Happening to New People
Sunday we observed the command God laid upon Isaiah, Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. (Isa 8:12) For it is the tendency of all of us in distressing situations to attempt to regain a measure of control. Information and explanation provide this: “What is happening?!” So we turn to the news-media, which, with its 24/7 stomach and its Hollywood smile and its Wall Street heart, is largely composed of a little raw data overlaid with a lot of presupposition and pandering-opinionizing.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 says, What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, 'See! This is new!' It has been already in the ages before us. The author of Ecclesiastes, we should point out, wrote roughly 3,000 years ago. Since then, only one new thing has happened. Only one thing has happened that is truly, genuinely, new. And we call it The Good News.
But before I begin to preach-write, I’ll stop with that said and go on to a sampling of quotes. These are, by and large though not entirely, quotes from Christian authors whom I respect. They relate to either complaints about the news-media or to related subjects. I’ve been collecting them for a little while now in order that I might share them in a Midweek. So, here you are. The quotes are placed from oldest to most recent, and occasionally include a comment. Enjoy!
From: William Cowper, “The Progress of Error,” (c. 1782; note: emphasis added)
How shall I speak thee, or thy power address,
Thou god of our idolatry, the Press?
By thee religion, liberty, and laws,
Exert their influence, and advance their cause:
By thee worse plagues than Pharaoh's land befel,
Diffused, make earth the vestibule of hell;
Thou fountain, at which drink the good and wise;
Thou ever-bubbling spring of endless lies:
Like Eden's dread probationary tree,
Knowledge of good and evil is from thee.
No wild enthusiast ever yet could rest,
Till half mankind were like himself possess'd.
Philosopl'ers, who darken and put out
Eternal truth by everlasting doubt...
[Note: Whoa! 250 years ago "the Press" was already regarded as "thou god of our idolatry"!?]
“What a farce is this modern liberality! Freedom of speech means practically, in our modern civilisation, that we must only talk about unimportant things. We must not talk about religion, for that is illiberal; we must not talk about bread and cheese, for that is talking shop; we must not talk about death, for that is depressing; we must not talk about birth, for that is indelicate. It cannot last.” G.K. Chesterton, The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1874-1936; emphasis added)
“We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man… And I think if you look at the present state of the world, it is pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistakes. We are on the wrong road. And if that is so, we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on.” C.S. Lewis, cited in Alan Jacobs, The Year of Our Lord 1943, 34-35.
“I think the devil has made it his business to monopolize on three elements: noise, hurry, crowds . . . Satan is quite aware of the power of silence.” Missionary, Jim Elliot (1927-1956)
“Literature is news that stays news.” -Ezra Pound (1885-1972)
[Note: this corresponds to my earlier claim that the only real News that’s happened since 3,000 years ago has been the birth of Christ and subsequent events involving Him. Pound expands on that a bit, in a way I quite like, which is that a person who wants to really “know what’s going on” would be far better off reading history and excellent old-literature than gobbling up "the latest."]
“All new news is old news happening to new people.” -Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990)
“To the extent that propaganda is based on current news, it cannot permit time for thought or reflection. A man caught up in the news must remain on the surface of the events; he is carried along in the current, and can at no time take a respite to judge and appreciate; he can never stop to reflect …One thought drives away another; old facts are chased by new ones. Under these conditions there can be no thought. And, in fact modern man does not think about current problems; he feels them. He reacts, but he does not understand them any more than he takes responsibility for them. He is even less capable of spotting any inconsistency between successive facts; man’s capacity to forget is unlimited … This situation makes the ‘current-events man’ a ready target for propaganda.” –Jacques Ellul, Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes(1975; emphasis added)
“In Luke 24:18 the disciples imply that Jesus is ignorant [of recent events, i.e. His own crucifixion]. But when Jesus opens the Bible for them, he begins: ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!’” Chester, A Meal with Jesus, 130.
[Note: The disciples imply that Jesus is foolish to be ignorant of recent events, but Jesus calls them foolish for not giving attention to Scripture. That is, on the one hand, behavior considered generally foolish by the culture, and on the other hand, behavior considered foolish by Christ.)
“It’s so common, and the culture is so powerful. I’m always like, ‘Look, if you’re going to be on social media or Netflix for an hour, you need to read the Bible for an hour because you’ve just been lied to and now you need the truth.’” From Gay to Gospel: The Fascinating Story of Becket Cook, Becket Cook and Brett McCracken. At: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/gay-gospel-becket-cook/
“All the black crimes we believed ourselves guilty of were myths, stories cobbled together out of fear. We expected no good news interspersed with the bad. Only the dark aspect of any story sank in. I never knew despair could lie”. –Mary Karr, Liar’s Club, 320
“I don’t know why we take our worst moods so much more seriously than our best, crediting depression with more clarity than euphoria. We dismiss peak moments and passionate love… as an ephemeral chemical buzz, just endorphins or hormones, but accept those 3 A.M. bouts of despair as unsentimental insights into the truth about our lives.” –Tim Kreider, We Learn Nothing 5.
[Note: this quote and the previous one highlight two interlocking aspects of our media diets: first, the news-media highlights bad news, and second, we value bad news. We think bad news is truer than good news (i.e. The Good News) and so we engage bad news more intently. And so we get more bad news…]
“Something happens when a man reaches a certain age that The News becomes the most important thing in his life. I remember when it happened to my father. All fathers think one day they’re going to get a call from the State Department. ‘Listen, we’ve completely lost track of the situation in the Middle East. You've been watching the news. What do you think we should do about it?’” It This Anything? Jerry Seinfeld, 63.
Photo by CMr Cup / Fabien Barral on Unsplash
