Talking About People Behind Their Backs? Who Would Do That?
That’s it. It’s official. restorebrophy.com really pisses me off.
Allow me to make it perfectly clear, I have absolutely no problem with the current Brophy administration. I get along extremely well with both Fr. Reese and Mr. Hearn. In fact, Fr. Reese and I regularly “talk” on Instant Messenger, with Fr. Reese asking me questions that prove that he cares about me. In addition, every time that I go back to Phoenix and have the occasion to speak with Mr. Hearn (like at Brophy Mass, for example), he is always extremely kind to me. He asks how I’m doing, and tells me how his sons and family are doing.
So what bothers me about restorebrophy.com is not that “they” are expressing views that are different from mine, it’s that they are so cowardly in doing so. Dissenting views are one of the cornerstones of an intelligent society, but it only works if you are courageous enough to stand behind your words. Most of the people who post on restorebrophy.com, from the “webmaster” on down, hide behind aliases. They say that it’s because they’re afraid of retribution. Well, I’m sorry, but to hell with fear of retribution. If you feel strongly enough about something, openly speak your mind… otherwise, hold your tongue. Hiding who you are forces people to look at you with a lot less credibility, and then you’ve accomplished nothing.
I remember back when I first looked at that site (maybe almost a year ago?), the forums were full of a heated exchange between those who were critical of the administration and hid their identities, and those who were supportive of the administration and critical of the site but openly stated who they were. Sure there were a few people who crossed those lines, but for the most part, that was true. Looking at the site today, however, I notice that most of the posts by those critical of the site itself are gone. Why? The first reason is that the webmaster has been deleting those posts. Take a look around the forums for a little bit, and you’ll notice that. The second reason is that now the forums require you to register with the webmaster before you are allowed to post. This requires you to send your name, e-mail address (verifiable), and zip code to the webmaster. So why is it that the webmaster gets to know who everyone is, but no one else is? I see a large opportunity for abuse here. I guess it all depends on whether or not you trust the webmaster, but how can you trust someone if they won’t even tell you who they are?
I mentioned credibility above, and I’d like to get back to that. As far as credibility goes, restorebrophy.com has none. The site’s admin(s) and users hide behind aliases. They delete posts from people who disagree with them (even though they state on the front page that it’s “A public forum”. “The Chapters in a History of Decline” are provided without sources or supporting information. The pages are ugly and poorly formatted. The site contains numerous spelling and grammatical errors. “The Online Petition” sends an unsolicited e-mail to “Father Smolich, Provincial of the California Province of the Society of Jesus” (that’s SPAM, and it’s illegal since it does not provide a way for Fr. Smolich to opt-out of future mailings). “The Attrition Page” purports (in part) to list faculty members who have been forced out by the current administration, but also contains a number of people who have left on their own accord and in good terms with the administration. That’s just misleading. In some places, they claim to have “physical evidence” and “people who will come forward”, but where/what is this evidence, and who are these people? Finally, content is duplicated in several different sections of the site, making it look larger than it really is.
All these things erode their credibility to the point where there’s just none left. They appear to be just a bunch of pissed off people who can’t stand the fact that they’re not right anymore, and they want to take it out on a big (and easy) target. They’re just too gutless to say it to their faces. I have no patience for that.
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