With the Pope’s Encyclical Magnifica Humanitas recently posted, I have seen some of the worst takes online: All from people that have not read the thing they are critiquing. They will see a short soundbite from the Vatican’s meeting with Anthropic, and that will be their entire understanding.
The piece is 42,000 words long, so I get that people “don’t have the time” to read the whole thing.
You don’t get to have an opinion then.
Too harsh? Okay - you can have an opinion about whatever you want. But, everyone should immediately discard your opinion on finding that you didn’t read the thing that you are having an opinion on. You should, if you are intellectually honest in the slightest, also discard said opinion until you have read the primary source.
The reason for this is simple: you are renting someone else’s opinion.
It’s the same with interviews that are soundbited, with “clips”. This is why our society is polarised, because nobody reads the original anymore, they just allow the filter of someone else’s thinking (and bias, and agenda).
I have seen this far too often when it comes to The Church - people have not read anything beyond some guy’s “spicy take” on >Reddit and then claim a parroted opinion that is not their own. I’ll hit people with a very basic apologetic and their mind will be blown because THEY DON’T READ. Nothing I say is groundbreaking or “out there” - I just read primary sources. That’s not “hidden knowledge” or something that is beyond the majority of human beings.
Grifters read primary sources, repackage them into soundbites, and sell them to you at a huge markup.
Read the primary source. Think for yourself.
As always, God bless, and until next time.
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