Succinct, wise analogies about the nature of all electronic communication. In my mind, I’m thinking of the difference between online discourse–or just communication–and on-the-ground discussion, most especially when talking of religious, cultural, political matters.
From Deadwood episode 13:
(Al is now out on his balcony, looking into the hills at the telegraph poles being erected.)
Al: Messages from invisible sources, or what some people think of as progress.
Dan: Ain’t the heathens used smoke signals all through recorded history?
Al: How’s that a [] recommendation?
Dan: Well, it seems to me like, you know, letters posted one person to another is just a slower version of the same idea.
Al: When’s the last time you got a [] letter from a stranger?
Dan: Bad news about Pa.
Al: Bad news! Or tries against our interests is our sole communications from strangers, so by all means, let’s plant poles all across the country, festoon [them] with wires to hurry the sorry word and blinker our judgments of motive, huh?
Dan: You’ve given it more thought than me.
Al: Ain’t the state of things cloudy enough? Don’t we face enough [] imponderables?1
In the context of Church, it is seldom that strangers (the online, the YouTubers) help the local cause, which is where the church actually is, not in the aether. Hope is in the local expressions, which are the Body, not the so-called institutions.
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{Side note, editing the vulgarity from Deadwood with [ ] would appear to cut the running time significantly. Editing NSFW material out would render it a mini-series.} ↩︎