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Dear Gen Z,
In 1992 Sinéad O'Connor ripped a picture of the Pope in half on Saturday Night Live to protest the sex abuse scandals in the Catholic Church. She was roundly condemned except by a few.
In the years and decades that followed the truth came out and the scope of abuse within the Catholic Church came to light. Many, but not enough, were punished. Many, but no where near enough, victims were heard, believed and lived to see some measure of justice.
1/2
Very few people who condemned her then apologised.
In your lives you will see people speak the truth. It might be uncomfortable. They might not do it "the right way." It will still be the truth. Meet their brash bravery with kindness and an open ear.
Do better than we did. Not for us but for her.
2/2
@lyda
These are dangerous days.
To say what you feel is to dig your own grave.
Remember what I told you:
If you were of the world they would love you.
@lyda it takes so much courage to voice truths no one eise will speak, especially when we treat those who keep faith with their consciences so badly.
@lyda The "You're Wrong About" podcast did a great deep dive into the frenzy about the incident, what she'd been through, and what was done to retaliate against her, and how she continued to create after being blacklisted.
@lyda /virtual pat on the shoulder with a solemn nod.
Well said Kevin
@lyda
I actually saw that SNL live and remember being very confused because I could barely see the picture that she was holding up. Not only was she condemned there was a huge disinformation campaign about why she did it- people were saying she was condemning religion and Christianity in general- no mention whatsoever of the abuse happening in the Catholic Church. It was several years before I heard the whole story.
@lyda Yes, and now people are ignoring the massive piles of evidence that “celibate” priests hanging out with kids is a bad idea and going after an imaginary threat from drag performers and transgender folks, but hey never let facts get in the way of a good mob witch burning right?
@lyda Big moment in my life. She demonstrated how simple (but not easy) it could be to resist.
@lyda Thank you for posting this. Sinead was right - about everything.
ok... so I just did some basic level searching, woah...
I think currently, there are alot of just fake stories and baseless accusations going on right now.
That's not going to get better into the future, I don't think.
But, if you are wrong on something, and you can see it.
Make sure to make sure to restate where you are at, and why.
Make sure to make it right from there, because ultimately you just can't get it fully right.
My ask that you correct your previous statements
I'm incredibly shortening my statements here, because well character limit, lemme switch to my other account
LRG 
@lyda I thought I recognized her. I remember seeing clips of that a while back. Memory got fuzzy tho.
@lyda Sinéad had a very difficult life from all I have read. When you live outside of mainstream thought, life is even harder. She had the courage to call things out. We live in a time when we need to call things out, too. We're witnessing #ClimateChange destroy the planet we're living on. Business as usual can't and won't continue. Are we going to demand control of this threat, or let it roll over us? https://geoffreydeihl.substack.com/p/degrowth-the-vision-we-must-demand
@lyda I knew that night in 1992 that she was dead right and that she would be vilified. As usual, humans lived DOWN to expectations. Wouldn't be surprised if a wee bit of her blood is on mainstream society's hands. I believed her then and said so then, and I STILL feel shame.
@lyda I'm a Gen-X atheist and yeah I fully supported Sinéad. Tales of Priests/Nuns abusing kids were not uncommon and were starting to come out in mainstream media. I've been saying for a while the world owed her an apology. Sadly she never got it.
Severian 
@lyda beautiful
@lyda The thing is everyone, and I mean everyone, had a story about the church.
The mother and baby homes, the laundries, beatings, rapes. But it was all swept under the rug.
Back then no one questioned the priest or the doctor. She opened up people's eyes and allowed the conversations to start happening... But never got the credit for it - for having the church's stranglehold of the population destroyed.
@lyda being Gen X and remembering this, my opinion now is still what it is when I was in my teens. It's controversial, but recent things I've seen only justify it more. The Catholic church is not and has never been valid, it should be eliminated. It's behind SO MUCH awful garbage in the world. People have no idea. They signed an agreement with the Nazis in 1933. They're total filth.
@lyda Everybody over a certain age in Ireland suffered at the hand of the Catholic Church. At the very least we were beaten, as small children, with wooden rules and heavy leather straps. It’s a wonder we’re as mostly well adjusted as we are!
@lyda Sinead didn’t need a reason for a fight. Just a venue. I enjoyed her music. Vale.
@lyda And it isn;t just the church - although that was where she had experienced it.
In SO MANY institutions of power - including the police, parliament, some industries (like finance) there are stories of abuse. Stories of historic abusive practices built in.
We need to believe these stories, or rather, believe the people who tell them. Because so much of our patriarchal society is built on abuse.
And it needs destroying.
️ @lyda when O'Connor tore up the photo of JP II, the terrors at the Magdalene Laundries had already come to light.
The mainstream refused to acknowledge it, and attacked her over it.
People saying "she was ahead of her time and misunderstood" are pushing a lie that benefits the Hierarchy.
@lyda But that is also a good examples why cults are bad. There were so many angry Catholics who acted like MAGAts dumping their Sinead records and CDs and boycotting, And that worked.
Exactly like the Trump MAGA cult.
@lyda She was sent to a Magdalene home as a teen for shoplifting. She knew what she was talking about. I've never been able to forgive Madonna making fun of her,
@lyda It seems oddly puritanical in retrospect that this was as controversial as it was. You’d think she had called for his assassination or something.
I seriously doubt this would elicit the same shock today, and not only because of the wider knowledge of the church’s abuses, but because we’re so much less religious.
@voron @jsit @lyda this "much less religious" seems a bit far fetched considering how the GOP has tied itself with religion and its still going strong. And they would *definitely* tie her to a stake. I live in Alabama and things really haven't changed much. For every 18 year old who finds his way out of religion, there's another 13 year old edgelord coming into his own.
@lyda She made it to 56. In a way, for someone so vulnerable and fragile and caught up in so much anger, who seemed so unlikely to outlive her twenties, that's...
Well, actually, that's sad. It's sad that by 56 she hadn't found a place of tranquility.
It's sad, but it isn't surprising: the damage done to us in childhood never leaves us.
Well, your troubles are over, Sinéad. You're home. Rest in peace.
@lyda i remember that night, my then-girlfriend and I watched that show live, and when she tore up the photograph. I remember my then-GF turning to me and saying OOOOO, NBC will get some mail!!!
@lyda I remember that happening. I was in awe of her gutsiness.
@lyda An investigation by the government in France, revealed the extent of the abuse by the Catholic. I would like to see prosecutions of these abusers. The should be no protection.
@lyda “Tellingly, footage of Pesci’s monologue is available on the official YouTube channel of “Saturday Night Live”; footage of O’Connor’s performance is not, though it can be found in various unofficial locations online.” https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/26/arts/music/sinead-oconnor-snl-pope.html
@xermindor so fucking gross. Thanks for sharing.
@lyda The Catholic Church is the world's largest organized pedophile ring.