Blinders

Dreher addresses Maciel and orthodox Catholics:

Most Catholics, though, and most people in general, have a very difficult time seeing that their own side is capable of doing terrible things. Before the scandal, I was what you might call a political Catholic. Yes, I knew that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but in truth I believed that the real problem in the Church was the liberals. And I could give you a lengthy catalog of the bad they had done to and in the Church. Though I'm not a Catholic anymore, I don't think I was wrong about those things. What I was wrong about, though, and very, very wrong indeed, was assuming that "our side" was therefore blameless.

Correcting for one's own bias in wanting to like and admire those we agree with is always hard. But it is the essence of any moral view. I understand why many don't want to believe that John Paul II covered up the rape of children or that president Bush authorized torture. But they did. And the very tropes of thought that Rod defends - blind obedience to authority, rigid hierarchical enforcement of non-negotiable issues, such as celibacy or a female priesthood, the cult of personality encouraged by Maciel or even John Paul II - play an important part in making these things possible. Even today, John Paul II's clear complicity on Maciel's abuse of children is simply ignored. Why? And even today, George W. Bush's clear, documented support for torture as a tool in interrogation is denied. Why?