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One thing that helps society unify is a shared media experience. Used to be oral poetry reading and plays. Then books. Then radio. Then TV. Now a massive m

by yters 7y ago

One thing that helps society unify is a shared media experience. Used to be oral poetry reading and plays. Then books. Then radio. Then TV. Now a massive milleu of various social platforms. I've dropped out of almost all of these, but there is a downside. As Jesus says, "be in the world, but not of it." Unfortunately, completely dropping out makes me "not in the world." Not being in the world, hard to say whether I am not of it.

dredmorbius 7y ago
Funny you should mention Jesus but not mass. From about the 4th century onward, it was weekly religious services (in Europe, though also, on their respective sabbaths, in the Jewish and Islamic worlds) which served to gather a ... mass ... audience to receive a common message. Some of that was religious in nature, a fair bit was not. Market days likely played a similar role. But at least once a week, a community would come together and hear a common message, from a large and centralised authority (the Catholic Church, in Europe), reorient their moral compasses, and catch up on the latest news. As well as, and here is where broadcast media depart strongly, have the opportunity to meet and converse amongst themselves. The fact that the overwhelming majority of the population were illiterate, and written communications expensive and bespoke, played a strong role. And the fact that service was delivered at least in part in Latin, not* intelligible to the congregation. In modern contexts, variations on the variety show have played that role. I'd argue that programmes such as Saturday Night Live, and more especially Garrison Keillor's "Prarie Home Companion", something of a secular religious service, complete with sermon (and playing not only on Saturday nights, but the following Sunday morning in many public radio regions) filled in that role. The unifying role of broadcast media -- radio and television -- is much commented on by media studies researchers. That's had some positive results, and some negative: Father McCoughlin, Adolph Hitler, and Benito Mussolini, notably. Fascism and mass-media co-evolved. I'll note that I've not had a practice of regular religious attendance or TV viewing, though I may have been known to tune into certain radio programmes ... religiously.
Joe-Z 7y ago
I see what you‘re saying and have been wondering the same thing for a while (although I don‘t have Jesus to back me up :D). The way I see it is, there‘s only so many hours in a day and most of them I spend at work anyway. So, instead of clinging on to shallow forms of connection like commenting on the latest political scandal I try to take the time out of my day and get a good talk in with people I care about about topics that actually matter to both of us in the real world (friends, family, plans, problems, maybe some of the latest office gossip, etc.) I wish you a happy weekend!

by yters 7y ago

dredmorbius 7y ago

Funny you should mention Jesus but not mass. From about the 4th century onward, it was weekly religious services (in Europe, though also, on their respective sabbaths, in the Jewish and Islamic worlds) which served to gather a ... mass ... audience to receive a common message. Some of that was religious in nature, a fair bit was not. Market days likely played a similar role. But at least once a week, a community would come together and hear a common message, from a large and centralised authority (the Catholic Church, in Europe), reorient their moral compasses, and catch up on the latest news. As well as, and here is where broadcast media depart strongly, have the opportunity to meet and converse amongst themselves. The fact that the overwhelming majority of the population were illiterate, and written communications expensive and bespoke, played a strong role. And the fact that service was delivered at least in part in Latin, not* intelligible to the congregation. In modern contexts, variations on the variety show have played that role. I'd argue that programmes such as Saturday Night Live, and more especially Garrison Keillor's "Prarie Home Companion", something of a secular religious service, complete with sermon (and playing not only on Saturday nights, but the following Sunday morning in many public radio regions) filled in that role. The unifying role of broadcast media -- radio and television -- is much commented on by media studies researchers. That's had some positive results, and some negative: Father McCoughlin, Adolph Hitler, and Benito Mussolini, notably. Fascism and mass-media co-evolved. I'll note that I've not had a practice of regular religious attendance or TV viewing, though I may have been known to tune into certain radio programmes ... religiously.

Joe-Z 7y ago

I see what you‘re saying and have been wondering the same thing for a while (although I don‘t have Jesus to back me up :D). The way I see it is, there‘s only so many hours in a day and most of them I spend at work anyway. So, instead of clinging on to shallow forms of connection like commenting on the latest political scandal I try to take the time out of my day and get a good talk in with people I care about about topics that actually matter to both of us in the real world (friends, family, plans, problems, maybe some of the latest office gossip, etc.) I wish you a happy weekend!