I thought of something very profound this morning.
How many Traditional Catholics get upset when I allow various topics to be discussed on CathInfo? I'm sure most members here would be busy for at least a few minutes if I gave them "unlimited delete power" for a day.
But why?
Are we joining the Vox Clamantis (Fisheaters) school of thought, which is concerned with "what people will think of Trads when they come here to explore Traditional Catholicism"?
But here is my thought for the day:
If I delete a thread about topic X, or officially forbid discussion of that topic, will I thereby cause all thoughts on that topic to disappear from the men & women who would have otherwise discussed it here, filling up 20 or more pages?
I could easily forbid discussion of various topics, but I think that would be imprudent and stupid. The whole point of a Catholic forum is the discussion of relevant, interesting topics that people want to figure out, explore, get to the bottom of, etc.
What people REALLY want is for That Topic to disappear everywhere. But sorry, I can only affect less than 1% of the thoughts, discussions, etc. that take place on That Topic all over the world, online and offline.
Yes, that includes race, nαzιs, proper female attire, and spousal corporal punishment. Apparently those topics don't get enough airtime elsewhere.
You don't think many Trad men believe it's all right to corporeally chastise their wives? I'm certain that many do -- I've read their posts. (One of the men who strongly believes in this has about 13,000 posts here) I'm also equally sure that many don't -- probably a majority. But what are we afraid of here, the truth? Let each side give their arguments. Let the chips fall where they may.
If a few people are persuaded one way or the other, that's fine. Those people could be persuaded by the Internet at large, their friends, people in the coffee & donuts hall, etc. In short, they are adults and they will form their own opinions -- no matter how much "mod power" I endeavor to exercise here on CathInfo.
Long story short, I'm not even going to TRY to play god or Daddy here. We're all grown-ups. I doubt a mild-mannered young husband is going to take up wife-beating because of a thread he read on CathInfo. And even if he did, it's between him, his wife, and God.
When a mod gets on such a power trip that he thinks he's a divine assistant, or personally responsible for everything on his forum and any sins that might be committed as a result of reading the posts there -- that's a slippery slope that destroys a forum. Once a person sets off on that road, he could become quite scrupulous.
Yes, I need to delete things that cause temptations (impurity, filth) and outright blasphemy. But beyond that, when it comes to ideas, I don't think anyone reading CathInfo is in a permanent state of "hypnosis" where he is going to read something and immediately internalize it 100%.