Post by Daniel on Jun 17, 2017 7:02:47 GMT -5
A Broken Culture
By Erick Erickson | June 16, 2017
There was a time in the United States when people knew their neighbor. They never thought about “Washington,” but rather knew the answers to their problems were found locally. They relied on family, church, and community. That community would vary from place to place. Each community would be largely homogenous, but then very different from other communities. Each community had its own quirks, but the communities were made up of people from all walks of life.
Over a period of decades, community started fracturing. Americans left the church, abandoning the gospel and with it a common tongue of stories shared between people. They moved off their front porches. Instead of looking ahead and making eye contact, they started looking down at the small bright screen in their hands.
On that screen, they started building new communities. Instead of enjoying the world God made man, man made his own world. In it, he could select the people he wanted there. Five hundred television stations allowed him to curate his entertainment to reflect just him. The internet allowed him to select just the news he wanted to hear. Social media allowed him to abandon the neighbor next door for the digital neighbor with whom he had no need to find common ground because they agreed on everything.
Liking Facebook posts replaced sitting around a table sharing a meal. The coffee conversation at the local diner got replaced with the real time Twitter feed where everyone complained about the same thing, the same way, and all targeted the same group to blame. God made the real world and we see Him reflected in it. Man made his own world and we see his reflection in it. The former is beautiful. Not so much the latter.
That self-created world has become a tribe. In it, people are neighborly, kind, and generous. Out of it, people are not people, but other...
continued..
theresurgent.com/a-broken-culture/
By Erick Erickson | June 16, 2017
There was a time in the United States when people knew their neighbor. They never thought about “Washington,” but rather knew the answers to their problems were found locally. They relied on family, church, and community. That community would vary from place to place. Each community would be largely homogenous, but then very different from other communities. Each community had its own quirks, but the communities were made up of people from all walks of life.
Over a period of decades, community started fracturing. Americans left the church, abandoning the gospel and with it a common tongue of stories shared between people. They moved off their front porches. Instead of looking ahead and making eye contact, they started looking down at the small bright screen in their hands.
On that screen, they started building new communities. Instead of enjoying the world God made man, man made his own world. In it, he could select the people he wanted there. Five hundred television stations allowed him to curate his entertainment to reflect just him. The internet allowed him to select just the news he wanted to hear. Social media allowed him to abandon the neighbor next door for the digital neighbor with whom he had no need to find common ground because they agreed on everything.
Liking Facebook posts replaced sitting around a table sharing a meal. The coffee conversation at the local diner got replaced with the real time Twitter feed where everyone complained about the same thing, the same way, and all targeted the same group to blame. God made the real world and we see Him reflected in it. Man made his own world and we see his reflection in it. The former is beautiful. Not so much the latter.
That self-created world has become a tribe. In it, people are neighborly, kind, and generous. Out of it, people are not people, but other...
continued..
theresurgent.com/a-broken-culture/
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