NotjanelaneJul 27, 2023
Kevin Lyda

Dear Gen Z,

In 1992 Sinéad O'Connor ripped a picture of the Pope in half on Saturday Night Live to protest the sex abuse scandals in the Catholic Church. She was roundly condemned except by a few.

In the years and decades that followed the truth came out and the scope of abuse within the Catholic Church came to light. Many, but not enough, were punished. Many, but no where near enough, victims were heard, believed and lived to see some measure of justice.

1/2

Jul 26, 2023 at 6:48pmWeb
Show threadKevin LydaJul 26, 2023

Very few people who condemned her then apologised.

In your lives you will see people speak the truth. It might be uncomfortable. They might not do it "the right way." It will still be the truth. Meet their brash bravery with kindness and an open ear.

Do better than we did. Not for us but for her.

2/2

Show threadUrsa BorealisJul 26, 2023
@lyda
These are dangerous days.
To say what you feel is to dig your own grave.
Remember what I told you:
If you were of the world they would love you.
Show threadballerina XJul 26, 2023
@ursaborealis @lyda I was just thinking this song could have been written yesterday...
I'm just crushed...
Show threadUrsa BorealisJul 26, 2023
@ballerinaX @lyda
I'm perpetually disturbed by how frequently I turn to this song in the wake of police killing Black people.
Show threadballerina XJul 26, 2023
@ursaborealis mm hmm.
Show threadouinneJul 26, 2023
@lyda it takes so much courage to voice truths no one eise will speak, especially when we treat those who keep faith with their consciences so badly.
Show threadCoproliteJul 26, 2023

@lyda The "You're Wrong About" podcast did a great deep dive into the frenzy about the incident, what she'd been through, and what was done to retaliate against her, and how she continued to create after being blacklisted.

https://youtu.be/9F1Db6poD6U

Sinéad O'Connor with Allyson McCabe

YouTube
Show threadSlaíneJul 26, 2023

@lyda /virtual pat on the shoulder with a solemn nod.

Well said Kevin

Show threadAskan 🇪🇺Jul 26, 2023
@slaine @lyda indeed well said
Show threadBlack Chic with the Red TruckJul 26, 2023
@lyda
I actually saw that SNL live and remember being very confused because I could barely see the picture that she was holding up. Not only was she condemned there was a huge disinformation campaign about why she did it- people were saying she was condemning religion and Christianity in general- no mention whatsoever of the abuse happening in the Catholic Church. It was several years before I heard the whole story.
Show threadVoronJul 26, 2023
@lyda Yes, and now people are ignoring the massive piles of evidence that “celibate” priests hanging out with kids is a bad idea and going after an imaginary threat from drag performers and transgender folks, but hey never let facts get in the way of a good mob witch burning right?
Show threadTom ScheinfeldtJul 26, 2023
@lyda Big moment in my life. She demonstrated how simple (but not easy) it could be to resist.
Show threadBadger AF (he/him) DEMOCRACYJul 26, 2023
@lyda Thank you for posting this. Sinead was right - about everything.
Show threadfbievan (Powered by Pizza)Jul 27, 2023

@lyda

ok... so I just did some basic level searching, woah...

I think currently, there are alot of just fake stories and baseless accusations going on right now.

That's not going to get better into the future, I don't think.

But, if you are wrong on something, and you can see it.

Make sure to make sure to restate where you are at, and why.

Make sure to make it right from there, because ultimately you just can't get it fully right.

My ask that you correct your previous statements

Show threadfbievan (Powered by Pizza)Jul 27, 2023

@lyda

I'm incredibly shortening my statements here, because well character limit, lemme switch to my other account

Show threadfbievanJul 27, 2023
Basically, my only ask to people who don't believe these statements and allegations at first, and find further proof to those allegations. Is to just acknowledge that you had it wrong in the first place.

Of course this case (with the catholic church isn't what i'm referring to), I'm more talking about the scandals that happen now.

But the same principles apply. If you don't find enough there, and find into the future that there is overwhelming proof, then make sure to acknowledge that those previous things you thought were wrong. That is ultimately the first step of learning. Ultimately information is dynamic (I think so atleast, information ties together and adding information or invalidating information makes one big over arching information, thus making it dynamic). Making it where you can't fully be sure of anything. (which is super fun, right?)

My words are jumbled now, since I wrote that first post, and it's jumbling my thoughts.
Show threadWeaselJul 27, 2023
@lyda
Show thread LRG  Jul 27, 2023
@lyda I thought I recognized her. I remember seeing clips of that a while back. Memory got fuzzy tho.
Show threadSane ThinkerJul 27, 2023
@lyda Sinéad had a very difficult life from all I have read. When you live outside of mainstream thought, life is even harder. She had the courage to call things out. We live in a time when we need to call things out, too. We're witnessing #ClimateChange destroy the planet we're living on. Business as usual can't and won't continue. Are we going to demand control of this threat, or let it roll over us? https://geoffreydeihl.substack.com/p/degrowth-the-vision-we-must-demand
Degrowth: The Vision We Must Demand

We Must Learn Less is More

Sane Thoughts for Insane Times
Show threadNatalie DavisJul 27, 2023
@lyda I knew that night in 1992 that she was dead right and that she would be vilified. As usual, humans lived DOWN to expectations. Wouldn't be surprised if a wee bit of her blood is on mainstream society's hands. I believed her then and said so then, and I STILL feel shame.
Show threadJamie CovilleJul 27, 2023
@lyda I'm a Gen-X atheist and yeah I fully supported Sinéad. Tales of Priests/Nuns abusing kids were not uncommon and were starting to come out in mainstream media. I've been saying for a while the world owed her an apology. Sadly she never got it.
Show thread🇵🇸 🇻🇪 🇮🇷 Severian 🔬🔭📡📚Jul 27, 2023
@lyda beautiful
Show threadDr.NickJul 26, 2023

@lyda The thing is everyone, and I mean everyone, had a story about the church.

The mother and baby homes, the laundries, beatings, rapes. But it was all swept under the rug.

Back then no one questioned the priest or the doctor. She opened up people's eyes and allowed the conversations to start happening... But never got the credit for it - for having the church's stranglehold of the population destroyed.

Show threadJake in the desertJul 26, 2023
@lyda being Gen X and remembering this, my opinion now is still what it is when I was in my teens. It's controversial, but recent things I've seen only justify it more. The Catholic church is not and has never been valid, it should be eliminated. It's behind SO MUCH awful garbage in the world. People have no idea. They signed an agreement with the Nazis in 1933. They're total filth.
Show threadRoryJul 26, 2023
@lyda Everybody over a certain age in Ireland suffered at the hand of the Catholic Church. At the very least we were beaten, as small children, with wooden rules and heavy leather straps. It’s a wonder we’re as mostly well adjusted as we are!
Show threadCB Uí FoghlúJul 27, 2023

@llongy @lyda Spite.
We all learned to survive due to pure spite.

Fk the lot of them.

Show threadAmanda HugankissJul 26, 2023
@lyda Sinead didn’t need a reason for a fight. Just a venue. I enjoyed her music. Vale.
Show threadSchroedingers_CatJul 26, 2023

@lyda And it isn;t just the church - although that was where she had experienced it.

In SO MANY institutions of power - including the police, parliament, some industries (like finance) there are stories of abuse. Stories of historic abusive practices built in.

We need to believe these stories, or rather, believe the people who tell them. Because so much of our patriarchal society is built on abuse.

And it needs destroying.

Show threadTheCityDweller Jul 26, 2023

@lyda But that is also a good examples why cults are bad. There were so many angry Catholics who acted like MAGAts dumping their Sinead records and CDs and boycotting, And that worked.

Exactly like the Trump MAGA cult.

Show threadla bibliotequetressJul 26, 2023
@lyda She was sent to a Magdalene home as a teen for shoplifting. She knew what she was talking about. I've never been able to forgive Madonna making fun of her,
Show threadJay 🆘Jul 26, 2023

@lyda It seems oddly puritanical in retrospect that this was as controversial as it was. You’d think she had called for his assassination or something.

I seriously doubt this would elicit the same shock today, and not only because of the wider knowledge of the church’s abuses, but because we’re so much less religious.

Show threadVoronJul 26, 2023
@jsit @lyda Fox News & right wing talk radio as well as the entire gop establishment might cause a stir
Show threadStygian LizardJul 27, 2023
@voron @jsit @lyda this "much less religious" seems a bit far fetched considering how the GOP has tied itself with religion and its still going strong. And they would *definitely* tie her to a stake. I live in Alabama and things really haven't changed much. For every 18 year old who finds his way out of religion, there's another 13 year old edgelord coming into his own.
Show threadSimon BrookeJul 26, 2023

@lyda She made it to 56. In a way, for someone so vulnerable and fragile and caught up in so much anger, who seemed so unlikely to outlive her twenties, that's...

Well, actually, that's sad. It's sad that by 56 she hadn't found a place of tranquility.

It's sad, but it isn't surprising: the damage done to us in childhood never leaves us.

Well, your troubles are over, Sinéad. You're home. Rest in peace.

https://youtu.be/-lnYBbYeMts

Sinead O'Connor - "Trouble of the World"

YouTube
Show threadJayMadnessJul 27, 2023
@lyda
Show threadThe TurtleJul 27, 2023
@lyda i remember that night, my then-girlfriend and I watched that show live, and when she tore up the photograph. I remember my then-GF turning to me and saying OOOOO, NBC will get some mail!!!
Show threadDikobraz (Одинокий дикобраз)Jul 27, 2023
@lyda I remember that happening. I was in awe of her gutsiness.
Show threadAndrew "Harris/? 2024" GlissonJul 27, 2023
@lyda She was treated like a lunatic. People should have listened to her.
Show threadQuarkyJul 27, 2023
@lyda An investigation by the government in France, revealed the extent of the abuse by the Catholic. I would like to see prosecutions of these abusers. The should be no protection.
Show threadvibhor 🍑 🏳️‍🌈Jul 27, 2023
@lyda just read about this after she passed , makes me feel sad that I could not know her when she was alive ! What a braveheart !
Show threadXermin DoriJul 27, 2023
@lyda “Tellingly, footage of Pesci’s monologue is available on the official YouTube channel of “Saturday Night Live”; footage of O’Connor’s performance is not, though it can be found in various unofficial locations online.” https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/26/arts/music/sinead-oconnor-snl-pope.html
The Night Sinead O’Connor Took on the Pope on ‘SNL’

Tearing up a photo was the moment nobody forgot. The performance that preceded it was just as powerful.

The New York Times
Show threadJ H DeanJul 27, 2023
@xermindor so fucking gross. Thanks for sharing.
Show threadMoving PicturesJul 27, 2023
@lyda The Catholic Church is the world's largest organized pedophile ring.
Show threadDrewJul 27, 2023
@lyda I also think most ppl in the US really appreciated the context of catholicism and being Irish