Blogging Like Howard Beale

What up with that?
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I think it all started with the Corapi affair.  The blog-o-sterium taking issue with anyone who may have questioned the veracity of the stories, not to mention the character of the person involved, circulating after the announcement Corapi was under investigation for dyeing his beard.  (JK)  Then came the Michael Voris orthodoxy litmus test.  Afterwards, the sometimes heated - nay, mean-spirited attacks upon the pontificate of Blessed John Paul II - the trad holy office of inquisition ruling he should not be beatified, while others declaring he should be - as if we bloggers are popes.  Yet perhaps the last straw has been the folderol that followed the Osama bin Laden execution.  Although before that, I was already annoyed with how the holier than thou found it necessary to make pronouncements on the Royal Wedding and how scandalous it was for a couple of non-Catholics, who had been living together, deciding to validate their union in Holy Matrimony.
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How sanctimonious can you get?  Considering that most people passing judgement screwed around themselves in their youth - and not a few of us most likely still do.  We walk that plank in our own eye to take out the speck in one anothers eye.  We all do it.  No wonder people do not want to get involved with organized religion.  The Vatican can call all the blog conventions they want, nevertheless the medium is frequently about as meaningful as a supermarket tabloid or the graffiti on a warehouse wall.  'The blog' is about as effective as a letter to the editor of the NYT or some other newspaper, while the combox discussions rarely rise above the level of pre-brawl conversation in a corner bar.
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One of the most admired Catholic bloggers on line is a priest without an assignment, an exile from his diocese.  No parish, no teaching position, no accountability, and yet he is esteemed by not a few as the authority on Church teaching.  He and his followers, not unlike other trad and liberal bloggers decree who is Catholic and who is not.  What politician a good Catholic should vote for and which one we should not.  For them it is a very black and white world wherein you can't do this, you can't do that; you can't think like that and if you do you are a bad Catholic, a Marxist, a Communist, a war-monger - whatever your side of the fence judges right or wrong.  If these people are so holy and teach with such authority, why aren't they saints yet?  Why aren't they bishops?  Why aren't they teaching at the best universities and seminaries?  In some cases, why don't they even have a job?
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The online Catholic world can be a very negative culture, and hypocrisy is a temptation just a few stats away from each of us.  We spend an astonishing amount of time focused upon the blog; composing, researching, copying news stories already published, fomenting contentious discussions and arguments.  We cater to our readers, seeking to win one another's approval, often in an effort to prove to ourselves and others how good and righteous we are, just how smart we are.  The reward?  Well if you don't panhandle and advertise, just vain praise, respect and validation.  Many spout platitudes about the truth and liturgical/theological correctness but they can't handle the truth when it jumps up and bites them in the ass.
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I trust most people who live their lives online aspire to what is good and are well intentioned, but most of us aren't there yet - not even close.  That's not a bad thing until we start dictating to people how to live their lives - despite the fact we ourselves do not meet the same high standards we set for others.  Some of the blogging/commenting faithful can't make it through the week without getting drunk, satisfying some guilty pleasure, overeating, skipping Mass, in other words - not practicing what they preach.  Nevertheless so many of us set ourselves up as arbiters of justice, acting as judge and jury as to who is Catholic and who is not, who is good and who is bad.  And when our authority is challenged, we are experts at spinning our  defense and right to do so with more pious platitudes, dogmatic pronouncements and quotes from whatever authority suits our agenda.
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What?