Drinking from a Pool of Ignorance
“Timmy fell into a well and he can’t get out.”
Quoting my husband, he repeats this line to accentuate my overreaction to some perceived crisis.
These words reference the television series Lassie. As Timmy’s dog, in each episode, Lassie invariably had to seek help when Timmy got into trouble. The dog barks in a way that somehow people understand Timmy needs help.
Timmy never fell in a well, but the actor who played Timmy, Jon Provost, titled his memoir Timmy’s in the Well. The expression has become a trope for attempts to communicate something unintelligible. Like a dog’s bark.
So, using a high-pitched, sing-song voice, my husband signals when he thinks whatever has upset me is not that serious.
This exchange may help readers picture me as someone who leans to the far side of serious. Cautious. A bit inclined to overreact.
The Real Me behind the Virtual
Part of what I hope to achieve as I write this blog includes helping you identify me as a real person who faces real problems from a biblical perspective.
Life has to happen first before I can write about it.
I try to communicate through weekly posts bits that reveal my personality, offer scenes from my life, and express opinions that represent ideas that shape my worldview.
Perhaps in some way, you can identify with something you read here that relates to your own life. I hope as readers you will think through questions, discern for yourself whether your own thoughts integrate rather than contradict what you believe.
Life, as I live it, continually forces me to ask myself questions about what I see, read, experience, and think. All the ingredients of experience can either contribute or detract from our stories.
Anonymity, Authenticity, and Perception
Reading from Priscilla Shirer’s Bible study, “Elijah,” this quote made me think about Social Media.
“Anonymity doesn’t require authenticity.”
Nowhere does anonymity lurk more dangerous than through Social Media.
From Psalm 11, these words:
In the Lord I take refuge. How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain. 2 For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. 3 When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
Shooting from the shadows has become rampant on Social Media.
And what can the righteous do?
This week, I read a blog titled, “Facebook is hurting users, but is it our fault?” [1]
The writer notes the “outsized influence” of social media that amplifies problems.
Sort of like my reaction to Lassie’s attempt to communicate that Timmy is in trouble. Again. And again.
Newspapers, if you can remember what the news used to report and when the news written in print captured the attention of readers, you may recall this quote. Attributed to publisher William Randolph Hearst, his mantra: “If it bleeds, it leads.”
The same words propel televised news. And now, everything on the Internet shoots out faster than a speeding bullet. Like Superman.
“Fear-based news stories prey on the anxieties we all have and then hold us hostage. Being glued to the television, reading the paper, or surfing the Internet increases ratings and market shares — but it also raises the probability of depression relapse. [3]
Readers become hyper-sensitized to fear, scandal, and threats that the world as we know it will end soon.
Further thoughts . . .
From an article written September 17, 2017, these words offer evidence of a continuing problem.
“The false media focus on violence: If it bleeds it still leads.”
This article’s writer gives first-person account as a witness to a protest in Berkeley, which he said “was one of the most positive, diverse and unifying gatherings I ever experienced.” He goes on to say that the press, specifically the San Francisco Chronicle and the L. A. Times reported the gathering as violent, using photos to match the “slanted coverage.” He qualifies his perspective by referencing his “decades as a documentary filmmaker of activism and now an academic studying movements and media.”
His conclusion: “the narrow focus on what was in the end a relatively minor scuffle left the larger world with the impression that this had been ‘mayhem’ and a ‘riot.’ What the news coverage missed: accuracy.” [3]
That writer, 4 years ago, pinpointed a recurring fact. If it bleeds, it still leads.
What’s lost in the melee? What’s lost when people react like the feeding frenzy of sharks?
Accuracy.
We need the whole story. A room with a view. A dialogue. A debate. Learn to step back to consider a big picture that encompasses both sides now.
Why then should readers trust Social Media?
As misinformation spreads, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish truth from lies.
Confirmation bias—the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories.
Back to the article that asked if it’s our own fault that Facebook hurts us, the writer offered this advice:
- Admit you are not immune from being deceived.
- Surround yourself with people who care more about the truth than being right.
- Set higher standards for who you follow.
- Bottomline, take responsibility for your own choices.
He then asks the question, “When was the last time you admitted being wrong?”
Being Real Includes Being Wrong
My Bible teacher way back when I lived in North Carolina would interrupt when someone started sharing something unbiblical or diverting the discussion down a rabbit hole.
“Oh, my goodness, No!”
I wish I could describe Rose DuPree so that you might appreciate how lovely and loving she was. A quintessential Southern lady, educated at Wheaton before teaching Bible in the Charlotte public schools, she guided students to learn how to think.
Teaching how to study the scriptures, Rose said she could not let Bible study become “a pool of ignorance.”
If Social Media had existed when Rose Dupree was still alive, I have no doubt she would say that Timmy had indeed fallen into a well.
Further reading:
[1] https://www.denisonforum.org/columns/daily-article/facebook-is-hurting-its-users-but-is-it-our-fault/
[2] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/two-takes-depression/201106/if-it-bleeds-it-leads-understanding-fear-based-media
[3] https://news.berkeley.edu/berkeley_blog/the-false-media-focus-on-violence-if-it-bleeds-it-still-leads/