Willfully Misinformed Media

These people irk me no end!

They seem to live in some kind of fantasy land, devoid of historical fact, in which reality is created by their own echo-chamber pronouncements of what they imagine, or wish, to be true. It is the tyranny of the politically-correct mindset that enforces cognitive dissonance, and the automatic re-writing of uncomfortable facts that contradict the carefully pre-cultivated belief-systems of the latte-sipping-set.

Here is Wretchard, quoting some ridiculous revisionism by newspapers which should know better, as they pontificate on JPII:

The difference in scales between Church history and media memory is exemplified by speculation over whether the next few weeks will see the "first black Pope" in history. The Guardian for example, says that Frances Arinaze of Biafra has been "long touted as candidate for first black pope ... a member of the Ibo tribe." They have forgotten -- or perhaps have found it impossible to remember history beyond a certain point -- about three early black Popes, St. Victor I, St. Miltiades and Pope St. Gelasius I from a time before Europe conquered the world and when North Africa was a cradle of Christianity. One of the things that Arinze was supposed to uniquely bring to the table is an understanding of Islam. Reuters says, "Cardinal Francis Arinze was for nearly 20 years the Vatican's point man for relations with Islam, a key element cardinals choosing the next pope may take into consideration" as if the Roman church is only now becoming aware of the Muslim 'challenge'. Yet the Church's struggles and policy toward Islam have shaped much of its history. The Church has dealt with Islam for a period longer than Marxism has existed. It remembered Islam long after Europe in its 19th century pride had forgotten them. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1912 described Islam as "a confused combination of native Arabian heathenism, Judaism and Christianity" and warned against the "moral laxity and depraved sensualism of the Mohammedans" in a period when European empires created Saudi Arabia, built the Suez Canal, set aside a Jewish homeland and constituted Iraq, Syria and Lebanon without the slightest regard for the jihad or the 'Arab Street'.