And may your....

Our trust in our culture and its traditions and norms is what makes us human. That trust has eroded in the key parts of our culture; Government, Law, Media etc. Perhaps nowhere more obvious has been in the decline in trust in formal religion. Most recently there has been a study published in USA on religion by PRRI who style themselves as "a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to conducting independent research and driving conversations at the intersection of religion, culture, and politics." As we approach the holy days of Easter beloved in most Christian faiths, it is a time to reflect on where we are as a people. I identify as a Roman Catholic but I am not a fond follower of organized religion. I encourage you to read the report and reflect on where you stand. To me and it would seem many others, organized religion does not meet our needs for spiritual health. The emergence of a right wing pro-Christian dogma dominated group of affiliates that are inserting themselves into so many nations' politics is unwelcome. 

So during this time of Easter, I would encourage you to watch one of the most erudite Irish Satirists - Dave Allen. Here he is on religion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G43bObLAQt8 

May you and your family have a happy and blessed Easter. And as he always signed off. May your god go with you.

Is streaming making us stupid?

 

 

In the good old days of broadcast only media our content was selected for us by - well - experts. We got reliability. We had news and entertainment and we could tell the difference between the two. We also had a good differential between local and national (terrible for International in the USA but that's another story). When streaming content came along, first we lost many radio stations. Cable too gave us more choice. Then something very weird happened we got Netflix. 

Actually, Netflix was really good. And soon enough it became the largest single unit of bandwidth consumption on the internet. The cable channels were replaced by piles of drivel. The line between paid and editorial was completely lost. What did we do? WE became masters of the universe - er - univers(al) remote. 

We chose only the stuff we liked. No serendipity, no joy of alternative views. We could easily tune them out. Aren't we clever!

But, well what really happened is that we descended into our own echo chamber. It gets worse. The powers that be (yes you know who you are), figured out how to prove how stupid we are. 

So think about it. What makes us so expert in choosing the stuff we should listen to or watch. What credentials do we have for making those good decisions? What are we missing out on?

And yes... how did we get so stupid?

Have you have yourself a nice day (smiley face emoji)...