Let’s get something straight right up front. I love technology. Not only for how easy it makes my life, but mainly for how it can be used to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Since the birth of Christ, nothing has given us a bigger platform to share the love of Jesus than the Internet. Nothing.
However, saying something is one thing. Getting heard is another. And the ones with the power are the ones who manipulate what is seen and heard. Search engine algorithms can be designed to filter out anything pertaining to Christ. Money and the prince of the air think they’re in control. (But seriously, we know Who really is, right?)
You think you have a plethora of choices? You do. But not really. Those who own the algorithms are the ones who decide what your choices really are. Truth has never been more relative than it is today. If people believe what comes up first when they’re doing a search, (on Google, Siri, Bing, etc.) are they living in reality? Or the reality that the search engine created?
Not only do search engines and Amazon filter what’s seen at the top of a search, so do advertisers. Add to that the government accessing your search stats and freedom flies out the window only to be captured and shackled.
Oh, oh, oh, and what about when you’re browsing for say, a pair of shoes, and you’re reading the news on another site and the ad for the shoes shows up. How intellectually free are you? I mean, really?
Is this freedom or manipulation?
This ad popped up on my Facebook and tumblr dashboard after I’d checked out a clearance sale on HSN.com.
Amazon manipulates its customers. You might not think so, but take a gander at this post on the Hoosier Ink blog by Joe Allison:
Amazon Restricts Promotion of Books with “Religious or Spiritual Content”
I mean, c’mon, we all know it happens, but do we remember when we’re searching for things, that our choices are limited to what those in charge want us to see and find? Or are we lulled into intellectual laziness and put discernment on the back burner?
Please tweet: Are we intellectually lazy and easily manipulated?
Comments 3
Are we intellectually lazy and easily manipulated?
Well, religion pathologically teaches” bad models of reality and millions of people believe it. That’s grounds enough for me.
Author
People aren’t intellectually lazy for believing in Christ. However, when it comes to the cultural form of Christianity, especially in America, you do have a point. Christian apologist Douglas Groothuis writes about this in his book Christian Apologetics:
“One reason Christianity has failed to exert much influence on the major intellectual institutions of America is that too many Christians hold their beliefs in an uninformed and precarious fashion. Instead of pursuing answers to the toughest questions an unbelieving world can marshal, they attempt to preserve certainty through ignorance and isolation, relying on platitudes rather than arguments.”
I have several degrees. I’m not intellectually dull. I believe what I believe based on evidence. I have read the Bible cover to cover many times. I hope that you will to. I challenge you to read it and then come back to discuss the hard questions.
Thanks for stopping by, Shilvio!
Hi Karla, a very deep concept of mind, and you gave a clarity and I liked the quote. Eyes are useless, when the mind is blind.
Thank you.