“Hope is a humble, hidden seed of life that, with time, will develop into a large tree... a tiny flicker of light that feeds on hope is enough to shatter the shield of darkness. A single individual is enough for hope to exist, and that individual can be you. And then there will be another ‘you,’ and another ‘you,’ and it turns into an ‘us.’ And so, does hope begin when we have an ‘us?’ No. Hope began with one ‘you.’ When there is an ‘us,’ there begins a revolution.”
– Pope Francis (!)
@InvaderXan Just saying, but be aware that he probably means hope in a christian-catholic sense, as a theological virtue, which has a different meaning than the day-to-day usage.
religious worldviews
@arteteco
Also, 99% of the cool things he says, he doesn't say from a pontiff position.
He says it as a guy who is the pope, which makes a big difference to catholics. They only have to pretend to adhere to things he says as the "voice of god" so most of what he's doing is just providing good PR. Still, good messaging. Still, corrupt structure from the start.
@InvaderXan
religious worldviews
I am also quite surprised at how popular he is getting by, basically, just stating obvious stuff.
I mean, I've seen that TED, I'm pretty sure that if just a "normal" guy was up there saying the same things the response would have been mild to say the least.
religious worldviews, uspol
@arteteco @InvaderXan
it's basically how Obama got the peace prize. I wonder now if that contributed to the rise of post-truth and the far right. In my lifetime, it was the first major declaration that impressions mattered more than substance.
Earth's climate doesn't care about religion or politics
@joamo @arteteco How likely is it that we'd be having this conversation if I'd attributed the quote to his original name of Jorge Mario Bergoglio? I mean no disrespect, but you're both reacting to impressions too, while dismissing anything else.
Also, the very concept of a "normal guy" is flawed and stems from power structures. There's no such thing as a "normal guy." Insight can and does come from anyone.
Earth's climate doesn't care about religion or politics
@InvaderXan
Agree w/ your CW. I just know catholics that don't trust the consensus science that humans have caused a climate crisis.
Also, faith tends to bend minds so they think things will work out for them no matter what.
If he wants to do something about that, fantastic.
I was just chiming in to make an important distinction regarding his position of power, though, and the way he's using it. For PR, not reform.
@arteteco
Earth's climate doesn't care about religion or politics
@joamo @arteteco IDK, I think for a lot of Catholics, it might count for something hearing their religious leader saying "this is a thing and we need to do something about it." Anything which might cause some deniers to reconsider is a good thing IMO.
Of course, I've seen christians on the birdsite try to explain to the Pope that he's wrong too, so... 😑
@arteteco True, though I feel like the sentiment stands with a more everyday meaning too. I was only watching his speech because it was part of a TED event on climate science, so it wasn't aimed at a Catholic audience.