Agreed on all! In preparing this article, I read several brief accounts of Anthony's life and ministry and learned some things.
And the new St. Anthony prayer emerged after I thought I was finished; figured the body of the article could use a better closer, and then I went searching the thesaurus and the rhyming dictionary and mulling over some possibilities. I like how it turned out, too :-)
Hadn't heard that video with Marshall Mcluhan. Thanks for the share. I've also observed that the medium used to transmit information affects the information and, inevitably, itself becomes part of information transmitted.
Agreed that the shallowness of on-demand, "instant answers" culture can become a habit that's difficult to break.
I'm sure there are much better videos of him, but I wanted to just familiarize your audience with his name. He had some interesting things to say about the role of technology in our lives. Neil Postman's Technopoly; and Amusing Ourselves to Death are also worth a look.
I've heard of 'Amusing Ourselves to Death,' but not 'Technopoly.' Looked up each online. The titles seem to be playing catch-up with anthropology and history, in the sense that none of this is really a new thing for humans. Culture has always depended on technology, especially "high culture" of art. Media and politics have always been performances. The tools might be new, but the human phenomenon isn't.
I was a guest on Brian Wilson's "Now For Something Completely Different" show, episode released Thursday. We talked about politics and religion and I made the point that government has always -- always! -- been religious. From the proto-State of tribalism to large States of modernity, they are all religious. They have to be. You must believe in government -- that it tells you something true, worth exalting and worth sacrificing for, about humanity and purpose -- for it to be effective as a social order.
A misidentifying of novelty is what made the COVID hoax so widespread. So many people were convinced the pathogen was so different than anything else humans have ever encountered! So many people were convinced that novel tactics were needed to "defeat" this alleged new pathogen and new disease.
I can't recall details like I used to be able to. . . one of the side effects of menopause. . . and age. However, I don't think the arguments in these works is so much that technology is a 'new' thing or that 'performance' is new either. Postman wrote another book called something like "How to Watch the News" I won't speak for any of these authors given my lack of total recall, something I could do before after reading something. I just remember finding them worthwhile reads, not because they weren't telling me something I didn't know intuitively, but because they were asking us to question and look closely rather than be blind consumers of technology without thinking of the far-reaching consequences.
Government does require a 'faith' and 'belief' in the mantras that justify it.
"to preserve liberty' (talk about an oxymoron), "protect our 'democracy'" is the big one for the fascist regime currently in control. As if democracy has anything to at all to do with individual freedom-quite the contrary. It's mob rule and if one can manipulate and control the mob with propaganda, what kind of liberty is that?
Absolutely --"Nothing new under the sun"
We're told humanoids have survived millions of years of evolution and modern man hundreds of thousand of years, (and told historical civilizations are a more recent phenomenon ) then we're supposed to fear a little virus is going to wipe us out, based on stats that we're supposed to believe are accurate for past decimations that took place hundreds of years ago. It's all very nebulous.
"novel' might be accurate only in the sense that is was scientifically manipulated (gain of function) but it certainly was no surprise, given that it had been patented before it 'suddenly' appeared.
Maybe the books played up the novelty in the promos to grab the normies? To be frank, I'm lousy at that. I have no idea how to attract normies to my work :-D
Lent . . . have you ever picked up a good habit for Lent and tried to continue it beyond Lent? I tried doing that this year with limiting sweets to Sundays (or Saturday nights; vigil rules! :-D ).
I think -- though I can't recall exactly -- that I increased praying he Stations of the Cross one Lent and it spurred me to do it beyond Lent.
I love my quiet time in prayer and meditation. I knew of St Anthony but not the rich history you shared. I love the new St Anthony prayer
Agreed on all! In preparing this article, I read several brief accounts of Anthony's life and ministry and learned some things.
And the new St. Anthony prayer emerged after I thought I was finished; figured the body of the article could use a better closer, and then I went searching the thesaurus and the rhyming dictionary and mulling over some possibilities. I like how it turned out, too :-)
This calls to mind two important concepts: "The Medium is the Message" (Marshall Mcluhan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFtspEielxI)
And the journey shapes us more than arrival.
Instant answers result in people who don't have the character trait to dig deeply and understand more than superficially.
Hadn't heard that video with Marshall Mcluhan. Thanks for the share. I've also observed that the medium used to transmit information affects the information and, inevitably, itself becomes part of information transmitted.
Agreed that the shallowness of on-demand, "instant answers" culture can become a habit that's difficult to break.
I'm sure there are much better videos of him, but I wanted to just familiarize your audience with his name. He had some interesting things to say about the role of technology in our lives. Neil Postman's Technopoly; and Amusing Ourselves to Death are also worth a look.
I've heard of 'Amusing Ourselves to Death,' but not 'Technopoly.' Looked up each online. The titles seem to be playing catch-up with anthropology and history, in the sense that none of this is really a new thing for humans. Culture has always depended on technology, especially "high culture" of art. Media and politics have always been performances. The tools might be new, but the human phenomenon isn't.
I was a guest on Brian Wilson's "Now For Something Completely Different" show, episode released Thursday. We talked about politics and religion and I made the point that government has always -- always! -- been religious. From the proto-State of tribalism to large States of modernity, they are all religious. They have to be. You must believe in government -- that it tells you something true, worth exalting and worth sacrificing for, about humanity and purpose -- for it to be effective as a social order.
A misidentifying of novelty is what made the COVID hoax so widespread. So many people were convinced the pathogen was so different than anything else humans have ever encountered! So many people were convinced that novel tactics were needed to "defeat" this alleged new pathogen and new disease.
Things are rarely as new as they seem :-)
I can't recall details like I used to be able to. . . one of the side effects of menopause. . . and age. However, I don't think the arguments in these works is so much that technology is a 'new' thing or that 'performance' is new either. Postman wrote another book called something like "How to Watch the News" I won't speak for any of these authors given my lack of total recall, something I could do before after reading something. I just remember finding them worthwhile reads, not because they weren't telling me something I didn't know intuitively, but because they were asking us to question and look closely rather than be blind consumers of technology without thinking of the far-reaching consequences.
Government does require a 'faith' and 'belief' in the mantras that justify it.
"to preserve liberty' (talk about an oxymoron), "protect our 'democracy'" is the big one for the fascist regime currently in control. As if democracy has anything to at all to do with individual freedom-quite the contrary. It's mob rule and if one can manipulate and control the mob with propaganda, what kind of liberty is that?
Absolutely --"Nothing new under the sun"
We're told humanoids have survived millions of years of evolution and modern man hundreds of thousand of years, (and told historical civilizations are a more recent phenomenon ) then we're supposed to fear a little virus is going to wipe us out, based on stats that we're supposed to believe are accurate for past decimations that took place hundreds of years ago. It's all very nebulous.
"novel' might be accurate only in the sense that is was scientifically manipulated (gain of function) but it certainly was no surprise, given that it had been patented before it 'suddenly' appeared.
Maybe the books played up the novelty in the promos to grab the normies? To be frank, I'm lousy at that. I have no idea how to attract normies to my work :-D
well it's hard to attract anyone using the term anarchism. I wonder if we ought to use a different one.
Dear St Anthony bails me out often-
I love to meditate and admittedly it’s the one form of prayer that gets put on the back burner. Must get back.
One Lent my deal was to meditate every day for the season: BEST Lent ever!
Great article, Dom!
Thanks, Maria!
Lent . . . have you ever picked up a good habit for Lent and tried to continue it beyond Lent? I tried doing that this year with limiting sweets to Sundays (or Saturday nights; vigil rules! :-D ).
I think -- though I can't recall exactly -- that I increased praying he Stations of the Cross one Lent and it spurred me to do it beyond Lent.