https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/01/a_blackout_in_which_we_cancel_the_culture.html
They say宾语从句 a fish is unaware of water. Analogously, we are unaware of the environment 定语从句in which we live our lives. 状语从句Insofar as we do consider our environment, it is usually in terms of the physical world; the air we breathe, the water we drink, the climate surrounding us. These are important things定语从句 that deserve our intention, but we should not overlook a less tangible, but far more important environmental concern — our culture.
The average American spends more than half his waking hours looking at a screen, a computer, television, tablet, or the ubiquitous smartphone. A certain percentage of this is productive, work-related usage such as spreadsheets, word programs, and the like, but an enormous block of time is consumed by our need to be stimulated and entertained. 主语从句What is often overlooked is 名词从句that the stimulation and entertainment 定语从句we consume changes us, and it changes the way 定语从句we experience our lives.
Over the last few years, I have participated in a Catholic men’s program 分词补语titled “Exodus 90” 定语从句that observes a challenging regimen of asceticism, including cold showers, 60 minutes of prayer and meditation daily, dietary restrictions, rigorous exercise, and fasting. The most powerful tool, and the most difficult to observe, however, is the “blackout.” Over a period of 90 days, 分词定语ending on Easter Sunday, there is no television, no radio, no social media, no movies, no pop music, no texting. It’s complete abstinence from contemporary forms of entertainment and stimulation.
To fill the void, 定语从句which can easily be eight hours per day, participants are asked to appreciate silence or to limit inputs to that 定语从句which challenges intellectually, philosophically, and theologically. I chose to re-read classics such as Crime and Punishment, discover obscure gems such as The Power and the Glory, or to find new insights into old texts such as The Confessions. 分词状语While doing mundane labor, 定语从句which is a significant part of my work, I would listen to lectures and long format discussions featuring such diverse speakers as Sam Harris, Jordan Peterson, Steven Pinker, and Bishop Robert Baron.
It is a difficult and trying experience. The pull of popular culture is powerful and relentless, but in the end, after ninety days of the blackout, one is changed in ways 定语从句that are both subtle and profound. You can see 宾语从句that all entertainment has a didactic value and that everything 定语从句you consume has an effect. From characters to the storyline, from background music to dialogue, almost everything has meaning. Even the absence of a message means something. Even the most hollow and meaningless entertainment changes our worldview so we see life as hollow and meaningless.
Maybe Marshal McLuhan was right when he wrote “the Medium is the Message”. For example, consider the phrase “the soundtrack of our lives.” We associate this term with the imagined music 定语从句that ran in the background 状语从句as we acted out periods of our lives.
We seldom consider 宾语从句how cheap and artificial this reduction is. Instead of remembering our experiences 状语从句as they truly were, 状语从句whether it was the thundering of a waterfall as we rounded the bend of a canyon, or the soft and heartbreaking sobbing of a lover 定语从句who discovers the end has arrived, or the overwhelming silence of a desert mountaintop, we cheapen and destroy the truly meaningful moments by thinking of them in terms of pop entertainment. We have shifted our worldview from the priceless and unique to the artificial and commercial, a life 分词定语lived as Steven Spielberg would want it, devoid of any telos and true meaning. It’s only entertainment.
There has been much 分词定语said and written recently about “The Great Reset.” It threatens to be an even larger and more powerful consolidation of power and influence than the Reformation. We can be confident 形容词补语that the tech titans and media moguls 定语从句who are the engine of this reset are not jeopardizing their own power and influence.
But what if the reset came from us? What if we drove the reset? After all, Marxist structuralism has a fatal flaw 状语从句because, ultimately, it is culture, not economics, 主语从句that drives change. Economics influence change, but it is 名词从句how people live their lives and view the world – that is, culture — 定语从句that maintains or changes things.
Concurrent with, and an integral part of the Great Reset, will be the de-platforming of opposing voices and the consolidation of the communication channels. We witness it now with the tech titan’s de-platforming voices on the right, most notably former President Trump, as well as snuffing out competition such as Parler, 同位语an alternative social media platform.
There are voices in the opposition 定语从句who call for constructing an alternative economy complete with social media platforms, news outlets, banking, commerce, educational institutions, professional services, and everything else 定语从句that has been infected by the woke mob culture. This is not the answer 状语从句because it does not address the problem. The problem is us. We would still be like the fish, only in different water, unaware.
This brings us back to the blackout. Some people say 宾语从句it takes ninety days 不定式主语to break a bad habit such as, alcoholism, drug abuse, pornography, and all the things 定语从句that impede us from living our lives as we might wish. The popular culture is the same, 状语从句although perhaps less apparent. By breaking the cycle, by learning to discriminate between good and bad, by tolerating and, eventually, relishing silence we are changed. We can become a fish 定语从句who is aware of the water.
不定式状语To truly change the culture and, subsequently, the political environment, we must become aware, and awareness does not reside on cable news channels, Facebook posts, Twitter feeds, or the latest Hollywood blockbuster. Awareness is not virtual, it’s transcendent. Imagine 宾语从句how the culture would change 状语从句if Hollywood spent hundreds of millions on a superhero or Star Wars movie and could not sell any tickets, if Facebook and Twitter usage dropped by 15-20% if a large portion of cable programming and streaming diminished by half. The changes would be tremendous.
Andrew Breibart is credited with saying that politics is downstream from culture and, while this was observed less succinctly by Jacques Barzun and others long before Breitbart, it overlooks the fact 同位语从句that the culture is downstream from the individual. It is time for a Great Reset, but the reset needs to be on an individual level, a change 定语从句where we become aware of the water and begin to live our lives and make our choices on the foundation of this awareness. The first step to this awareness is the blackout.
You can reach Chris Boland at cboland7@outlook.com.
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