10 kids, no TV, no cell phone, no internet. Life with the Amish? A zombie apocalypse? Nope – just another day in the life of Read Schuchardt, a professor of media ecology who definitely practices what he preaches! Plus, Phil and Skye discuss a new “giant sucking sound” in American demographics and Phil, yet again, attempts to convince us we really, REALLY don’t want to live on Mars. This week on the podcast!
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Very interesting discussion particularly this transcription/segment:
(Read): …guest is describing the increased anxiety, suicide, etc especially in the young because of the over-use/over availability of media/devices… (around the 50:00 mark)
Skye: “That’s a really interesting observation, that it’s not us that are broken, but it’s our environment that’s screwed up, but our response is to change ourselves rather than change our environment…”
Read: “yeah,”
Skye: “which is really messed up”
Read: “yeah, – well I–again”
Phil: “It’s easier to take a pill than to change the way you live…”
Skye: “yeah, but it seems so backwards…”
And this is where I wish Read, Skye or Phil would have said something like this, “But this is what american evangelicals do with almost every social problem!
More and more mass shootings – oh, Just Change the Individual Heart, don’t you dare suggest changing the environment (gun regulation, restrictions, law enforcement, scientific study etc)
More drug misuse/overdoses, oh Just Change the Individual Heart!
Poverty/Income inequality – oh Just Change the Individual Heart!
Racism – oh Just Change the Individual Heart!
Prejudice/ignorance towards outsiders – oh Just Change the Individual Heart!
Ruthless, social-darwinist, capitalism – oh Just Change the Individual Heart! (dare not mess with almighty free market!)
(except sex… then we work hard, especially politically to “change the environment…”)
and on and on with just about everything… and if you do suggest lifestyle or policy things that are proven to be effective in other places and times, to at the least mitigate something, there’s this angry din of slogans that arises from the evangelical Do-Nothing crowd with words/phrases like this: “thats socialism! that’s – works-religion! – legalism! working for your salvation instead of having faith! – Jesus-ethics not for now! – wait till Jesus comes back!… ” **sigh**
Needless to say, I’m about beyond fed-up with the evangelical, especially white-evangelical, opt-out/cop-out of their God-given responsibility to do more than mutter these useless platitudes, wave their hands around in “worship” and vote for the inherently do-nothing GOP.
God have mercy on us and please save us from some american evangelical christians… (full disclosure, I go to an evangelical church and I am by all appearances and basic theology, white evangelical…)