“In The Making of the President, 1960,[1] Teddy White lamented that TV might spell the death of serious politics: to give a thoughtful response to serious questions, a politician needed a good thirty seconds to ponder, but television allowed only five seconds of silence at best. DDB [the ad agency of Doyle Dane Bernbach[2]] found […]
The Speed of Emotion Read More »
(All indented paragraphs are partial quotes from, or are based on portions of, the Judgment at Nuremberg film script, screen play by Abby Mann.)Sixty-three years ago (1947), the United States conducted a trial examining the issue of individual complicity of justice officials in crimes committed while in the service of the German state. This trial
(“Private” reflections for Miltonites*) What does one do when captured by a phrase? The phrase, “Our minds tell us, and history confirms …” comes from page 2 of Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom. He uses it to protest excessive government, and he is probably (mostly) right, BUT somehow, he seems entirely unconscious of the “private”
What …? If …? How …? Read More »
▪ Free of civility so anyone can say anything in passionate defense of one-sidedness.1▪ Free to demand that the American eagle fly as a one-winged bird.2▪ Free of laws and regulations so every business and financial institution can be a profiteer and scrutineer unto itself.3▪ Free of memory so the re-cycling of “boom and bust”
Technology as servant can and does bless the world in numerous ways. Technology as master is another story. Consider: ▪ reams of paper that computer printers spew into scrap bins in endless pursuit of the perfect document;▪ WALL•E1 landscapes of electronic scrap trashed in pursuit of the latest, greatest;▪ electronic-sitters that are too overwhelmingly convenient
Technology: Servant or Master? Read More »
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (New Testament Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13, “No servant …”) These words were spoken nigh 2,000 years ago, and perhaps never
A Proliferation of Masters Read More »
(or When are we going to open our eyes and ears that we might SEE and HEAR?!!)“Almost thou persuadest me [NOT] to be a Christian!”1 That was my first reaction upon reading an email forward sent by a good Christian lady. So here is my latest “whoa, woe, whoa!!!” This church sister introduced her “forward”
The Looming Great Divorce Read More »