drunken stories I've heard from relatives about nuns who boxed their ears or whatever. And there is a ton of fiction dealing with abuse in Catholic school. I thought we all knew about this.
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rah29
05/21/09

@judgingnora: It's news because this is the first time such a systematic study has been published in Ireland, and it implicates the government as much as it does the Church. It took almost ten years to produce and has been dogged by lawsuits. For the first time, the government absolutely cannot get away from this; for so long, everyone's known about it but it's been swept under the rug, not spoken about. It's a very important moment for Ireland in terms of facing up to this system of oppression that has characterised our past.
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DexterHaven
05/21/09

@judgingnora: I'm sure you don't mean it but your tone is really off here. Read the links. The report is the first time this abuse has been documented in Ireland:it's not just hearsay or 'drunken stories I've heard from relatives about nuns who boxed their ears'. As such it may also form the basis of lawsuits by the victims.
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judgingamy
05/21/09

@DexterHaven: yeah i just re-read that and it did come off super snotty. Sorry. I really did not mean that.
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DexterHaven
05/21/09

@judgingnora: No problem.
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XavierLucage
05/21/09

In reply to Report Details Abuse Of Thousands Of Children At Irish Catholic Schools
Can someone please tell me how much more of this sadistiic, criminal behavior we have to put up with before someone does something to make the Catholic Church GO AWAY? Seriously, the institution should be abolished, the Vatican should be razed and their Billions scattered across the globe.
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rah29
05/21/09

@XavierLucage: Kind of missing the point, mate.
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Buggie
05/21/09

@XavierLucage: I couldn't care less if the Catholic church disappeared forever, but do you honestly think that you should get rid of an entire institution for the despicable acts committed by a tiny portion of them? I don't know any statistics, but I would assume the people committing this crimes are a small majority.

George W. Bush was a bad president, let's dissolve the government! /sarcasm
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TheGuvnah
05/21/09

@Buggie Loves Books!: if that institution continues to cover up crimes, yes.

and once again, Catholic church does not equal a democratic republic. There is no voting of leadership among church members. Not at all the same.
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rah29
05/21/09

@TheGuvnah: The thing is, this abuse was systematised and perpetuated by a democratic republic. The Church was a major part of it, but so was the democratically elected government. The system of oppression and abuse and torture that was in place across Ireland goes way beyond just the Church. That's being missed in a lot of these commens.
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Pizza!Pizza!Pizza!
05/21/09

@XavierLucage: Someone once said there would only be a massive movement away form the Church if the Pope went on TV and ate a newborn baby. But you just know, even then, someone would pipe up: 'Oh, he's just a bad apple!'

(Sorry if I'm ripping of a Jezzie - I can't remember where I read this!)
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brendastarlet is on it
05/21/09

In reply to Report Details Abuse Of Thousands Of Children At Irish Catholic Schools
What upsets me most about this is that there will not be any charges filed. The abusers are getting off, and the people who were brave enough to go public with their abuse are now left hanging out in public, having told their darkest secrets. I hope the Irish rise up and demand some justice. If it were America, there would be lawsuits galore (and have been.)
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Hooplehead
05/21/09

In reply to Report Details Abuse Of Thousands Of Children At Irish Catholic Schools
This is why I am against having institutions of any stripe-church, military, whatevs-that have the authority to resolve their own legal issues. There too many stories about these sorts of abuses, too much of a conflict of interest preventing a fair outcome and no justice for the victims. If you operate within a government's borders and take benefits from said government, you ought to be accountable to that government when your members engage in criminal behavior. Or you can start paying taxes on those billions of dollars worth of donations and prime real estate. It is way past time that the world's governments started holding these common criminals accountable for their myriad abuses.
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rah29
05/21/09

@Hooplehead: The Irish government was part of this system; for all those years, the government and the Church were effectively the same thing. The government didn't just look the other way--they set the whole thing up. It worked very nicely for them as a way of oppressing the poor and entrenching their own power.
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rah29
05/21/09

@rah29: Also, worth pointing out--these institutions weren't privately-run, they were State institutions. The government just allowed its Church 'branch' to run them.
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Merkin
05/21/09

In reply to Report Details Abuse Of Thousands Of Children At Irish Catholic Schools
It is possibly worth pointing out that this is NOT merely a Catholic, or even an Irish Catholic, issue; this is also a class issue, much like the similar institutionalised abuse of Native Canadians that took place here, and I'm sure in many more places than I'd really like to think about this early on a Thursday morning.

Orphans. "Bastards". Children of the poor. "Bog Irish". Ireland has, or had, a pretty strong class/caste system, and I think that's at least as much at play here as the religious issues. The institutions only formalised a much larger pattern of abuse of, and prejudice towards, the "lower classes".
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J.D.Regent
05/21/09

@Merkin: thank.you. and guess what IT IS STILL GOING ON AND IN AMERICA. The sick part is that Jesus talked about caring for "widows and orphans" (the anawim) all the fucking time. I guess torture chambers aren't exactly the kind of care he was talking about.
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rah29
05/21/09

@Merkin: Indeed, yes. Very good point.
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brendastarlet is on it
05/21/09

@Merkin: and the native people in Australia as well, vividly depicted in Rabbit Proof Fence. They basically kidnap the children and take them off to orphanages.
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Pizza!Pizza!Pizza!
05/21/09

@Merkin: Good point. It's clearly a religious issue - in that few other organizations would claim their power, unquestioned - but the reason they 'got away with it' in many cases is because they preyed on the weakest of the weak. The poor and the young and, in many cases, ethnic minorities.

Screw seal hunts. Residential schools existed in Canada until the eighties and nineties and may very well be the country's biggest and most tragic failure. But again... a few bad apples!
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ArtfulSlinger
05/21/09

In reply to Report Details Abuse Of Thousands Of Children At Irish Catholic Schools
At what point will the people who are members of the Roman Catholic church get as mad about this as they do about lawmakers who support sex education and abortion.

There is nothing worse than the abuse of a child, physical or sexual, but for it to happen under the guise of Christianity and Jesus is just sickening.
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J.D.Regent
05/21/09

@ArtfulSlinger: honestly? Hundreds of thousands if not more people have left the Church over these sexual and physical abuse scandals. There are huge organizations for victims all over the world working on reform. What on earth makes you think Catholics aren't mad about it? If you'll notice, it was CATHOLICS who were the victims as well as the perpetrators.
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ArtfulSlinger
05/21/09

@J.D.Regent: Agreed. But leaving the church and making vigilant and obvious protests are two different things. I was referring to the fact that we see more opposition, mainly on the news and in large scale protests, for ridiculous issues like gay marriage or abortion, as opposed to protecting children.

Overall most of the world's blind eye towards abuse on children, whether its sexual abuse in an orphanage in Ireland, an eight year old marrying a man in Saudi Arabia, or a 2 year old being sold to a pimp for drugs in Oregon, has seriously taken its toll on me in the past few weeks. I have made the mistake of watching far too many docs on the subject and the injustice of it is making me want to point fingers and yell.
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J.D.Regent
05/21/09

@ArtfulSlinger: it's true that the victim orgs do not have a large place in the public media narrative about Catholics (shocking, i know). Partially I think it is the attitude they take; many of its members are not willing to be overly public with their claims for a variety of reasons, many are very traumatized, and many are still very faithful Catholics. They also tend to work on issues within their local archdiocese, the level of power at which decisions about abusers tends to be made, whereas people outside the church tend to look at the macro structure (Vatican) and to look for accountability there, when that's not really the way the power structure works within the church.

The most vocal org is SNAP (Survivors Network of the Abused by Priests) -- www.snapnetwork.org. If it makes you feel any better they make life hell for their local archbishops...
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brendastarlet is on it
05/21/09

@J.D.Regent: there's also Voice of the Faithful, which was started by Boston Catholics and which is now a national movement. www.votf.org.

It is a horrible, horrible thing. In our church, the pastor got up to rage against the abusers and assure the parish that it had not happened there (the church was founded in the late 1960s, so hopefully it indeed was too late for the worst of the abuse.)
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stoprobbers
05/21/09

In reply to Report Details Abuse Of Thousands Of Children At Irish Catholic Schools
It's especially sad that this magnitude of abuse took place in Ireland, a country that has literally torn itself in half over the Catholic Church and the right to practice that religion. They are one of the most faithful nations. GOOD JOB VATICAN.
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J.D.Regent
05/21/09

@stoprobbers: really, it has little to do with the Vatican. It has much more to do with an Irish government that allowed and permitted these abuses. The Vatican doesn't really enter in except if you want the priests defrocked, which I do, but is not really the point in terms of protecting the kids.
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rah29
05/21/09

@stoprobbers: It's precisely because of Ireland's history that this system could take hold. The government needed the Church to gain legitimacy in the aftermath of the civil war. It acted as a branch of the government itself, with absolutely no accountability or oversight. The government should be shouldering as much blame as the Church for all of this; they established this system of torture to keep the poor population down and to keep themsleves in power.
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