Acton Unwind

The title says it all—interesting and informative discussions on timely topics.

This was a well presented podcast, reflective, balanced, intelligent. Clearer on synodality than other things I’ve read. The other items were interesting as well, but the lay theology articulated gave me hope for both Orthodox and Catholic Churches.

Permit me to begin on the good foot. The content or subject matter of the Acton Unwind Podast is always interesting, relevant to current events, and timely. As others have observed, the crew members are thoughtful and usually mostly well informed abut the subjects they address. My criticisms are primarily matters of delivery. Eric does a superlative job of moderating the discussions. Occassionally, rarely, his observations about a particular topic are expressed in a condescending and dogmatic fashion. The reader and he will ask for specific examples. I have one. I do not recall the podcast date or title, but he asserted tha the American Civil War was about slavery and nothing else. Then he went on to make his point. Let me just say he is not current on the subject of the causes of the American Civil War. Perhaps if he had stated that in his view of the matter the Civil War was solely about slavery, he would have been on solid grounds upon which a discussion could be had. Dan pontificates when he delivers his knowledgeable and well informed comments. Unfortunately for the clarity of his remarks, he constantly punctuates his remarks with the annoying verbal place holder "you know." Please stop saying "you know." The Buckley School of Public Speaking in Camden, SC will cure you of this awful habit. Emily's audio cuts in and out too often. I recognize this issue may not be her fault. I have a hard time following her train of thought - probably my issue. Also, her terminology frequently is incorrect. The specific example I will give is in the discussion of in vitro fertilization in episode 122 she (and Eric) referred to the Catholic Church's teaching about IVF as a stance. No, the Church has a teaching about IVF, not a stance. "Stance" communicates the idea of a negotiable position or opinion. A teaching is a firm statement of belief,and in the case of the Catholic Church a teaching is binding on the faithful. While I do not always agree with Dylan (or the others), when he is on the crew he is just about perfect. Despite my fault finding, I am a faithful listener, although I frequently fall a month or two behind in listening.

Interesting pod. But, the gist of that conversation was that, yeah, there are a lot of bad things for men out there and they need to do better. So, at the end of the day, men’s problem are their own and they should get over it. Women and children hardest hit.