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May 18, 2008
Commuters and cellmongers repent!
I hate the way Sunday has become official morality day. I say this not in criticism of organized religion or morality in general, but because I don't like trickery, and I don't like the way Sundays have become the official day for media to play preacher and promote morality -- especially the newly manufactured morality which appeals to the non-churchgoers with unacknowledged spiritual needs. In today's Inquirer, "our" car culture and our cell phone culture are subjected to good sound scoldings. So, after the poor sinful readers spend their weekdays indulging their decadent lifestyles by commuting to work in their greenhouse-gas-emitting cars and facilitating their needless and wasteful lives by using culturally-destructive cell phones, they need to be shamed on Sunday. If it weren't so predictable and so tired, this would call for a long essay. But I have to go out and commit sins -- of the automotive and telephonic variety -- so I don't have time for a long essay. Forget about atonement. As it is, I never had time to atone for my more pleasurable sins. Atoning for driving and communicating is impossible. (In a way, I don't envy today's preachers, so maybe I shouldn't be too hard on them. It is easier to induce guilt over pleasurable things like recreational sex and drugs. Scolding people who have to do things like commute and communicate simply to make a living must be an uphill battle, as well as a thankless task.)
Comments appreciated, even from anti-media Sabbath-breakers! UPDATE: My thanks to Sean Kinsell for linking this post. Don't miss Sean's devastating critique of the anti-cell phone culture screed. In terms of finger-wagging social commentary, it has everything: a crack analogy, an appeal to some think-tank expert whose qualifications aren't at all established, and compulsive genuflection to a supercilious Brit decrying the decline of civilization. Since I've been making the transition from the cell-phone culture in to that here in the States, I've actually been thinking about these things quite a bit....He has, and it shows. I'm glad Sean took the time to rebut what was a very lame argument. posted by Eric on 05.18.08 at 12:35 PM
Comments
I don't doubt you are onto something with the Sunday connection. By habit and training, after Sunday was the sabbath, it became the day for higher things. Of course, being fallen humans, we worry first about what other people are doing wrong. We still like to preach, and we like it better when there is little danger of preaching being sent back at us. That's an unstable situation, of course, and folks find a way to get their sermon out in a variety of venues, so there is no escape for the rest of us. There was a television PSA when I was a boy "Worship at the church of your choice." I think people do that on Sunday mornings, whether they recognise it or not. Assistant Village Idiot · May 18, 2008 11:44 PM China sold 26.3 million air conditioning units in 2007. But they won't stand for Americans living in homes at 72 degrees. The most explosive growth in car ownership is occurring in Asia, but they don't think its okay for us to drive in our SUV's. Food prices are up world-wide because Chinese and Indians are now eating more meat in their diet, but they are not cool with us eating what we want. Anyone with a brain can destroy Obama's points, and yet he is the Messiah. Aaron · May 18, 2008 11:48 PM Could it be that these articles are more prevalent on Sundays because the Sunday paper tends to contain more sections? - i.e. the scolding is consistent in proportion to the number of pages in that day's paper? It seems to me that the mainstream print and television news outlets simply enjoy scolding the public. Max · May 19, 2008 01:46 AM There are people who tell you 'don't impose your morality on me'. Problem is, those people are frequently quite interested in imposing their morality. Further problem is, their morality is replacing a well-made rapier with a crude stone battle axe. Further problem is, their morality is based on a fraud. Someone's going to impose some morality. I don't even think with the best will, its possible to get away from this. I don't think you want to get away from this because the result would be inhuman. So...Paul and Peter OR Gore and Hillary? Christ or Gaia? Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. One god boasts that his burden is light, and delights in freedom, reason, justice, and love. The other deity seems to be either indifferent or power crazed. One God has actual facts to back up his case. The other depends on 'secret Al-Gor-rhythmns' to make her easily punctured case. One God has suffered challengers for over a millenia and left them broken in his wake. The other can't even last a decade before Michael Cricton shreds her mantle. It might be nice if this world were Star Trek, and sweet reason could banish the tragic and the transcendent. But sweet reason points to the real existence of a real entity, and some people want to make do instead with a faux god that will let them rule over other people rather than humble their own selves before the real thing. Mr. Scheie is, in general, quite right here. Eric R. Ashley · May 19, 2008 01:52 AM China, and Mr. Obama, can kindly bite my ass. the wolf · May 19, 2008 02:49 AM China, and Mr. Obama, can kindly bite my ass. Oh, they will; but probably not kindly. PersonFromPorlock · May 19, 2008 08:15 AM I don't read the Inquirer, so I am spared their posturing. Sometimes I wonder if I might be missing something, but you reassure me that I am not. Eric Blair · May 19, 2008 09:01 AM This kind of thing may be why newspapers are dying. People get tired of being scolded by journalists, editors and the snobs who own newspapers. However that's also why a lot of us stopped going to church. You can't believe in the priest's authority after you've seen him naked. And you can't believe in the honesty of journalists after you've seen them pimping for their partisan favorite or scaring you with their bogeyman de jour But if a man has no rights except what he's allowed by the state, if there are no morals except what is dictated by the state, anything is possible. Anything at all. And nation states have no more morals than an ant heap filled with drones and soldiers serving the queen. dj · May 19, 2008 11:24 AM And they wonder why their circulation numbers continue to tank. ginsocal · May 19, 2008 04:49 PM Post a comment
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Obama just gave a similar sermon in Oregon.
What's funny is that I live in Taiwan and China, and I'm sitting in super cool air-conditioned comfort, about to eat at a restaurant in a culture that encourages over ordering, and then will take a 2 hours drive to a factory in a big SUV.
But Obama thinks people in China won't think its okay for average Americans to have the same creature comforts. Pffft.
I though the Dems claimed they traveled more abroad than Republicans?