Fuck Mother Teresa
7 June 2006 by Sean
This comment by James Watson inspired me to go looking for a classic article by Christopher Hitchens.
He may be a drunken nutcase, but Hitchens often nails it. Correction: Used to often nail it, back when he could still fight his way out of a bottle. Here he is on Mother Teresa… An “icon” that deserves nothing less than complete contempt.
Hitchens on Mother Teresa
The Ghoul of Calcutta[ This was the first article that confirmed my suspicion about Mother Teresa. The article below is written by Christopher Hitchens in 'For The Sake Of Argument', a collection of essays & reports, June '93. The article first appeared in The Nation, a US monthly magazine. ]
Ghoul n.
1. An evil spirit that robs graves and feeds on the flesh of the dead. 2. A person who robs graves. (From Webster’s - College edition)Ghoul of Calcutta
Christopher Hitchens
This column heartily endorses Governor Brown’s campaign against Bill (Spoiler) Clinton for the Democratic nomination and urges its millions of loyal readers to call 1-800-426-1112. However, this column cannot sit idly by and tolerate Jerry Brown’s repeated encomiums for the woman calling herself ‘Mother’ Teresa of Calcutta, a dangerous, sinister person who properly belongs in the caboose of the Pat Buchanan baggage train.
I first encountered M.T. in Calcutta in early 1980. While touring one of the less fashionable quarters of the city, I scheduled a drop-by at the Missionaries of Charity in Bose Road. Instantly put off by the mission’s motto (’He that loveth correction loveth knowledge’), I none the less went for a walkabout with M.T. herself and had a chance to observe her butch style at first hand. There was something in the way she accepted the kisses bestowed on her feet, taking them as no more than her due, that wasn’t quite adorable, but I held my peace until we got to the orphanage. Although built on a tiny scale in relation to the problem, this was in many ways an exemplary place. A small vacant cot told that one innocent hadn’t made it through the night. I was about to mutter some words of praise for the nurses and was even fumbling in my pocket when M.T. announced: ‘You see, this is how we fight abortion and contraception in Calcutta.’ Squeamish as I am on the abortion question, I had seen enough of Bengal to know that the last thing - arguably the very last thing - that it needs is a campaign against population control. M.T.’s avowed motive somewhat cheapened the ostensible work of charity and made it appear rather more like what it actually was: an exercise in propaganda. Propoganda for the Vatican’s heinous policy of compelling the faithful to breed, and of denying where it can the right of nonbelievers to get hold of birth control. I have met numerous relief workers in my reporting life, many of them battling in conditions far worse than Bose Road, but they have usually been doing the work for its own sake.
After this experience with the leathery old saint, I kept up an M.T. watch of sorts. I wasn’t surprised to see her turn up in Haiti a few years later, as a kind of paid confessor to the Duvalier gang. When Michele Duvalier started emulating Eva Peron in her enthusiasm for Potemkin clinics, M.T. was on hand to sanctify the vulturelike regime. ‘I have never seen the poor people being so familiar with their heads of state as they were with her,’ croaked M.T. approvingly. ‘It was a beautiful lesson for me. I’ve learned something from it.’ She then jetted off to Beirut to bind up Lebanon’s wounds as a guest of the Phalangists. THe ‘beautiful lesson’ imbibed in Haiti was soon to be shared with the long-suffering people of Albania. (M.T., whose family name is Bojaxhiu, was born in the Albaninan-speaking Yugoslav province of Kosovo and has been, since the death of John Belushi, the world’s most famous Albanian.) In August 1989 she made an official visit to the worst of all Stalinist tyrannies, as the personal guest of Nexhmije Hoxha, official widow of the dictator and a rival in tempestuousness to Michele Duvalier herself. M.T., who has long been allied with the more fanatical wing of the impassioned speeches about the ‘brothers and sisters’ of Kosovo. She certainly knew what she was doing. Ramiz Alia, Hoxha’s successor, had in his younger days been a member of the ultra-fascist Albanian Youth of the Lictor. Under the direct patronage of Mussolini and the Vatican, this outfit stood for the twin objectives of Greater Albania and the forcible conversion of the Balkans to Catholicism. M.T., having lent her imprimatur to the most thuggish elements of Albanian irredentism, spent the rest of her visit as the guest of Health Minister Ahmed Kamberi, and made a number of affecting remarks about the beauty and spirit of the children in Stalinist orphanages. No doubt the motto about lovers of corrections and lovers of knowledge was ready to hand.
Having prostituted herself for the worst of colonialism and the worst of Communism, it was an easy and worldly step to the embrace of the worst of capitalism. During the heroic period of the S&L bonanza, M.T. nursed at the ample tit of Charles Keating, of Lincoln Savings and Loan of California. cording to Nan Goldin, who made the splendid PBS Frontline documentary use of a company plane’ from the ascetic Keating when he was at the height of his charitable powers. Patricia Johnson, Keating’s PR flack, recalls that Keating ‘carried in his pocket a crucifix that Mother Teresa had given him when they first met. And he carried it always.’ Another bargain for Mr. Keating. I wonder where the money is now.
Brave and honest humanitarian workers are to be found all over the globe, and though I have never met one, there are conceivably some modest and self- sacrificing missionaries also. How has the extrodinary deception of M.T. come to be perpetrated so widely? As far as one can determine, the M.T. myth began after a British poseur named Malcolm Muggeridge found himself in the steps of St. Paul. A likable old sinner in his way, Muggeridge took to piety and censure in his senescence and could usually induce the BBC to film him standing next to some phoney shroud or blubbering wooden statuette. Ready to spend time - but not too much time - among the lepers and beggars, Muggeridge got himself to Calcutta and struck pay dirt with a flying visit to Bose Road. And a star was born.
‘The Pope is still fornicating with the Emperor,’ wrote Dante in one of his pithier staves, and with M.T. one sees yet again the alliance between ostentatious religiosity and the needs of crude secular power. This is, of course, a very old story indeed, but when one surveys the astonishing, dumb credulity of the media in the face of the M.T. fraud, it becomes easier to understand how the sway of superstition was exerted in medieval times. Jerry Brown currently suffers from the ‘perception’ that he is somewhat rudderless intellectually. He couldn’t make a better move than dropping the hell bat over the side.
The Nation, April 1992
7 June 2006, on 9:40 am
Hitchens’ book The Missionary Position, is a great expose on M.T. Her missions received more than $50 million in donations, yet gave it to the Vatican rather than build a hospital or suitable orphanage. It is sickening to think that all she really wanted was oppressive religious rule and to aid in the sufferring of the poor. You know, just give them a place to die - and where I can watch.
But of course, if SHE got sick, it was off to a wonderful clinic in L.A.
7 June 2006, on 12:28 pm
I wouldn’t put something like this past the Catholic Church. But you realize that it doesn’t matter, right? Even if Mother Theresa was an evil old crone, YOU will be the asshole for pointing it out. No matter what, atheists are always the assholes.
7 June 2006, on 12:36 pm
Penn and Teller did a Bullshit episode on this too. It also covered Ghandi and what an unapologetic racist he was.
7 June 2006, on 12:40 pm
‘Penn & Teller’ did a very interesting and detailed ‘focus’ on her last year in “Bullshit” #31. The program, which appeared on Showtime, was titled “Holier Than Thou”. Besides an appearance with comments by Hitchens, the program featured a former nun of Mother Teresa’s religious order. [The episode also exposed some shtick about Ghandi!] I had taped the program and unfortunately accidently erased it. I was intending to retape it using the usual Comcast “On Demand” feature; but it only showed up for one day, and then disappeared from the lineup. “Missed it by THAT much!”] I wrote an email to Penn & Teller about that; and got a brief response about them ‘checking into it’. The program has never shown up again in season reruns!
I even got an .avi of it online…no picture…just sound! I guess you have to buy the season DVDs? “Whateva!”
Anyway, for what it’s worth…it does show, I think, the power of the Catholic church behind the scenes…so much for free speech?…
Here’s my email and ‘their’ [?] response:
5/30/05
Hi,
It would seem the Religious Right Wing fascists are hard at work, again, against free speech…like, wow…big surprise! It seems that either the Showtime network and/or Comcast Cable have been pressured to remove the repeats of your ‘Mother Theresa/Catholic boy’ Episode [#31?] from their schedule. I watched, and very much enjoyed it, on Monday, May 23. It showed up on Comcast’s ‘On Demand’ briefly… for probably one subsequent night…only to disappear from the list!
I was hoping to catch it again [May 30th] after this week’s installment, which normally should have been the previous week’s episode. But No! What they showed was your last season’s foray into Alchoholics Anonymous…another gem…but alas…not the proper repeated episode. That raised the hackles of my increasingly skeptical…and cinical, mind
It’s amazing that the ‘Fundie Morons’ get away with claiming Liberal Media bias. More and more, as tonight’s episode about College Bullshit expressed, our First Amendment Rights are being stomped on, and the truth is being suppressed in favor of the ‘Neocon’ faith-based bullshit propoganda.
I also happen to be an atheist [also an ex-Catholic], and was happy to see that Mother Theresa episode expose how so much history is re-written to cover up old habitual, and traditional Religious lies. It reminds me of how the ‘Fundie Revisionists’ love to bring up the name of Hitler, even claiming he was an atheist, when in fact, he was raised Catholic…and never renounced his Christian faith…perhaps another good subject, among so many, for your great series.
I better close…I just wanted to express my dismay at what even the ‘Pay Cable’ Sites are doing regarding censuring free speech. And President [Yikes!] Bush talks so much about bringing…more like forcing!…’Freedom’ to Iraq and the Middle East…while we’re gradually losing it in this country.
Patriot Act, my arse! How ’bout renaming it: ‘Neo-Fascist’ Act?
I say…BULLSHIT!
[Oh, sorry...that's your line!]
“But seriously folks…” Back to the point…
I really hope it turns out to be a temporary glitch in programming; but I have a sneaking feeling the Catholic Church is breathing down the Cable Company’s neck…and man…that’s a whole lotta rotten…long-time smelly…and hot… breath on anyone’s neck! Ouch!
Of course…that’s just MY opinion!….
Thanks for so many great, funny…and enlightening shows!
Sincerely,
[ChuckA]
[my email address]
[A long time Chicago musician]
—————————–THEIR REPLY:
RE: Possible Program Censorship
Date: 5/31/2005 3:24:41 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Webmaster@Penn-Teller.com
To: [my email address]
Sent from the Internet
“Thanks for the heads up. We are looking into this.”
——————————————>>
“ROIT!” That was it!…Nothing further happened to indicate any change! Like I mentioned,the most recent reruns STILL exclude that program!!
Anyway,…sorry to take up so much space here; but it does point up what we’re up against in our struggle against the various ‘fascist’ corporate powers operating behind the scenes.
“And now, my fellow clubhouse friends,…back to your regular programming!”
7 June 2006, on 12:45 pm
Yeah, JokerCross: “TIMING is everything!” or…
“Missed it by THAT much!”
[I notice your input after posting!]
7 June 2006, on 1:17 pm
The P&T episode WAS pulled and will never be shown again. It was pulled for exactly the reason you described. Right wing fundie facists getting all up in arms about it.
Do they still show the Bible and Creationism episode?
7 June 2006, on 2:13 pm
ChuckA said: I even got an .avi of it online…no picture…just sound!
Honestly, it sounds like you probably just had the wrong video codec for the file. Happens all the time. Google “VLC media player”. It usually plays any dang thing you could want to play on it. I have like five different players just to cover all my codec bases, and I still have to download new codecs on occasion. I know DivX 6.0 plays them too.
You can find every episode online somewhere. Not that I would condone such a thing. Ahem.
7 June 2006, on 3:08 pm
Yes, VLC will play most any damn thing. And until they get sued for copyright infringement, you can get some of this stuff off Google Video, YouTube and other sites.
Here’s the Bible one:
http://tinyurl.com/ojhx2
Here’s the Creationism one:
http://tinyurl.com/muqjt
7 June 2006, on 4:47 pm
It’s the Hitchens of Mother Teresa and Henry Kissinger, et. al., that makes one weep for what he has become. If it really is simply the alcohol, why doesn’t someone who loves him get him into rehab? If it’s just political, I haven’t the faintest idea what to do about it.
7 June 2006, on 4:48 pm
Ma Theresas joined the mob, and happy with her full time job.. do do do do do do do
7 June 2006, on 8:04 pm
Yeah, but Hitchens is a moron. I mean, have you ever heard that guy? He’d be an idiot if he weren’t such a moron.
7 June 2006, on 9:01 pm
I’d say he’s rum dumb. He used to be quite sharp, like back when he wrote this. Now he’s an angry, booze-addled freak.
8 June 2006, on 4:22 pm
Is it because of a sickness or a realistic world view that, when I read this:
“You know, just give them a place to die - and where I can watch. ”
the first thing I thought of was Linda Blair and a crucifix?
16 June 2006, on 11:12 am
Mother Teresa, that old hag is in a better place now. God spare us any replacements.
12 September 2006, on 1:40 pm
Suffering is good for the poor according to her-without the poor she couldn’t have raked in all the bucks for her Church and been always on TV. What a gal-and geez was she ugly