As someone who has been on the internet since 1996—strictly speaking not “early,” but early enough by the standards of the wider culture—I have occasionally struggled to explain to people how the Internet of the late-Nineties and early-Aughts differed from the one we see today. Now I will simply refer them to the section of this newsletter subtitled “The Internet is the Negative World.”
First, on Renn's hypothesis, I can't help but wonder how much is impacted by a confirmation bias. What you look for is what you get. How you treat others is how you will be treated. Which is related to Keller's approach. Being winsome is arguably just treating people with neighbourly love.
Also, I think the timing of the cultural shifts are quite regionalized and there's an urban-rural divide too. In central Canada, arguably we've been neutral since the seventies, and negative since the nineties. Quebec was probably earlier yet. In fact, most contemporary French-Canadian crude language is religious rather than sexual, which may indicate the strength of their anti-religious feelings.
BTW I just read Susannah's article on the Habsburgs. It was a treat. I'm sharing it pronto with my 15 year old daughter, who's becoming something of a Wienerphile and wants to study there someday.
Thank you. Just a footnote: I agree with the narrative that the internet 'scrambled' previous hierarchies of legitimacy, caused collisions between different communities, and threatened elite liberal gatekeepers, etc.
But I think the same logic also applies to to earlier shifts in media technology and regulation. In the US, the "Fairness Doctrine" gave the Establishment a lot of power to regulate political discourse on radio and TV broadcasting, and its abolition under Reagan was a threat to the liberal establishment. The rise of Rush Limbaugh (talk radio) and Fox News (cable TV) were experienced as similar threats by the establishment.
Thought provoking essay on the internet. Your observations reveal to me how blissfully ignorant I may have been of much of the internet, never having used a twitter account, or really even followed it, but certainly using other features of it.
Much of the internet dynamics you describe either allide with populism, or may, I think, in fact, just be populism, which waxes and wanes. But perhaps that's just the mental model a person like me would use who hasn't studied the internet much. I think of various pamphleteers in history.
The internet certainly provides a warning sign for any Christian tempted to "give full vent to their spirit". It is a place we can do some good work, but also a place we can view the zeitgeist in full spectrum, which isn't always pretty.
I hope that serious Christians use this negative world season to refocus on what we're about, and get serious about our fellowship, about using the whole bible in a whole way, and getting "theopolitan", as you folks would put it.
I'm glad yours and Susannah's little journal is here, on the internet. It makes me happy. :-) Thanks for sharing your work.
I was struggling mightily with the weight of anxiety about performance at work, identity via a vis vocation and competency, and plenty of other things two years ago. I devoured your essay on scrupulosity. It gave words and meaning to some of the uncontrolled thoughts racing through my brain. And launched plenty of new thoughts than ran rampant through my mind throughout the hot Houston summer!
Later in the summer, I believe the Holy Spirit provided a vision about me to someone else that described my state of paralyzed scrupulosity: me holding the handle of a gas pump to my car, but instead of a nozzle, a gun was in my hand. A powerful and accurate image.
Finally, in August, I listened to Charles Marsh’s second memoir (I love my former professor but any author of two memoirs deserves the jokes that come their way), which is a theological meditation on his crippling bouts of anxiety and journey through psychotherapy. Anxiety suffered when I was his student, what do you know…
Those three resources (and how different they are - God clearly has a sense of humor) illuminated a path for my brain and my soul to escape the paralyzing darkness enveloping me that spring two years ago.
As someone who has been on the internet since 1996—strictly speaking not “early,” but early enough by the standards of the wider culture—I have occasionally struggled to explain to people how the Internet of the late-Nineties and early-Aughts differed from the one we see today. Now I will simply refer them to the section of this newsletter subtitled “The Internet is the Negative World.”
First, on Renn's hypothesis, I can't help but wonder how much is impacted by a confirmation bias. What you look for is what you get. How you treat others is how you will be treated. Which is related to Keller's approach. Being winsome is arguably just treating people with neighbourly love.
Also, I think the timing of the cultural shifts are quite regionalized and there's an urban-rural divide too. In central Canada, arguably we've been neutral since the seventies, and negative since the nineties. Quebec was probably earlier yet. In fact, most contemporary French-Canadian crude language is religious rather than sexual, which may indicate the strength of their anti-religious feelings.
BTW I just read Susannah's article on the Habsburgs. It was a treat. I'm sharing it pronto with my 15 year old daughter, who's becoming something of a Wienerphile and wants to study there someday.
Thank you. Just a footnote: I agree with the narrative that the internet 'scrambled' previous hierarchies of legitimacy, caused collisions between different communities, and threatened elite liberal gatekeepers, etc.
But I think the same logic also applies to to earlier shifts in media technology and regulation. In the US, the "Fairness Doctrine" gave the Establishment a lot of power to regulate political discourse on radio and TV broadcasting, and its abolition under Reagan was a threat to the liberal establishment. The rise of Rush Limbaugh (talk radio) and Fox News (cable TV) were experienced as similar threats by the establishment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairness_doctrine
Thought provoking essay on the internet. Your observations reveal to me how blissfully ignorant I may have been of much of the internet, never having used a twitter account, or really even followed it, but certainly using other features of it.
Much of the internet dynamics you describe either allide with populism, or may, I think, in fact, just be populism, which waxes and wanes. But perhaps that's just the mental model a person like me would use who hasn't studied the internet much. I think of various pamphleteers in history.
The internet certainly provides a warning sign for any Christian tempted to "give full vent to their spirit". It is a place we can do some good work, but also a place we can view the zeitgeist in full spectrum, which isn't always pretty.
I hope that serious Christians use this negative world season to refocus on what we're about, and get serious about our fellowship, about using the whole bible in a whole way, and getting "theopolitan", as you folks would put it.
I'm glad yours and Susannah's little journal is here, on the internet. It makes me happy. :-) Thanks for sharing your work.
Thank you!
The uncreative force
Susannah,
A note on your scrupulosity article.
I was struggling mightily with the weight of anxiety about performance at work, identity via a vis vocation and competency, and plenty of other things two years ago. I devoured your essay on scrupulosity. It gave words and meaning to some of the uncontrolled thoughts racing through my brain. And launched plenty of new thoughts than ran rampant through my mind throughout the hot Houston summer!
Later in the summer, I believe the Holy Spirit provided a vision about me to someone else that described my state of paralyzed scrupulosity: me holding the handle of a gas pump to my car, but instead of a nozzle, a gun was in my hand. A powerful and accurate image.
Finally, in August, I listened to Charles Marsh’s second memoir (I love my former professor but any author of two memoirs deserves the jokes that come their way), which is a theological meditation on his crippling bouts of anxiety and journey through psychotherapy. Anxiety suffered when I was his student, what do you know…
Those three resources (and how different they are - God clearly has a sense of humor) illuminated a path for my brain and my soul to escape the paralyzing darkness enveloping me that spring two years ago.
Grateful for the words you share with us…
Hey! I'm so, so pleased to hear this, and delighted that you're doing so much better! Many, many blessings.