Things the Internet Has Killed (Part 1)

There was an interesting essay in Newsweek a couple weeks back.  It can be found in its entirety here.  (It is a photo-essay.)

The essay, in photo format, listed the following things as casualties of the internet.

1. The 9 to 5 Workday
2. The Video Store
3. Concentration
4. Civility
5. The CD
6. The Telephone Book
7. Letter Writing
8. Vacations
9. Privacy
10. Facts
11. Polaroids and other Film
12. Reference Books
13. Yearbooks
14. Peep Shows and Adult Bookstores

There's way too much here to tackle all at once, so I'll break this up into a couple (or three or four) posts.

9 to 5 Workday- This cuts both ways.  Newsweek's take is that we end up working all hours of the day, weekends, and holidays since 'the boss' can send us something via email or smartphone to which we need to respond regardless of the hour or day.  That can certainly be true, but it doesn't have to be.  Smartphones have an 'off' button, and email doesn't have to stay open on your desktop, nor do you have to carry your computer with you out to the driveway to play catch with your kids.  (If you've tried to call me on my cellphone on a Saturday or Sunday, you got to leave a message...empirical proof that smartphones don't have to stay on 24/7, in spite of what my wife thinks.

I certainly appreciate the availability of quick contact when needed.  As someone who is responsible for a facility (my college campus), a family (wife and kids), and a job (the VP and Provost who are my bosses), sometimes it is important that I be available.  On the other hand, as the boss(I'm a campus dean), I don't recall ever phoning my employees after hours unless we were going to close the campus due to weather; and I don't recall emailing anything to them after hours unless it was something for them to deal with the next day at work.  This can certainly be abused, but I try not to abuse it, and I can't say my bosses have ever abused it either.

There are also a good number of reasons why a 9 to 5 workday has become, in some ways, obsolete.  But try to convince the federal government of that fact.  (Recall George Bush's inauguration speech in January of 2005...one of the things he committed himself to do was to 'fix overtime for the private sector'.  It didn't happen.  The feds are just too big and too entrenched to fix, sometimes even if you are the president.  It's easy to make things worse (just ask Mr. Obama about that), but very hard to make them better.


The Video Store-  I'm sure you've all seen this happening.  In fact, I recall reading the prognosticators talking about how the internet would kill Blockbuster twelve or thirteen years ago, before there was much of any live streaming of movies.  Now the only thing new about this concept is trying to figure out what other related parts of our entertainment lives will be changed by the web.

I'll say more about this one when I discuss number 14 in another post.

Concentration- This one is sure to spark some debate among those who've thought about it much.  On the one hand, we have folks telling us how the internet, text messaging, Twitter, Facebook, etc. are all working together to damage our brains and make us unable to relate to other people, focus on a single task for more than a few seconds, or even to think about abstract things at any depth.  On the other hand, a different set of folks is telling us that all the interaction with multimedia is keeping our brains healthier (the use-it-or-lose-it phenomenon), especially among the 70+ crowd who have finally started adopting computers and the internet, even if they still can't program their VCR (see above for why this never-learned task suddenly became a moot point).

I don't know where this one is going, but I do have some idea that it didn't start with the internet or social media.  I've had a theory for years that much of what is now called ADD/ADHD in children is simply the results of conditioning by too much television consumption.  It isn't the programs that are the problem, its the commercials. 

The average time an image stays on screen during a TV commercial is about 0.8 seconds.  Pay attention next time you have the TV on, and try to do the 'thousand and one' or the 'one mississippi' count during commercials, and you'll see what I mean.  Now, throw in thousands of those commercials, and think of the affects that this exposure has on the brains of two- and three-year-olds.  They learn to not concentrate by rote.  Parents who regularly read (yes, from a book) to their children don't seem to have nearly the trouble with attention that their counterparts who don't read to their young children.  Think about that- reading involves a child engaging her mind on a single topic for a period of time...five, ten, or even thirty minutes or more.  The imagination is used instead of sensory input, and the focus mechanism is honed and conditioned for use. 

This one will be worth watching for the near future...it should be within the next five years or so that we see any marked changes in concentration ability in teens who've been sending twelve thousand text messages a month instead of focusing on what they are doing.  That is, we should have some good evidence whether these changes are developmental (can't be easily reversed) or simply sociological (can be easily reversed).


Enough for this post...I'll pick this up in a day or two.

I Love the 1590s

Other than missing the date by about 70 years, this was pretty funny.  Probably even funnier if you are a Lutheran or a German (I'm neither).  But to anyone in the reformed tradition, it's worth a watch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJewiD6YaSk&feature=related

Remember Pearl Harbor! (And St. Crispian's Day)

Today marks the 69th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. 

There are fewer and fewer veterans left who were there...I think the number is in the low hundreds now.  One of the indicators of the gravity of that event is, that even after all these years, many of the veterans of that event choose to be buried in the military cemetery that is comprised of the USS Arizona.  Some of them left good friends there, others just can't get past the events that changed their lives so much in a couple of hours on that December morning.

I honor those who served there, and everywhere else and every-when else, on this day.  Thank you for your service!

Many are aware of the excerpt from Shakespeare's Henry the Fifth St. Crispain's Day speech because of the TV series Band of Brothers.  I'd like to run a bit more of this in honor of those who served, because it truly captures some part of what it means to have been in combat together with your brothers-in-arms.

[The work of Shakespeare is in the public domain, but I borrowed this copy from this web site.  There is a short explanation of the historical events in which Shakespeare placed his fictional speech...interesting read.]

This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.

    He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,

    Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,

    And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

    He that shall live this day, and see old age,

    Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,

    And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'

    Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,

    And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'

    

Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,

    But he'll remember, with advantages,

    What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,

    Familiar in his mouth as household words-

    Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,

    Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-

    Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.

    This story shall the good man teach his son;

    And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,

    From this day to the ending of the world,

    But we in it shall be remembered-

    We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

    For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

    Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,

    This day shall gentle his condition;

    And gentlemen in England now-a-bed

    Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,

    And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

    That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

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Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

I often hear this question, or some variation of it, from well-meaning folks.  But the question is really not a valid one.  A better question would be, "Why do good things happen to bad people?"

You see, there was only ever on truly good person in history, and bad things happened to him.  He was humiliated in public, turned over by a terrorist mob to an oppressive government, and tortured to death.  And all this was in my place (and yours).  I (and you) were guilty of all the charges the angry mob made, and more, but he was innocent, as the judge at one of his sham trials declared.  Nonetheless, that same judge handed him over to the military for torture and execution.

And we wonder why bad things happen to us?

R. C. Sproul, in his book The Holiness of God put it this way-

“If ever a person had room to complain of injustice it was Jesus. He was the only innocent man ever to be punished by God. If we stagger at the wrath of God, let us stagger at the cross. Here is where our astonishment should be focused. If we have cause for moral outrage, let it be directed at Golgotha.”

“The cross was at once the most horrible and the most beautiful example of God’s wrath. It was the most just and the most gracious act in history. God would have been more than unjust, He would have been diabolical to punish Jesus if Jesus had not first willingly taken upon Himself the sins of the world. Once Christ had done that, once He volunteered to be the Lamb of God, laden with our sin, then He became the most grotesque and vile thing on this planet. With the concentrated load of sin He carried, He became utterly repugnant to the Father. God poured out His wrath on this obscene thing. God made Christ accursed for the sin He bore. Herein was God’s holy justice perfectly manifest. Yet it was done for us. He took what justice demanded from us. This ‘for us’ aspect of the cross is what displays the majesty of its grace. At the same time justice and grace, wrath and mercy. It is too astonishing to fathom.” (Holiness of God, p. 121)

And all this happened to the most righteous "good" person who ever lived.

Understanding why bad things happened to a genuinely good man in history is the most crucial (pun intended) thing you or I will ever seek to know.  And the answer will change your future for all eternity.

A Woman's Perspective on the TSA's Abridgement of the 4th Amendment

Amy Scott has written a two-part story about her experience and views on the illegal search methods employed by our government at airports.  This is a great read, especially for anyone who wants more than just a, just-the-facts-ma'am look at it.

Here's part 1.

Here's part 2.

Good read...don't skip it.

Great Book Giveway (Includes ESV Bible)

Zach Neilsen is giving away a pack of books this week.  These are all definite must-haves...they include-

Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God by John Piper
Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears
Surprised by Grace: God's Relentless Pursuit of Rebels by Tullian Tchividjian
What Did You Expect?: Redeeming the Realities of Marriage by Paul Tripp
Rescuing Ambition by Dave Harvey
ESV Thinline Bible

Here is the link where you can read his blog and enter the drawing.

Why 'Xmas' Is Not, and Should Not, Be Offensive to Believers

R. C. Sproul gives a good concise explanation why the use of the term Xmas is not offensive nor an attempt to remove Christ from Christmas.

If you don't follow Ligonier's blog, you should...there are two or three useful little articles a day, just like this one.

Friday Follies- Help You Make it To Your Flight

Here's a good one from Buck Howdy over on YouTube.  It is to the tune of Help Me Make It Through The Night by Kris Kristofferson.

The Last Vestige of Theology Around Christmas (Music!)

I've long been interested in hymns and their stories.  I have multiple iterations of those hymn-story books, and love reading about the origins and meanings of some of the hymns therein.  I especially enjoy reading about songs that are more than two hundred years old.

As Christmas season approaches, it isn't too hard to see that there is really little theology left in the holiday.  It has become secularized and commercialized (more of the latter, which results in the former, I think).  The last vestige of any theology outside church services is found in some of the Christmas music that has remained popular in spite of their lyrics.  Here's an example- I have XM/Sirius satellite radio in a couple of my vehicles, and I tune in to the couple of seasonal stations that they put up during the holidays.  One, called Holly, is really about as secular as it can get, and is new music, so I don't listen much.  The other, called Holiday Traditions, is more older stuff that we heard when I was a kid.  (But note, there is no Xmas hint in the station's title.)  The Holiday Traditions station plays a lot of secular seasonal music, but occasionally slips in a religious Christmas song, if it was performed by one of the greats (Crosby, Martin, Presley, etc.).  I heard Hark! The Herald Angels Sing yesterday.  Have you ever paid attention to the lyrics to that song?  The gospel is in there, and it can't be confused with any moralistic therapeutic deism, much less secular winter solstice worship.

Pete Scribner, over on his Sola Gratia blog (which I both follow and recommend), has just posted a couple of really neat posts about the song O Come, O Come Emmanuel. 

The first post of the pair is here, and the second is here. 

He talks about several aspects of this song, but also about how the real Christmas music works year-round, because it isn't oriented toward a holiday, but toward the gospel, at least the part of the gospel that is the incarnation of Christ.  I don't think the gospel orientation is why the songs have become traditions...if anything, the wording is offensive to secular culture and in many cases the lyrics get changed to fit the artist's taste (heard Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas lately?  It's not even a religious song, but the line, ...if the Lord allows has been changed to, ...if the fates allow.  And they say Calvinists are fatalists...).  I think R. C. Sproul got it right, in the video of the Q and A time at one of the Ligonier national conferences, when he points out that the high church music lasts because it is complex and strives to glorify God rather than be simple to perform; that's why the music has become a landmark.

But enough analysis.  Give these posts a read...they are worth the time taken as a devotional this time of year.

She Will NOT Be Silenced

Dr. Laura's blog today needs to be passed on.  Even if you don't always agree with her, what she says is courageous and needs to be repeated.

Here's the blog.

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