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I'd venture to say that John Kavanaugh's article in the current issue of America is one of the most important pieces I've read in the last ten years.
The matter Kavanaugh addresses manifests itself, among other places, in the comboxes of blogs both political and religious. It's the tendency of some to eschew true engagement on issues, skipping to trumpeted assertions that has kept me from posting on some topics at all and, in some instances, to close the comboxes on particular posts.
Beginning with me, there's a lot in Kavanaugh's essay for us to take very seriously:
In the world of politics and media, we find an increasing segmentation not only of markets but of convictions as well. Information is edited and selected to conform to the conviction of the viewer or the voter. Thus, information no longer informs or challenges one’s moral judgement; it only confirms opinion, whether that opinion is warranted or not. Spend one evening comparing the programs offered by MSNBC and Fox News. Compare Chris Matthews and Ed Schultz with Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity. Whom do they ridicule? What is their presumed moral universe? What information do they never consider? If we listen to only one side of these polarities, we are not forming our judgment, we are propagandizing it.No matter what the issue, competing ideologies offer plenty of moral judgments; but there is little willingness to address data or information offered by the opposition. Undocumented immigration, tax reform, the Free Gaza movement, the Gulf Coast oil disaster, the financial crisis, all generate fierce opinion. But it is almost impossible to find any polarized antagonist willing to examine carefully data or arguments that challenge ideology.
In the church, things are just as segmented. I regularly receive messages by e-mail from the right and left. Both sides seem totally certain, but they are also totally ignorant of the arguments and evidence on the other side. As Aquinas would say, a conscience may be certain; but that does not mean it is correct. So think of the issues: abortion, global warming, President Obama, the health care bill, immigration reform, the wars in the Persian Gulf. Do you find any true engagement of the issues? Or do you find only assertions?
(Read the complete article here)
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I've had a quick look at this and although many of the names mentioned in the article from MSNBC and Fox News would be unfamiliar to UK readers I get the general thread of it.
ReplyDeleteThere is so much to address in this and I will have to think about it/reflect some more before I write in detail but my first thoughts are that Western ideologies seem to take the stance of " we know it all" -as if we are on some sort of apex/higher ground than others and even when we watch/read the better documentaries/commentaries there is either a whiff of condescension or idealised romanticism attached to consideration of other viewpoints or a rampant pomposity of righteousness that really does not listen !!
Our educational system no longer really teaches how to debate complex issues and our lifestyles are anti reflection because of the shallowness and rapid pace they are lived at.The vast majority can't even be bothered to engage in complexity - it's all too much !!
I do think that we in the West also are deeply afraid of any new syncretism from other cultures. This may have been fuelled by fear of terrorism and so we become lazy and accept the easy option of prejudices and stereotypical viewpoints and cliched outlooks. Also the realisation that China and India are likely the big movers in this century not just in economic terms and they will pose huge challenges to the West on our ways of thinking. We pay lip service to integration of other cultures but there does not seem to be any evolutionary change in anything and so we seem to be stagnant and jaded in our rhetoric. On other "moral" issues the Catholic Church has a mountain to climb to regain its authority in the world. All this is straight off the top of my head so I apologise for wooliness of it. Please let me know if any of it makes sense. Thanks for the article - it's certainly food for thought !!
I just reread this - I saw it yesterday.
ReplyDeleteHe is so spot on. I am bringing a copy of this to my moral theology class tomorrow night; this is exactly what we have been talking about.
Provocative picture. Provocative post.
ReplyDelete"Thus, information no longer informs or challenges one’s moral judgement; it only confirms opinion, whether that opinion is warranted or not."
ReplyDeleteI've never been introduced to Mr. Kavanaugh, but with just this one quote, I like him already. It appears I have some reading to do. Thank you.
Brad
Phil: yes, your comments make a lot of sense.
ReplyDeleteSeems to me that while the blogosphere offers the opportunity for conversation and dialogue, what it's too often reduced to is venue for what I'll call "annotated voting."
With a few lines, a few paragraphs, a blogger or commenter "votes" his or her preference on an issue. And thus is generated much more heat than light.
I am reading Idiot America by Charles Pierce. He raises some similar points. One that I think has merit is that something doesn't have to be factual to be believed. You only have to have enough people say (loudly and frequently) that it is factual in order for others to believe that it is. On so many issues, e.g., global warming, intelligent design, etc., despite scientific evidence to the contrary, many people simply prefer to believe what they want to believe.
ReplyDeleteIn our polarized nation I don't think there are any easy solutions to this problem.
Rosemary
Yes, and in that I would be the first to be guilty. When I first started blogging the feeling of instant gratification that came with a "good comment" was undeniably good but the longer I do it the more hungry I become for real considered debate that constructs and is not offensive. I am thinking that am beginning to get that feeling with blogging that I get after eating junk food- good but only for a short time, then its vapid nutrients cause bloating and then I am still just as hungry as I was before I ate it!!
ReplyDeleteJust as an afterthought = you might like to have a go at this !!
ReplyDeleteMaybe just more heat but a perhaps a little chink of light and its fun to do... well sort of fun for a moment or two !!
https://www2.ethicabilitytest.org/prod/user/welcome.php