Train wrecks, Books, and Jesus as a bloody, thorn covered bat....
I am 2 weeks into No Facebook. 2 weeks. 14 days. I have only been tempted once. Our community voted on a school bond 1/8, and there was a flurry of information, misinformation, opinions, and some train wrecks, I would have loved to correct and watch. That is the truth. And while this was going on and I felt the pull (and a husband who said he wouldn't hold it against me if I went to peek), I questioned what that said about myself. Did you catch that? I wanted to watch people in my community not be nice to each other.
Its been a slow creep to get where we are today. Phil Donahue, Oprah, Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, Yahoo Groups, My Space, Facebook, Twitter. And now we are a society which eviscerates each other for sport. Even our news agencies use information as a weapon.... They are less news and more opinion with a sprinkling of facts, but only facts that agree with the side your news is camped on. With this realization of what we have become, we should all give pause when Bernie Sanders wants to split this country up into 12 Districts. (Google for yourself, I am not putting links into a story because it rots your brain. Read The Shallows) Yeah, its for "jobs creation", but isn't that what each district in the Hunger Games was for? Each one specialized in something the country needed? Its not a huge leap to get from online verbal evisceration to watching verbal evisceration to watching real evisceration. It just takes time. And we are doing it to ourselves.
Wow. I digressed pretty quick from 14 days off Facebook to sacrificing children.
I wonder if those in Nazi Germany could foresee going from armbands for the Jews, Gays, Catholics, Gypsies, Others to loading them up in trains and gassing them.... I am sure those ringing the first bells that this path was dangerous were looked on with mockery and disbelief. The irony is we haven't had some Government dividing us (oh be sure, every administration plays to it), but we have done it to ourselves. We label ourselves. We divide ourselves, remove others from our groups, we look to pass laws to protect special groups. Save the passing laws to protect certain groups, The libertarian part of me is fine sub-dividing ourselves until we get to the Individual, because the smallest minority is the One. The Individual. But I don't think that's where this division will end up. Its not going to end up in a glorious celebration on the Rights of Man. Its going to end up with some wearing bands and some holding the gas.
I dont want to be either. But for about 2 days so far this month, it could have gone either way. And in all Truth, it could go either way with you too. And I dont think this realization is a bad thing. Knowing this about myself inoculates me to a certain extent from thinking "Oh, that could never happen to me", because, that is a Lie. It could happen to you. You could wear the band, and you could hold the gas.
Those that vote different from me are not my enemy. Heck, most people vote different than me, and it would be a lonely and weird community if I isolated myself politically. But I know that is not the reality for most. Most have half of the Country that agrees with them, and half they believe are wrong. And that's not Truth. Even with people who are across the political spectrum can find commonality on many things. We have been conditioned to see the differences instead of seeing the alikes.
I read a bunch of things. I read things by Conservatives, Progressives, Historically skewed books, Propaganda on both sides. I also read more than 1 at a time. There are times I have to stop and think or escape to a different rabbit hole. Right now, I was listening to Addicted to Outrage (it was obviously something God thought I needed to hear as it came available from my Holds about a week ago) as well as Imbeciles. If you were to take both on face value, you would assume one was "right" and one was "left". You would be mistaken. The one you would take as Right, nails both the Right and the Left and smattered with a ton of personal apologies and mea culpas, lands outside Left and Right. And the one I thought would be a Left book turned out to be pretty honest in regards to Progressives, Academia, Doctors, Religiouses. Both books made me look at myself. Actually, every book makes me look at myself - isnt that the wonderful thing about books? I check my heart, my head, my God.
After the Outrage book, I am adding another phrase to my Ink and Volt planner (there is another blog post about this perfection). 1. God. 2. People. How is what I am doing, saying, behaving, driving, interacting, reflecting my God and treating People. How would your online life, your life in your car, your life in WM or Target, change when held up to these 2 things? All the Commandments hang on God and People. Hang. So, there are little hooks on these 2 words... If my words are unbecoming, there isnt a hook to hang it on....
I want to go on a tiny tangent. One thing I do not miss about FB is how Jesus is used to justify political leanings. He has been turned from the Savior who died to bring you freedom and salvation, to a bloody, thorn covered bat to beat the other side. Seriously. He is used to beat those that He died for.... Both sides do it. Stop. If ever the inclination is there to type what you think Jesus would do, leave your keyboard and go spend some time with Him. My bet is you will feel differently upon returning to social media.
So, that is where I am. A lot of introspection. A lot of time reading my Bible and tons of different studies on YouVersion. Books. And tons of Crochet. Apparently, my fingers are still working tirelessly even when not on a keyboard. And I am throwing out crap that doesnt bring me Joy. And that goes for things inside of me as well....
**I do realize that I make up words. Coining is the actual word for making up words. Sometimes there just isnt the right word to convey what I want, so I make it up, you get it, and we both go on. I adore and miss you people.
Its been a slow creep to get where we are today. Phil Donahue, Oprah, Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, Yahoo Groups, My Space, Facebook, Twitter. And now we are a society which eviscerates each other for sport. Even our news agencies use information as a weapon.... They are less news and more opinion with a sprinkling of facts, but only facts that agree with the side your news is camped on. With this realization of what we have become, we should all give pause when Bernie Sanders wants to split this country up into 12 Districts. (Google for yourself, I am not putting links into a story because it rots your brain. Read The Shallows) Yeah, its for "jobs creation", but isn't that what each district in the Hunger Games was for? Each one specialized in something the country needed? Its not a huge leap to get from online verbal evisceration to watching verbal evisceration to watching real evisceration. It just takes time. And we are doing it to ourselves.
Wow. I digressed pretty quick from 14 days off Facebook to sacrificing children.
I wonder if those in Nazi Germany could foresee going from armbands for the Jews, Gays, Catholics, Gypsies, Others to loading them up in trains and gassing them.... I am sure those ringing the first bells that this path was dangerous were looked on with mockery and disbelief. The irony is we haven't had some Government dividing us (oh be sure, every administration plays to it), but we have done it to ourselves. We label ourselves. We divide ourselves, remove others from our groups, we look to pass laws to protect special groups. Save the passing laws to protect certain groups, The libertarian part of me is fine sub-dividing ourselves until we get to the Individual, because the smallest minority is the One. The Individual. But I don't think that's where this division will end up. Its not going to end up in a glorious celebration on the Rights of Man. Its going to end up with some wearing bands and some holding the gas.
I dont want to be either. But for about 2 days so far this month, it could have gone either way. And in all Truth, it could go either way with you too. And I dont think this realization is a bad thing. Knowing this about myself inoculates me to a certain extent from thinking "Oh, that could never happen to me", because, that is a Lie. It could happen to you. You could wear the band, and you could hold the gas.
Those that vote different from me are not my enemy. Heck, most people vote different than me, and it would be a lonely and weird community if I isolated myself politically. But I know that is not the reality for most. Most have half of the Country that agrees with them, and half they believe are wrong. And that's not Truth. Even with people who are across the political spectrum can find commonality on many things. We have been conditioned to see the differences instead of seeing the alikes.
I read a bunch of things. I read things by Conservatives, Progressives, Historically skewed books, Propaganda on both sides. I also read more than 1 at a time. There are times I have to stop and think or escape to a different rabbit hole. Right now, I was listening to Addicted to Outrage (it was obviously something God thought I needed to hear as it came available from my Holds about a week ago) as well as Imbeciles. If you were to take both on face value, you would assume one was "right" and one was "left". You would be mistaken. The one you would take as Right, nails both the Right and the Left and smattered with a ton of personal apologies and mea culpas, lands outside Left and Right. And the one I thought would be a Left book turned out to be pretty honest in regards to Progressives, Academia, Doctors, Religiouses. Both books made me look at myself. Actually, every book makes me look at myself - isnt that the wonderful thing about books? I check my heart, my head, my God.
After the Outrage book, I am adding another phrase to my Ink and Volt planner (there is another blog post about this perfection). 1. God. 2. People. How is what I am doing, saying, behaving, driving, interacting, reflecting my God and treating People. How would your online life, your life in your car, your life in WM or Target, change when held up to these 2 things? All the Commandments hang on God and People. Hang. So, there are little hooks on these 2 words... If my words are unbecoming, there isnt a hook to hang it on....
I want to go on a tiny tangent. One thing I do not miss about FB is how Jesus is used to justify political leanings. He has been turned from the Savior who died to bring you freedom and salvation, to a bloody, thorn covered bat to beat the other side. Seriously. He is used to beat those that He died for.... Both sides do it. Stop. If ever the inclination is there to type what you think Jesus would do, leave your keyboard and go spend some time with Him. My bet is you will feel differently upon returning to social media.
So, that is where I am. A lot of introspection. A lot of time reading my Bible and tons of different studies on YouVersion. Books. And tons of Crochet. Apparently, my fingers are still working tirelessly even when not on a keyboard. And I am throwing out crap that doesnt bring me Joy. And that goes for things inside of me as well....
**I do realize that I make up words. Coining is the actual word for making up words. Sometimes there just isnt the right word to convey what I want, so I make it up, you get it, and we both go on. I adore and miss you people.
I rather enjoy Beck 2.0. In the past, I could take about 2 seconds of him (and Hannity and Limbaugh, etc.) I recently listened to an interview of him on a left-leaning podcast and the host didn't know what to do with the guy. It was great.
ReplyDeleteI love made-up words. Keep up the great work.
Deep thoughts are my favorite. I am adding both those books to my reading list. I love reading books where you can see people evolve especially into something better, and that inspire the deep contemplation that grows my thinking as well.
ReplyDelete