Gloria TV … Not So Glorious?
Editor writes…
Note: the above cartoon is one of the many very good cartoons produced by Gloria TV – some time ago I received permission to use their cartoons – I have used at least one in our newsletter but, ironically, I think this is the first time I’ve made use of that permission on our blog 😀
Topic…
One of our regular bloggers outlines his concerns about the news site Gloria TV below, and suggests that we discuss the issues which emerged from his experience of commenting there. There is no personal offence intended – our discussions focus on objective information only; if some people choose to take it personally and allow it to damage their inner balance (equilibrium) that’s a pity. The cartoons at Gloria TV can be very funny indeed. Doesn’t mean there is no criticism to be made of other aspects of their work, so it’s worth reflecting on the experiences of WF detailed below, bearing in mind the words of Johannes Kepler, German philosopher: I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses. So, keep the heid [i.e., keep calm] over there are Gloria TV. I do sometimes pay a visit but if you ban me, well, I’ll just have to learn to live with it. 😀
Westminsterfly (WF) writes…
Many readers of Catholic Truth have probably gone into Gloria TV on occasions (their motto, ironically, is – the more ‘Catholic’ the better). I had a webpage on it from about 2011-2022 under my own name. I became so disgusted by what was being allowed on this site – the erroneous posts, the constant trolling, and the general ignorance and lack of charity of many of the commenters – many of whom it seems only to want to argue and fight – that I deleted my webpage. Then after a while, I went back on under an alias. This time, I opted to turn the comments off posts I made, to deter the trolls. No such luck. To circumvent being silenced, they shared my posts on their own pages and then proceeded to write all their bile underneath. If you try to answer them, they delete and block your comments.
My last run in was with a character called ‘Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus’ who spends his time posting sedevacantist videos made by the Dimond Brothers, as does someone called ‘Sedevakantistický kanál’. I’m beginning to think it’s a platform for sedevacantists and other dissidents and no amount of complaints elicit any response. Don Reto Nay, the priest initially accredited with running the site, is apparently not in good standing with the Church (not that that in itself means too much these days) – click here – but because of the habitual failure to deal with the not inconsiderable sedevacantist presence on the site, and all the other problems, I am beginning to wonder if he leans that way himself. The contents – protestant/sedevacantist/false apparitions/pseudo-science/looney conspiracy theorists/blatant advertising/completely irrelevant stuff etc, etc has begun to outweigh the good stuff, and the massive amount of trolls and lack of charity among those who comment, lead me to believe that this venture is NOT Catholic; is an occasion of sin for many, and is leading people astray.
When I was on the site under my own name, I was relentlessly trolled by someone who I had disagreed with on one occasion. I noted his account had just opened before he started trolling me. His account disappeared a couple of days after I closed mine. He’s probably back under another name already – in fact, I think I recognise his hectoring tones making comments on others’ posts. There have been accusations that a crew of people are going on and off the site as ‘sock puppets’, using different names in order to troll people. In short, the whole venture is no longer informative or edifying, it has become a war-zone. A lot of its content certainly isn’t Catholic. Also, they are frequently asking for money so that it can be kept ‘independent’.
The lack of charity is appalling. An allegation was made against a Cardinal, but it had in no way been proved. But just because he is a Cardinal, a commentor called him ‘evil scum’ and ‘100% guilty’. I asked the commentor if he was privy to any information that could concretely prove his guilt. Of course he had no such information, so I had to remind him of the dictum ‘innocent until proven guilty’ and also remind him what the Catechism (#2477) states regarding such matters:-
Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury. He becomes guilty:
– of rash judgment who, even tacitly, assumes as true, without sufficient foundation, the moral fault of a neighbor;
– of detraction who, without objectively valid reason, discloses another’s faults and failings to persons who did not know them;
– of calumny who, by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them.
Of course, this didn’t go down too well, because truth isn’t the issue over at Gloria TV – many posters/commentors just want to foment hatred against the hierarchy for the sake of it – actual evidence of wrongdoing isn’t apparently necessary. Anyway, I will not be returning to Gloria TV again as an account holder, and I urge caution to those who do continue to use the site. Ends.
Your thoughts…
Comments (21)
WF
There’s certainly more heat than light over there but I still pop in for the occasional bit of useful information. All the rehashed Diamond Bro tripe does get a tad wearing. How can anyone be so angry and miserable all the time? As a marketing tactic for the sedes I can’t see how it would attract. The saving grace is that the mad, bad and ridiculous posts are easily spotted. It seems most social media is like this.
Andrew Q
We make the assumption that the ‘mad, bad and ridiculous posts are easily spotted’ but that very much depends on the person reading them. If there is a lack of solid instruction – not uncommon these days – such posts could well lead people astray. Most Catholic sites I visit are usually fairly well moderated. Apparently, little or no moderation exists on Gloria TV. As you say, the occasional bit of useful information can be gleaned – it used to be great for that, years ago. But the useful information is getting less and less, while the dross is increasing.
WF,
I agree with you – it’s the old story isn’t it, about a drink containing just a drop of cyanide. Who’d drink that, just because it’s “only a drop” of poison, the rest of the drink is fine, LOL!
I don’t visit Gloria TV regularly, just the occasion drop in, so I won’t miss it, but I do agree with you that it ought to be avoided – there are enough signals there, IMHO, to warrant that.
Andrew Q,
I agree with the others – it’s not good enough to hope that the errors are spotted by readers. Too many people are truly ignorant and easily led astray. With a name like “Gloria TV” and a priest in charge, people would be only too ready to believe false teachings about all sorts of things. They do need to be called out, so kudos to WF for doing that.
I’ve just visited the Gloria TV site – not much to see, TBH. The homosexual stripper link at the top, and video is just terrible, but I can’t find any comments at all. This is Satanic stuff so it’s maybe just as well I can’t find the comments. It’s not a site I would want to visit regularly or recommend. Not my scene.
Laura,
“The homosexual stripper” – I had to look for that, it’s not at the top anymore – but truly horrendous.
WF is right to warn us about Gloria TV – it’s not Catholic, at least not to my way of thinking.
A little late in the day (for which apologies) – today being the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary – we might pray for those responsible for the Gloria TV site and all those who contribute to it.
Same here – we need all the prayers we can get! Ave Maria!
Editor,
Pavarotti – love it!
Editor
And I just saw your post on the other thread ‘Praying for the Soul of Queen Elizabeth RIP’ What a truly Catholic response in comparison to the stuff on GTV (the Queen is damned beyond any doubt etc, etc). Well this CT thread on GTV has hardly set the world on fire, but there you go. Clearly too many of your readers are already aware of the dangers of GTV. But hopefully they can warn others against it.
WF,
I’ve just paid a visit to GTV and it’s all you say about it. The first name that jumped out at me was TradCatKnight – and I associate that name with the awful Resistance Movement a few years back when the enemies of Bishop Fellay set out to destroy his attempts to make the talks with the Vatican work. If he is one of them, then job done – they’re sedes, no question about it. And if that’s their mindset then they’ll have an infantile understanding of the dogma no salvation outside the Church. They’re pathetic, really.
WF
I forgot to say in my comment below that I maybe just set the heather on fire, by defending GTV, up to a point, LOL!
Michaela,
Bear in mind I have been dealing with GTV since about 2011. I have freely admitted that GTV has in the past been good, and does still occasionally provide some good snippets of information, but good things are becoming more outweighed by nonsense, trolls, error and misinformation. The fact it mixes good with bad (increasingly bad) makes it even more dangerous. This is not a case of ‘better moderation’ – there is no moderation at GTV – or at least I’ve never been able to find any evidence of it. My complaints have never received an acknowledgement, or a correction of the obvious error (e.g. sedevacantism). Ill informed people can easily be led astray (i.e. could lose their souls) by this kind of thing, which I more and more suspect is about money, than anything else, due to their frequent fundraising drives to keep them ‘independent’, so it is an important problem. If you think concern about the loss of souls is ‘simplistic’, perhaps you ought to review your stance on GTV.
Let me play Devil’s Advocate for a minute, because although I don’t visit Gloria TV a lot, I do pop in from time and time and there often is quite important news tucked away there that I’ve not seen anywhere else. I’ve even found useful links to their stuff on this blog.
As for the system – it allows different people to post articles, not just comments, so it’s only to be expected that they will get their fair share of the good, the bad and the ugly. I admit there’s no shortage of “the ugly” as the dreadful homosexual stripper video reveals, and I would argue for better moderation of that sort of thing, but can we really condemn it out of hand, since we’re not comparing like with like, here. It’s not meant to be another Catholic Truth blog. It’s a different type of forum.
I’m not sure I’m convinced myself by my own arguments, but I don’t think we can just be too simplistic. It’s apples and oranges, not apples and apples. Or am I missing something?
Michaela,
I appreciate you are trying to see both sides, but my view remains the same as above – even a drop of poison is enough to say “no way” when you are offered that drink.
I understand that it’s a different type of forum but if it wants to describe itself as “Catholic” then it has to make the right choices, and not post anything that is a danger to the faith whether it’s a blog or some other kind of site.
TBH, I think it’s dangerous in itself to allow people to post their own articles. That’s a recipe for disaster.
Michaela,
I’m not sure I’m convinced myself by my own arguments…
I’m very glad to hear/read it – they’re really NOT convincing, but 10/10 for effort 😀
Nicky,
TradCatKnight doesn’t allow you access to any of his posts – they’re just ‘teasers’. If you want to read the whole thing, which is almost certainly not worth it – you have to go into his website and pay for the privilege. That’s another problem with GTV – people use it to promote their own ‘pay-only’ websites. Anyone who describes themselves as a ‘Knight’ has delusions of grandeur – possibly in this case, delusions of adequacy. Another example: https://gloria.tv/post/vueyYSMBDRhR23HPNaBe2EHhd ‘Shawn Bastion’ who signed up to GTV on 15th August – so not a long term user – has made unnecessary, inflammatory and offensive remarks against manual labourers. Some have tried to counteract ‘Shawn Bastion’ but I can guarantee he will disappear in a few days time and come back as some new identity. I’m pretty sure this is the guy who trolled me. GTV is a sewer. Keep away from it, unless to expose how unhealthy it is in a spiritual sense. It’s a shame we can’t let them know about this thread, but I think (although I’m not sure) it would mean signing up for an account again, and I’m not prepared to do that. All this should make us appreciate Catholic Truth Scotland all the more!
WF,
All this should make us appreciate Catholic Truth Scotland all the more!
I couldn’t have put it better myself 😀
Hear, hear !!! 👏👏👏
Yep, I’ve just checked and as I predicted, GTV troll Shawn Bastion has closed his account – no mention of him anywhere. Don’t worry, it will reopen again tomorrow with a new name, but same old venom. Honestly, you wonder about the mental state of some of these people.
WF,
You have a point about mental state – why would anyone do that, close an account and then return under a different name etc. There has to be something mentally askew IMHO.
We used to have trolls here, I remember it well, but they seem to have gone to ground, and long may it last. It’s irritating when you know someone isn’t here to contribute but to cause trouble. Good riddance, I say!
Laura
I think the reason we don’t have trolls here (too often) is because the moderation is good. But where it is non-existent, they will thrive, hence the problems on GTV.
Comments are closed.