For those who missed the point of my Sept. 24 blog, I merely addressed the issue of “discovery” of other peoples’ territories to challenge the myth that our continent was not “discovered” until Europeans found it and to try a little role reversal. I did that because I found lots of double standards which our society merely takes for granted as the only way we’re allowed to look at things.

I played a little role reversal in my recent "dream" blog. What if Holocaust refugees landed on our shores and we were forced to sacrifice our lands for them. How would we react? Do people of other countries and religions have the same rights we do?

Apparently, some critics get angry when I raise such questions or when I do not look at things they way they want me to. Instead of pointing out flaws in my reasoning or providing empirical data, such critics often resort to politically correct short cuts, such as name-calling, spin, false accusations and personal attacks.

Instead of applying the same criteria for judgment to the claims that Columbus discovered America and Fortunate Eagle discovered Italy, one critic accused me of either Catholic or Liberal “guilt.” Yet, there was nothing in my little account of Fortunate Eagle’s gesture that had anything to do with guilt.

It wasn’t the first time I’ve been accused of “Catholic guilt” by people who don't want to face some unpleasant truths about American history and who never bother to define what they mean by "Catholic guilt." So I will try to fill in that gap:

Guilt is the emotional and mental equivalent of pain. We usually dislike pain so much we take great pains (ouch) to suppress it. But pain is a good thing; it alerts us to something very wrong in our physical system. Taking a pill to deaden the pain doesn’t address the cause of the pain.

Similarly, guilt is a good thing; it alerts us to something very wrong in our actions or lack of actions. People like to stereotype us Catholics as guilt-ridden, but the stereotypers rarely distinguish between realistic and unrealistic guilt. Sometimes we engage in unrealistic guilt when we blame ourselves for things out of our control. Kids sometimes blame themselves for their parents’ divorce. War veterans sometimes blame themselves for surviving a battle that killed their buddies.

But, sometimes guilt is realistic. We truly have something to feel guilty about. In such cases our conscience impels us to redress the wrongs we have committed or, at least, to recognize the wrongs we did so we don’t repeat such wrongs. But there are pressures today to try to cover up realistic guilt by pretending it is unrealistic. It's a lot easier to be irresponsible.

But guilt is not responsibility. As an American citizen, I am not guilty of driving Native tribes off their lands, kidnapping and enslaving black people, or herding Aleuts and Americans of Japanese descent during World War II. I do not feel guilty about those actions. But I am responsible for ensuring we don’t do such things in the future and to find some way of bringing justice to those victims of injustice. Reasonable people may differ on the prudence of individual attempts to restore justice. But I do not believe reasonable people should differ on whether such actions were unjust. Taking the political spin pill doesn't end the injustice.

Critics of the “dumbing down” of America often complain our kids don’t know our history. I don’t know whether Brian Sweeney, The_Insider, and other respondents say they want more “dumbing down.” But I do know they resist attempts to recognize some of the more unpleasant aspects of our history. Such resistance takes the form of spin phrases like “blaming America first,” “looking backwards instead of forwards,” and, now, “Catholic or Liberal guilt.” Kids aren’t going to learn our history if we hide it from them. Trying to hide the injustice with the political spin pill doesn't undo history any more than the Holocaust deniers have gone back in history and prevented that crime from ever having happened.

My advice to you guys is grow up, take responsibility for your behaviors and contribute, not to the “dumbing down” of America but to actual thoughtful dialog. The same is true for our own country; we won’t grow up as a nation unless we have the courage to face the bad things our leaders and their supporters did and admit them honestly without excuses, without political spin, without sticking labels on people who dare to tell the truth. You may think you’re fooling the rest of us but I suspect you’re fooling only yourselves.