non-Dhamma, but useful

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/03/12/pete-davidson-made-joke-snl-about-catholic-church-now-officials-are-demanding-an-apology/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c3ae54016187 excerpt: March 12 at 1:04 PM Not everyone was laughing about Pete Davidson’s joke on last weekend’s episode of “Saturday Night Live.” The comedian opened his appearance on the faux-news “Weekend Update” segment with a line that drew some titters and stunned “oooooohs” from the audience: “This guy is a monster and he should go to jail forever,” Davidson said, referring to R&B singer R. Kelly, who has been accused of sexually abusing young women. “But if you support the Catholic Church, isn’t that like the same thing as being an R. Kelly fan? I don’t really see the difference, except for one’s music is significantly better.” Definitely not amused was the Catholic Church’s Diocese of Brooklyn, which on Monday released a lengthy statement condemning the joke and seeki...

(advice from a friend) The traditional persona of an accomplished and reliable informer is one who is restrained and almost stoic when it comes to passing off judgments, especially those overarching generalizations about a person rather than on the individual points, on justifiable or unjustifiable grounds. I'm not saying that any naming-name critique is bad. But there's a way to do it so that no personal spite is detected. More skillfully, the critique can come across as humorous, good natured, and savage at the same time. I'm far from knowing how to do this properly. But I'm comfortable with a certain academic approach to critiquing. Some scholars are very good at it in that they can do this without being pedantic and without sounding too journalistic. Their normative, prescriptive judgments come across clearly, and what is right and wrong are clearly demarcated. But this is all done without giving people the impression that they're denigrating any one, especial...