Memes and one-liners. That's what most debates have turned into. I'm not against memes and one-liners. I find that they can be extremely funny, witty, and hit home important points. For instance, here we see the superior Batman correcting Robin's misguided theology:
It's kind of funny, and also teaches that faith needs works. Afterall, if faith didn't need works then Batman's great works would all be useless.
Or, one of my favourites:
This meme says it all. For all you "spirit of Vatican II baby!" people, I do not think it means what you think it means.
However, the other day a meme popped up on facebook that I thought was lowering itself to the worldly standard. Here it is:
I wasn't impressed with this meme. Sure it got a little chuckle out of me, but I knew it was a cheap shot at the messed-up sedevacantes
(the-seat-is-vacant) group. The sedevacantes, if there are any that still exist, essentially believe that the Chair of St. Peter has been vacant since Blessed John XXIII. The Chair of St. Peter in this meme is given a purely literal meaning, while obviously the real controversy refers more to the belief that there is no
valid Pope. In other words, the meme attacks the sedevacantes purely by optics, and not by theology and common sense.
As I said earlier, this meme/one-liner style is that employed by the secular world to attack Catholics and morality. Consider some of these memes being used today:
Here we have a picture of a beautiful Vatican room, with many Cardinals meeting and greeting the Pope. Yes the Vatican has some of the most beautiful art in the world. People who hate the Church often translate art into money. It's as if every piece of art in the Vatican could be sold at a great price and given to the poor (sure, Judas). However, if you look no further than Pope John Paul II and what he says about the world's need for
sacred art, you will understand why the Vatican, and all churches, should have beautiful art. This one-liner from a meme attacks something it does not understand.
And furthermore, what makes the person think these Cardinals are rich and live an easy life!?! For instance, does the writer of the meme sleep on wood plank like Cardinal Arinze does? I didn't think so.
It seems that the pro-abortion memes are some of the worst for attacking life by means of disjointed one-liners. Here the meme is suggesting that if a person cannot speak for himself, then he really is not a person at all. I guess this goes for those with downs syndrome? Or those who are mute? Or those who are under the age of four? What makes a person a person is the ability to speak in full sentences, apparently. So anyone who can't should be killed? Personally, I find President Obama's speech to be all choppy and non-sensical, particularly when his teleprompter is shut off. That must mean he doesn't have the right to life...
Here's a meme that attacks Catholic moral teaching. It falls under the line of argmentation that: that's good for you, but you can't force it on me! The ironic thing is that the U.S. government is forcing the HSS mandate on Catholics. But lets not get lost in rational thought here.
This meme confuses ceremonial and moral precepts. A ceremonial precept governs specific aspects of worship and living that is particular to a religion. Jews don't eat pork, nor do they force the world to abstain from pork (mmmm, bacon...). Catholics don't eat meat on Fridays (or at least they SHOULDN'T... that might be a blog for another day), yet they don't force the rest of the world to abstain from meat on Friday. A moral precept, on the other hand, is an unchanging moral truth that applies for everyone. Murder is evil. Abortion is evil. Lying is evil. Yet, this meme confuses ceremonial and moral precepts, and tries to base its argument accordingly. Nice try.
Ok, I could go on and on. As I said earlier, I love memes and witty one-liners (though oddly enough, I've never been a huge fan of Chesterton, who is the master of one-liners). As Catholics, we must be able to know the difference between a good meme, and a meme that is taking something out of context. Don't lower your standards and produce, and share, memes that follow the secular world's logic. Rather, share what is witty and true.
May Our Lady guide our meme sharing...
Scorch-Pow!
Take that pro-abortionists!
