Where's the truth, when any assertion doesn't need to be proven?

Let's face it, if you open your mouth in support of the church you're immediately on the back foot. And, if you decide that attacking the church is the way to go, you're right on!

It's a worry, isn't it? When I took Argumentation and Debate many years ago, we were taught that it is incumbent to him who asserts to prove his assertion, not he who denies.(He who asserts must prove, not he who denies.)

Wow, in this day of trial by media, if someone beats you to the punch with a wild assertion, you're immediately on the back foot. Why? For crying out loud, why?

If I can again go back to stuff we learned in Philosophy, what if I asked you "Have you you stopped beating your wife?" Answer "Yes" and you immediately brand yourself a "wife-beater" and if you answer "No", worse, you are still a wife-beater.

Let's face it, with the constant attack on the Catholic Church, in the current atmosphere of you're wrong if I accuse you as such (never mind if I just made up the acusation), what do you do?

Not sure, really, but this is the position the Pope find himself in.

Yes, it seems a no-win situation. The accusers are on the front foot. And, the media are so far behind them, it's not funny.

Well, here's a thought, we also learned then, that an assertion without proof can be denied without proof. I was going to quote the Latin, but, well, forget it.

Heck, you accuse me as whatever, well, I deny it. So, since you have not given any proof in support of your allegation, well, I do likewise. I present no proof of my innocence.

Just imagine if the judicial system was run in this way. Wow.

It's a worry, isn't it?

Again, I ask you dear reader to step back and ask yourself the question: Is this a media beat up that's gone too far? Is the truth lost somewhere in the prejudice against the Church?

If I mouth what is supposedly the truth (the line pushed by the media) am I now being used as a tool to spread this prejudice? To spread the vitriol? The contumely?

Am I so silly as to just join the bandwagon that's pushing this? Another, non-thinking tool of big media?

Well, you tell me.