I almost didn’t post this, as it feels a bit like piling on, but I see that the thread of James Joyner’s post on Rod Dreher’s migration from TAC to Substack is still active (including an insightful comment from Kingdaddy) let me note one other central example that makes me wonder about Dreher’s psyche (and always comes to my mind when Dreher comes up).
(Plus, you know, the site needs content).
It is a now-deleted (I think) tweet (but as we know, the internet never forgets):
Setting aside, for a moment at least, his obsession with LBGTQ+ issues, this tweet struck me at the time as one of the more remarkable public displays of egotism I have ever seen (and I study politics for a living).
The Pope is one of the most famous/significant people in the world (this is objectively true regardless of one’s view of the Catholic Church or of any given Pope). He oversees a large organization and encounters thousands upon thousands of people on a regular basis. The notion that Dreher thought the Pope would know who he was and would know his book, is amazingly absurd. That Dreher further thought that the head of the Catholic Church (you know, the Vicar of Christ) would also make sure to give some message-laden blank stare is beyond amazing.
There was also a tweet from Dreher I remember (I want to say in the same timeframe) that shows a photo of him praying at some holy site in Europe (I am too lazy to see if I can track it down). It was obvious that either someone had taken it with their phone and given it to Dreher or Dreher asked someone to take it for him. Which makes me think of this passage from the Book of Matthew:
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.
I haven’t reaad the Benedict Option, so perhaps I misunderstand, but Dreher’s very online life seems to contradict the notion of separation.isolation that I thought the book preached.
