Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Say What?


OK ... it's really late ... it's been a REALLY long day and I came back to my office to check email before going home after Vestry and made the mistake of clicking on one of those links people send you in emails saying "You've GOT to check this out ... TRUST ME!!!"

And so I did ... check it out ... and found this piece by Lisa in Missouri on My Manner of Life regarding the you've-got-to-see-it-to-believe-it moving "first person" account of the Camp Allen House of Bishops meeting written by ...

... wait for it ...

... +Jack Iker.

Yep. The Bishop of Fort Worth. The one who didn't actually GO to the meeting ... but started out his reflection with these words: "A palpable sense of apprehension was in the air as the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church gathered at Camp Allen in Texas on 16 March 2007, for their five-day spring meeting. Everyone was in a dither about the recently issued Communique from the Dar es Salaam meeting of the Primates . . . "

I guess I was particularly intrigued by Lisa's piece over at My Manner of Life because earlier today when I'd ventured into titusonenine-land and dared to ask whether there were "any concerns that what +Jack Iker is offering is “the truth” about a meeting he didn’t attend?" I got slammed for "throwing a bomb" into the discourse by the "don't confuse us with the facts" sqaud.

So let me put it this way: +Iker's reflections show a stunningly arrogant disregard for even the most basic level of ethical journalism. They are to blogging are what Fox News is to "fair and balanced." To call this kind of blatant manipulation of reality disingenuous would be generous ... but since I'm too tired to actually be feeling very generous I think I'll just leave it at that and go home and hit the hay. Tomorrow is another day ... and la lucha continua!



3 comments:

Lisa Fox said...

Indeed, Susan. Your simple question over at T19 was apposite. Thanks for raising the flag. I merely followed it.

As you seem to be, I am struggling to find proper words to characterize what seems to be Bishop Iker's misrepresentation.

David said...

Great Googly Moogly!

::rolls eyes, sighs heavily::

+Iker as the Faux News reporter of TEC (wonder if Jan Nunley+ knows he has his eye on being a church reporter ? ;)

And yeah, the "don't confuse us with the facts" squad is quite active in, errr... "certain quarters," eh ? ;->

Jake said...

If you want a first-hand report of what happened at the meeting, and how the statement was developed, read the late Bp. Kelsey's commentary:

http://upepiscopalnewz.blogspot.com/2007/03/jim-kelseys-report-on-spring-bishops.html

The bishops did not arrive at the meeting with a draft already written. The statement renouncing the pastoral scheme was the result of discussions that occurred during the meeting. If Bp. Iker would have been there, he would have known this.