Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Fri, Jan 06 2006
The Outcome is Ironic and Maybe the Irony is the Outcome
I was reading a Slashdot blurb awhile ago, and below it were several responses, many of which included the phrase "invasion of privacy". For some unknown reason I kept seeing the phrase as reading "invasion of piracy". I think that might be an oxymoron that meets itself coming back.
As for the original issue brought up in the Slashdot piece, it never ceases to amuse me that there is always someone expecting to make money off our daily comings and goings, our circle of contacts, our color preferences and our purchasing histories. What I can't decide is whether we've fed into it with our Wish Lists, 100 Things About Me lists, online resumes, photo sharing and other information we toss out to anyone who comes across our name. Maybe artist Andy Warhol was correct in saying that someday "everyone will be world-famous for fifteen mintues". What we can't really be certain of is how much of that fame might be based on our own need for attention and recognition. Is Pandora's Box open in spite of us or because of us? And never mind the question of who's watching the watchers. It seems we're all participating in some subject-turned-voyeur-turned-subject experiment. Come to think of it, maybe it is, after all, an invasion of piracy.
posted at: 08:47 | category: /Miscellaneous | link to this entry
I was reading a Slashdot blurb awhile ago, and below it were several responses, many of which included the phrase "invasion of privacy". For some unknown reason I kept seeing the phrase as reading "invasion of piracy". I think that might be an oxymoron that meets itself coming back.
As for the original issue brought up in the Slashdot piece, it never ceases to amuse me that there is always someone expecting to make money off our daily comings and goings, our circle of contacts, our color preferences and our purchasing histories. What I can't decide is whether we've fed into it with our Wish Lists, 100 Things About Me lists, online resumes, photo sharing and other information we toss out to anyone who comes across our name. Maybe artist Andy Warhol was correct in saying that someday "everyone will be world-famous for fifteen mintues". What we can't really be certain of is how much of that fame might be based on our own need for attention and recognition. Is Pandora's Box open in spite of us or because of us? And never mind the question of who's watching the watchers. It seems we're all participating in some subject-turned-voyeur-turned-subject experiment. Come to think of it, maybe it is, after all, an invasion of piracy.
posted at: 08:47 | category: /Miscellaneous | link to this entry
Free Market Economics as Seen by Evangelicals
This morning one link led to another, which led to another. I found myself reading a fascinating piece on how our current economic climate may be partially based on the morals of folks from a few generations ago. The Poor people who were in debt and were once put into workhouses may have been a sacrifice to an ideal that never really existed in the first place, except in the minds of evangelical-minded economists.
You can view the full article here.
Is our so-called free market based on a spiritual dichotomy that says works cannot save but faith without works is dead? If so, it may explain the dominance of the two-party political system we seem to keep clinging to. It might also help to explain the widening spread between how the very poor live and the very rich live—and how more and more middle class folks seem poised to slip into one of those extremes any moment now.
posted at: 07:45 | category: /Religious and Spiritual | link to this entry
This morning one link led to another, which led to another. I found myself reading a fascinating piece on how our current economic climate may be partially based on the morals of folks from a few generations ago. The Poor people who were in debt and were once put into workhouses may have been a sacrifice to an ideal that never really existed in the first place, except in the minds of evangelical-minded economists.
The market is a complete solution, the market is a partial solution—both statements were affirmed at the same time. And the only way to hold together these incommensurable views is through a leap of faith.
You can view the full article here.
Is our so-called free market based on a spiritual dichotomy that says works cannot save but faith without works is dead? If so, it may explain the dominance of the two-party political system we seem to keep clinging to. It might also help to explain the widening spread between how the very poor live and the very rich live—and how more and more middle class folks seem poised to slip into one of those extremes any moment now.
posted at: 07:45 | category: /Religious and Spiritual | link to this entry
