You may wonder why I am starting this blog….
I debated whether to start a Facebook page, but there are so many who are doing the heavy lifting for us there it would be merely redundant. I am also thinking about a Twitter acount, but am still trying to figure out what the point is. Their celebrities and politicians are increasingly making use of it, so anywhere politicians are found, I suspect we will find something useful to extending our domain as well. As far as tweets go, the instant gratification part is something we certainly understand, and the constant self-absorption is, of course, our stock and trade, but how much use could Twitter possibly be?
I know, we had a huge success with PowerPoint, but you can’t possibly get lucky all the time. Perhaps Twitter will turn out to be another way they endlessly amuse themselves, right into our loving embrace. Of course, they don’t see true problems until it is too late. For example, they create technologies of social interaction, but they bleed away the empathy from actual relationships as a result. Just think about how the hive mind functions to change the meaning of the word friend.
I must confess, I see the benefit of technology in ways I could not see before. This is one reason why I love the humans so. They create things that end up creating them instead and then don’t see problems down the road. They run ahead of their ability to reflect morally about where their creations take them and then seem shocked when things blow up in their faces. We have extended ourselves deeply into their world through the words, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we could …?” You can complete the sentence with almost anything.
Jeffrey C. Pugh, Devil’s Ink: Blog from the Basement Office (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2011), pp. 1-2.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Richard 01.08.12 at 9:07 pm
I’m sorely tempted to get the Kindle edition so I can start reading immediately. Would that be an irony?
Jason Goroncy 01.09.12 at 3:01 am
Wow. Did God really say?
Thanks Kim
A decent book?
Kim 01.09.12 at 7:04 am
Half way through it, I’d say more than decent. Pugh acknowledges the influence of Zizek, and as you’d expect from the author of Religionless Christianity: Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Troubled Times (2008), the tails of Bonhoeffer (and Barth) poke out regularly. And it’s got a Hauerwas blurb on the back cover. Critiques of control, violence, religion, purity, “reality” and “realism”, theodicy, the New Atheists, etc. My biggest complaint is that the idea for just such a little book has been at the back of my mind for a while now. And now it will have to stay there!
Pam 01.09.12 at 7:59 am
Is Hauerwas the theologian who swears? Therefore it’s okay to be a potty-mouth?
Pam 01.09.12 at 8:55 am
Just hate to mock the brethren, but…..
loved that little reference to Alzheimer sufferers in your latest contribution at F&T Kim. However, it may not be the sufferers who have to reconstruct their lives everyday but their spouses/partners who have to do that. I’m involved with some voluntary work with Alzheimer sufferers - of course, that’s when I’m not chatting to strange men on the internet.
Pam 01.09.12 at 9:11 am
Gosh, my comments haven’t been deleted!
Of course, they would have been on Jason’s blog because he doesn’t like anyone having a ‘poke’ at anyone else on his blog. Does he Kim?
Jason Goroncy 01.09.12 at 9:45 am
Thanks Kim. Don’t let that put you off. Mr Screwtape loves to tell, and the world’s Wormwoods are only ever too happy to listen. I’d love to see you pen such a book. I know of no-one who would do it better! Cheers. J
Pam 01.09.12 at 9:47 am
And now I’ll tell you about my swimming (something I also do when not talking to strange men on the internet).
From Kate Jennings’ ‘Trouble’:
The English novelist Iris Murdoch - Dame Iris, these days - has described herself as a devoted swimmer. Her bathing consists, apparently, of slipping into the Thames and cruising around like a ‘water rat’. To her way of thinking, a river is ‘very poetical…much more so than a swimming pool, which is just a machine for exercising in.’ That last statement had me muttering under my breath. Pools are not exercise machines. To the contrary: they are a world of lyric experience.
Our experience of pools is visceral; they appeal vividly to all the senses. In this regard, they are an object lesson to architects and designers, too often caught up with the ideational. And if you do exercise in them - up, down, up, down - they have a powerful effect on disposition. In the space of half an hour, a swimmer goes from irritability to elation to placidity. The discipline of tile and water is yogic; an overwrought mind is brought back to basics.”
I like freestyle and butterfly best.
Now isn’t that more interesting than a Satan’s Blog?
Jason Goroncy 01.09.12 at 9:56 am
@Pam: there are different kinds of poking, only some of which is to be encouraged.
Richard 01.09.12 at 11:33 am
I’m sure I’m missing something here.
I’ve downloaded the book - looks like a good read.
devilbloggger 01.09.12 at 6:17 pm
Don’t forget — there really is a Satan’s Blog. See it at http://www.bloggingsatan.com.
Pam 01.09.12 at 9:09 pm
@ Jason: Of course. You know best!
Kim 01.11.12 at 7:09 pm
loved that little reference to Alzheimer sufferers in your latest contribution at F&T Kim. However, it may not be the sufferers who have to reconstruct their lives everyday but their spouses/partners who have to do that.
That’s a great point, Pam.
Pam 01.11.12 at 10:13 pm
Thank you Kim.
There’s a lady I work with (in my voluntary capacity) called “U” who is an Alzheimer’s sufferer. Our 12 seater bus collects her last of all, her husband helps me get her onto the bus, kisses her goodbye and says “have a lovely day”. Then she asks my name, every time, and we sit together until we reach our destination for the day. It’s the best day of the week for me.