Truth & Lies

In January 1980, Mary McCarthy in a television interview with Dick Cavett was asked for an example of an "over-praised" writer. She named Lillian Hellman, stating "who I think is terribly overrated, a bad writer and a dishonoest writer." When Cavett asked what she meant by "dishonoest," McCarthy responded, "everything ..... every word she writes is a lie including 'and' and 'the."

Subsequently, Hellman sued for libel in a $2.25 million lawsuit, later dropped at the time of Hellman's death in 1984. McCarthy apparently felt put out, stating: "I still feel disgusted by the amount of lying that didn't stop. I wanted it to go to trial, so I was disappointed when she died."

Catholic Thoughts

"An aggressive churchgoer, she was quite without Christian feeling; the mercy of the Lord Jesus had never entered her heart. Her piety was an act of war against the Protestant ascendancy..."


I think that this is an example of something common among religious zealots today. I have always found it ironic that many influential religious leaders are the ones preaching intolerance; intolerance against certain groups of people, either of a different denomination or sexuality, for example.

As a practising Catholic, I find it a waste and a shame for someone to use their religion as a means of emanating superiority or a source of leverage. During this day and age, we are all exposed to the discrimination that can be found between different religious groups, and also the harshness of some who claim to be "serving the Lord." What ever happened to WWJD? Spread love!