Category: Culture

  • Dan

    The power of privilege is killing us

    A series of blogs I wrote in the past couple of weeks focused on an article from Jonathan Haidt about social media and how it’s made our culture more stupid. In particular was a statistic on the extreme positions in our country being white and wealthy. David French makes the same case:

  • Dan

    The last ten years have re-wired us, Part 4

    Part 1Part 2Part 3 In his article, “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid,” Jonathan Haidt has laid out the case for the downfall of practical thinking and directly correlates it to the rise of social media. He likens it to the Tower of Babel, how we all communicated with a common language, to the…

  • Dan

    We have to stand up

    I have been blogging over the past week on an article by Jonathan Haidt on how social media has rewired our brains over the last 10 years. What has been lost is nuance and the ability to live in the nuance in the power of the gospel. This video is a powerful example of not throwing back hatred at someone…

  • Dan

    The Last Ten Years have Re-Wired Us, Part 3

    Part 1Part 2 “… Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and a few other large platforms unwittingly dissolved the mortar of trust, belief in institutions, and shared stories that had held a large and diverse secular democracy together. ” — Jonathan Haidt

  • Dan

    The last ten years have re-wired us, Part 2

    Part 1 is HERE. I want to walk through Jonathan Haidt’s article because it is worth breaking down and considering. BONUS: Haidt gives possible solutions for discussion, which is a highlight of his writing. What social media created any 2012 were new algorithms to play UP posts that would create hate and animosity. The goal for users has become the…

  • Dan

    The last ten years have re-wired us

    In February 2012, as he prepared to take Facebook public, Mark Zuckerberg reflected on those extraordinary times and set forth his plans. “Today, our society has reached another tipping point,” he wrote in a letter to investors. Facebook hoped “to rewire the way people spread and consume information.” By giving them “the power to share,” it would help them to…

  • Dan

    Heartbreak

    Two stories I ran across that speak to heartache and grief I carry. One is about the deepening issue of Christian nationalism. I had called it culturalized Christianity years ago, and things are only worse.

  • Dan

    The end is near!

    I’ve learned vocabulary during the time of COVID. Variant. I’ve re-learned the Greek alphabet. Delta. Omicron.

  • Dan

    Thoughts on Deconstruction, Reconstruction, and Staying the Same

    Let’s get the bad news out of the way. It’s been a year since the election and among evangelicals… little has changed. I know, big reveal! Thank you, Captain Obvious! But, here are the stats to back it up. And, of course, it was worse the second time around (from 2016 to 2020): Some evangelicals who objected to Trump during…

  • Dan

    The journey of healing and justice

    Healing is not accidental. It is not coincidental. Healing in our lives, our thinking, etc., is intentional. It is a process. This is the journey I have been on and the journey I will be on for the rest of my life. (I almost typed “God willing”, but I know it is God’s will.)