Kicking Ass & Taking Names

Not the name of a band, though it should be. I recently got taken to task (and, happily, sided with) in an online discussion, for suggesting that it is better to give someone the benefit of the doubt regarding their motivations if they take an action with which you disagree.
The very phrase "online discussion" should have been a warning klaxon there to run, hide and not get involved. As Alice said, I always give myself such very good advice, yet I very seldom follow it.
Anyway, on the same-ish subject, this from Mark Shea:

"I have long ago abandoned the Magic Bullet School of Explaining the Scandal. I don't think there is a "The Explanation" for it. I think there are lots of contributing factors: clericalism, gay mafia, fear, bishops who think like bureaucrats instead of like shepherds, and much much more.

"But one thing that has disturbed me has been the number of people who, at bottom, don't seem to really believe in grace or mercy. People, in fact, who habitually tend to regard mercy as weakness and charity as stupid softness. I shouldn't be shocked, of course. I'm the one that continually says that it is the Church's teaching on mercy, not sex, that is the most offensive and obnoxious item in its entire corpus of teaching. And I frequently get letters from readers remonstrating with me to take a Minimum Daily Adult Requirement attitude to mercy, telling me it's "wrong" to forgive people who have not directly harmed me (but not wrong to sit in judgment of such persons), urging maximalist approaches to the death penalty, constantly looking for ways to excommunicate, exclude, condemn, kick ass, and take names."