> ANALYZE THIS -- PARIS HILTON IS A SLUT !!!
>
> PLAY MOTHER TERESA?? YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR FUCKIN' MIND!!!!
>
I don't think that anybody ever accused MT of being a slut, but the
"ghoul of Calcutta" is guilty of numerous other, arguably greater
human failings. Anybody convinced of the venerability of MT should
read "The Missionary Position" by Christopher Hitchens, one of his
last great works before he tragically succumbed to alcohol poisoning,
and joined the pro-Bush crowd.
I studied up the book quite a bit, and I've never seen anybody even
attempt to refute his major charges. They say things like "you
shouldn't say bad things about a Saint." It's that kind of thing that
leads to the deification of people like Ronald Reagan, Dubya, Saddam
Hussein, JP II, etc, and I say the hell with it, deal with facts and
let the unsullied claim sainthood.
Here's some comments about the book from Amazon.com. But there's no
substitute for actually reading the book.
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
What's next--The Girl Scouts: The Untold Story? How could anybody
write a debunking book about Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of
Charity order? Well, in this little cruise missile of a book, Hitchens
quickly establishes that the idea is not without point. After all,
what is Mother Teresa doing hanging out with a dictator's wife in
Haiti and accepting over a million dollars from Charles Keating? The
most riveting material in the book is contained in two letters: one
from Mother Teresa to Judge Lance Ito--then weighing what sentence to
dole out to the convicted Keating--which cited all the work Keating
has done "to help the poor," and another from a Los Angeles deputy
D.A., Paul Turley, back to Mother Teresa that eloquently stated that
rather than working to reduce Keating's sentence, she should return
the money he gave her to its rightful owners, the defrauded
bond-holders. (Significantly, Mother Teresa never replied.) And why do
former missionary workers and visiting doctors consistently observe
that the order's medical practices seem so inadequate, especially
given all the money that comes in? (Hitchens acidly observes that on
the other hand, Mother Teresa herself always manages to receive
world-class medical care.) Hitchens's answer is that Mother Teresa is
first and foremost interested not in providing medical treatment, but
in furthering Catholic doctrine and--quite literally--becoming a
saint. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Spotlight Reviews
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157 of 191 people found the following review helpful:
My review is based on personal experience..., September 15, 2000
Reviewer: Timothy P. Scanlon (Hyattsville, MDUSA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
I first read a portion of this book in the Washington Post a number of
years ago. As I'd worked closely with Mother Teresa in Calcutta for a
bit over two years, I was amused by it and bought several copies which
I then gave to those I knew who painted halos on her. Now I admit to
some mixed feelings (more on that later) but the book's strength is
still formidable.
While working in an office that provided Mother with much of her food,
a Scottish pharmacologist who'd been volunteering in the Home for
Dying Destitutes visited. She proclaimed that the people she was
taking care of there "don't need to die!" She asserted that most of
the sisters caring for the destitute weren't very bright, and that
there are means of keeping the destitute alive of which the
Missionaries of Charity would not partake. After that, and after
picking up a small child who died in my arms at the mother house not
far from my residence, my eyes were more opened to that saint of
Calcutta.
Incidentally, the child who died was the product of one of the
"natural family planning" sessions the MC sisters held for Muslim
women in Calcutta. That degree of naivete, as if the sisters who lived
among them understood so pathetically little about Islam as to teach
Muslim women of that means of birth control--in one of the most
crowded square miles on planet earth--was enough to make one question
Mother Teresa even if other things, many of which Hitchens points out,
were not.
As for the intellectual level of the sisters, it's important to note
that what I describe is typical in much of the Third World. As an
Indian friend said, most of the sisters, if they had not become nuns,
would have been stuck in their Indian village, in a prearranged
marriage. Their entry into the sisterhood freed them and, in some
cases, allows them to "see the world." I'm not saying that in a
derisive way; were I in their shoes, I may do the same.
And there was one sister whose intelligence and sensitivity did
impress me. She shared with me one day that she was concerned about
children being adopted into families in, say, Denmark, which had
negative population growth at the time. She wondered what would happen
when the fad wore off of the obvious adoptions--brown children among
the more pale Danes--and what social problems might come about as a
consequence. As I'm not familiar with any Scandanavians, I don't know
what may be happening there today.
The situation, though, also has its ironies. I know many a feminist
who is impressed to no end with Mother Teresa, an allegedly strong
woman. As I knew Mother, I guarantee to the feminists that such a
label turns Mother over in her grave. Indeed, while some reviewers
have commented on the MC sisters in the U.S., their commitment to AIDS
patients, etc., I see most of the sisters as sheep, little girls
despite their ages, following their leader, whoever she may be, with a
girl's unquestioning attitude. That's not feminist, despite illusions
to the contrary.
Mind you, I'm not in any way opposed to taking care of the poor. I'm
as far from a Reaganite as one can imagine. But I had--and still
have--close friends who are nuns in other orders in India who do far
more for "human development" than the MCs do. Are they proclaimed
saints? Not in this world they're not. But I don't blame Mother for
that. Rather, I blame the media who are anxious to sell papers by
finding one individual, a sort of Horatio Alger in reverse, who stands
out. Thusly Saint Mother Teresa was born through the likes of Malcolm
Muggeridge whom Hitchens covers mercilessly in his text.
As I have reflected for a number of years on my experience in Calcutta
and the rest of India (MC sisters telling lepers in colonies to be
fruitful and multiply per Catholic teachings, thereby ensuring another
generation of lepers) I've concluded that my biggest objection to the
MC regime is that Mother Teresa unwittingly prevented change.
Politicians, including Reagan, loved her as she said, "write a check
and help the poor, the dying, and help these kids to be adopted." It
never occurred to her that there must be something wrong with a system
which enabled countless people to die miserably. And that extended to
us in the "developed" world. How many people do you know who feel
secure in having their Mother Teresa holy cards, maybe writing a
check, but they'll still act and vote to perpetuate systems in which
so, so many people die destitute.
Oh, the reason I have some mixed feelings toward the MC sisters now is
that I'm still acquainted with some American nuns. Many of them are
close friends, and women for whom I have a great deal of respect and
love. But many too are living more comfortably than I am, e.g., having
their community pay for their homes for which they then pay
substantially less rent than I would pay. At least Mother Teresa and
her sisters DID live and work among the poor.
Anyway, I still recommend the book. It puts much of the media hype,
especially the tourists who'd visited Calcutta for two days, visited
Mother Teresa, then returned to write news stories about how wonderful
she is, into perspective with some of the things Mother REALLY did.
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86 of 100 people found the following review helpful:
Hitchens' book on Mother Theresa deserves a fair hearing, October 9, 2002
Reviewer: David Thomson "Second Rate Eric Hoffer Imitator" (Houston,
TX USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
Christian theology teaches that everyone is imperfect and tainted by
Original Sin. All human beings are tempted by the sin of pride and
other vices. Why should Mother Theresa be any different? There are
indeed serious questions that were never adequately answered regarding
the large sums of money at her disposal. Were they spent according to
the wishes of the donors, or was much of it siphoned off to other
endeavors that had little to do with assisting the hopelessly
downtrodden? Did these unfortunates truly receive the best medical
care possible? Is there any truth to the allegations that many of
these patients were denied pain killers to supposedly prepare them
spiritually for life everlasting? Why didn't Mother Theresa comprehend
the cold fact that dictators and convicted criminals were giving her
money stolen from other people? Would trained certified public
accountants have found many abuses and squandering of funds? Alas,
often even well meaning people unwittingly waste the resources under
their direct responsibility. A good heart alone is not enough when
managing a large organization.
It is intellectual dishonest to ignore "The Missionary Position."
Christopher Hitchens is an avowed atheist, but this shouldn't be held
against him. The author's rhetoric is admittedly a bit too aggressive
and borders on the abusive. Nonetheless, Hitchens has presented some
strong evidence that tarnishes the hagiographic memory of the often
described Saint of Calcutta. The man deserves a point by point careful
rebuke and not argumentum ad hominem attacks. This relatively short
book earns a place among all the other works on Mother Theresa....
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
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1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Great, November 22, 2005
Reviewer: Caleb David Powell "C Powell" (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
I bought this book in Kathmandu at a used bookstore a few years back,
the cover was worn, and I thought it was an unknown book by an obscure
author. I'm glad to discover it is not. The title hooked me, and I
read it in one sitting. This book is well-written and thought
provoking.
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17 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
My favorite of Chistopher Hitchens' Books, July 5, 2005
Reviewer: Roan Purgatory "KG" (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
Christopher Hitchens is the only person of note who actually looked
under Mother Teresa's veil of false piety to find a bean-counter of
sad souls for the cost of continued of human suffering. Hers was a
mission interested in converting the weak of body and/or mind, and on
many occasion against their will or understanding, at the cost of
their lives and proper medical treatment, in order to baptize these
unfortunate souls into Catholicism.
When originally published, this book had an attraction for me because
there had been reports of some uncharitable actions by the Mother over
the number of personal parking spaces she had at her mission.
Christopher Hitchens lent credence to that rumor and demonstrated her
sham was no petty vanity. He daringly investigated the charade of her
missions and saintliness to find an intolerant rigorous parochial who
couldn't have cared less about human suffering on earth where there
were dying souls at hand for the taking.
His work was so compelling that he was invested by John-Paul II to be
the witness against (Devil's Advocate) Mother Teresa in the Vatican
when she was advanced for Canonization.
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