- Feb 5, 2002
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Of all the diabolical smears in the world, none have the sticking power of false witness, when people want to believe it.
The last two weeks have been a sobering time for me and my family, as the assassination of Charlie Kirk has brought to my mind a few of my encounters with mobs.
Let me say straight out that I find mobs loathsome and dehumanizing. I have told this story before, but it bears repeating.
The year was 1984, and I was on the political left — but not with regard to abortion, euthanasia, pornography, or national oversight of education. I was serving at St. Francis Catholic Worker House in Washington, D.C. Some young people from El Salvador had come to recruit me to their cause against the new president, José Napoleón Duarte. They showed me a film about their war-torn nation.
I was persuaded. So one Saturday morning, I walked to the Salvadoran embassy to take part in a demonstration.
But when I got there, I was stunned. I saw 60 or 70 people, mostly young, both male and female, marching around the embassy, banging on garbage can lids and shouting slogans at the top of their lungs. One face, that of a stout young woman, remains seared in my mind's eye, as it was contorted with wrath.
If you can imagine laying your hand idly on a rock and feeling instead the flesh of a snake, you know what I sensed, that I had unawares come upon something inhuman, cold and evil. I did not disagree with their position. I remained persuaded. But I could not join them. I sat for a while and watched them, fascinated and appalled. Then I left, as the poet says, a sadder and a wiser man.
Continued below.
www.ncregister.com
The last two weeks have been a sobering time for me and my family, as the assassination of Charlie Kirk has brought to my mind a few of my encounters with mobs.
Let me say straight out that I find mobs loathsome and dehumanizing. I have told this story before, but it bears repeating.
The year was 1984, and I was on the political left — but not with regard to abortion, euthanasia, pornography, or national oversight of education. I was serving at St. Francis Catholic Worker House in Washington, D.C. Some young people from El Salvador had come to recruit me to their cause against the new president, José Napoleón Duarte. They showed me a film about their war-torn nation.
I was persuaded. So one Saturday morning, I walked to the Salvadoran embassy to take part in a demonstration.
But when I got there, I was stunned. I saw 60 or 70 people, mostly young, both male and female, marching around the embassy, banging on garbage can lids and shouting slogans at the top of their lungs. One face, that of a stout young woman, remains seared in my mind's eye, as it was contorted with wrath.
If you can imagine laying your hand idly on a rock and feeling instead the flesh of a snake, you know what I sensed, that I had unawares come upon something inhuman, cold and evil. I did not disagree with their position. I remained persuaded. But I could not join them. I sat for a while and watched them, fascinated and appalled. Then I left, as the poet says, a sadder and a wiser man.
Continued below.
The Catholic Church Should Be Doing What Charlie Kirk Did
COMMENTARY: Of all the diabolical smears in the world, none have the sticking power of false witness, when people want to believe it.
