For the telegraphy did something that Morse did not foresee when he prophesied that telegraphy would make “one neighborhood of the whole country.” It destroyed the prevailing definition of information, and in doing so gave a new meaning to public discourse. Among the few who understood this consequence was Henry David Thoreau, who remarked in Walden that “We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Main to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate… we are eager to tunnel under the Atlantic and bring the old world some weeks nearer to the new; but perchance the first news that will leak through into the broad flapping American ear will be that Princess Adelaide has the whooping cough.”

Thoreau, as it turned out, was precisely correct. He grasped that the telegraph would create its own definition of discourse; that it would not only permit but insist up on a conversation between Maine and Texas; and that it would require the content of that conversation to be different from what Typographic Man was accustomed to.

The telegraph made a three-pronged attack on typography’s definition of discourse, introducing on a large scale irrelevance, impotence, and incoherence. These demons of discourse were aroused by the fact that telegraphy gave a form of legitimacy to the idea of context-free information; that is, to the idea that the value of information need not be tied to any function it might serve in social and political decision-making and action, but may attach merely to its novelty, interest, and curiosity. The telegraph made information into a commodity, a “thing” that could be bought and sold irrespective of its uses or meaning.

~Neil Postman; Amusing Ourselves to Death

• 
  Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
  Author: Neil Postman

I believe that Andy Crouch in his recent book, Culture Making, describes an important acknowledgment that the modern world has refused to make in its progress and invention;

Every new cultural good performs these two functions–making things possible that were impossible, and perhaps more importantly making things impossible that were once possible.

~Andy Crouch, Culture Making

• 
  Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling
  Author: Andy Crouch

Every new bit of created culture makes some new activity possible and some old activity nearly impossible. We now live in a world where the the limits of communication have been stretched beyond our imagination and the unforeseen consequence is that the possibility for meaningful context is becoming strangely elusive.

We are constantly being fooled by the current crop of visual information tools into believing that a dashboard of blinking messages can makeup for this spiritual loss of context. I believe this is plain to see in a slice of information from the equivalent of the modern day news telegraphy devices; television and now the internet news portal… both of which feel very much alike, except the passive experience of TV surfing is now replaced by the active hypertext anxiety of drilling into the information portal of a hundred different simultaneous threads.

The 21st century news portal has arrived and it is the fully wired, ever shifting interface of randomly shredded and regurgitated information from everywhere. When you are done skimming, clicking, and browsing what have you gained other than a superficial confidence in “knowing” what is going on, and an anxious guilt of being numbly incapable of experiencing true apathy for any of the people represented in the story content… because you still don’t know them or hardly anything about them… and so what if you did?

This is the information environment that we live in, are we truly to believe that it will have no effect on us?

I know there are “success” stories of the person who reads a random headline, becomes intrigued by some issue or happening on the other side of the world and then sells everything they own to pursue a calling, event, person, or vocation full of purpose and meaning. But even then, I do believe that the personal context of one’s own soul is much more valuable than the bit of information that has traveled through space and time to your consciousness. I suppose this is just what I have found true for myself, until I am completely enamored with the immense and immediately incarnate value of my own neighbor and neighborhood it is impossible for me to care about anything else. I don’t believe that apathy emerges from a lack of information, but rather can be arrived at by attempting to respond to every fragment of tragic news floating in a sea of flippant banter.

Back in August of 2009 before the earthquakes this year I spent about two weeks following out the lives and interviewing a collection of people who had dedicated themselves to the prosper of foreign people in a foreign land. I asked pretty much everyone I interviewed how it was that they found themselves in Haiti as a servant, worker, resident, missionary, or returning native. The answers ranged from nothing short of a prophetic dream to visiting on a short term missions or service project and feeling a deep connection to the land and the people. Short term visits of service and embedded knowingness sealed the deal for everyone who decided to commit. First person stories conveyed orally and in person to small collections of friends and congregations seemed to be the very best way to invite new recruits.

Almost as soon as the news hit the airwaves about the disastrous earthquakes in Haiti there was a fearful plea by heartfelt advocates to not let the Haitian people disappear from the focus of the worldwide community. People were already lamenting the status of being the tragedy of the week, soon to be eclipsed by the most trite of celebrity gossip stories… after all, Haiti was the only news capable of defeating the incessant cataloging of Tiger Woods’ adulterous lifestyle.

Next week Haiti moved from the headline, to the corner update box, the week after that to the bottom ticker tape, and then relegated to the consistent ping-blip popping up with regular annoyance in front of the most recent news. And every time we are reminded, but not in the context of prayer or personal story, something in us is twisted against what it means to be human and to know with the potential of response. Jesus may have been near overwhelmed by the crowds, but at least he was able to face them in person and with human presence. And why did He instruct so many to not tell anyone what had happened?

Luke 8:40-56

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. 43And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years,[d] but no one could heal her. 44She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

45″Who touched me?” Jesus asked.
When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”

46But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

47Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. 48Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

49While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher any more.”

50Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”

51When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. 52Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.”

53They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” 55Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. 56Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.

Categories: Communication, News, Haiti, Technology, Books