Remote Controlled
Remote Controlled
My last couple of years as a corporate computer programmer were spent working on personalization, the "science" of tracking and analyzing an individual consumer's behavior so that advertising might be tailored to him. Amazon.com thought you might like Joel Salatin's latest book? Personahization. The cash register at the supermarket printed a coupon for a new coffee drink that sounds good to you? Personalization. Those billboards in Minority Report that did a quick retinal scan, called Tom Cruise by name, and reminded him how long it had been since he'd patronized their store? Yes, personahization.
Recently there's been a quantum leap forward in personalization technology, one that caters not only to your needs as a special individual, but also as a lazy slug. Too busy to record those TV shows you like, or even to figure out what TV shows you might like? Not to worry, simply buy yourself a TiVo. Not only can it record more video than any but the couchiest of potatoes could watch, but it tracks your viewing habits as well, and decides to record other shows it thinks you might like. Without even being asked.
Of course, there are still bugs to be ironed out. One fellow's TiVo mistakenly decided that he was Korean, another that he was a neo-Nazi, another that he was gay. And there's apparently no means of directly beseeching a TiVo to revise its assessment of you, since all it cares about are your viewing habits. Your only option is to try to outfox the box by adjusting your viewing habits, leaning more heavily on PBS until your TiVo begins to detect a richer and more complex character in you.
Some folks object to having their viewing and buying habits analyzed, and so they avoid such conimerce on principle. Others find it a bit unnerving, even creepy, but are finally persuaded to expose their thinking on such matters in exchange for saving them the effort of further thinking later on. And then there's Virginia 1-leffernan, TV columnist for Slate.com, who thinks this trend is actually pretty cozy. "1 like the idea that someone cares," she says. "Even a machine."
Adultery, Again
For that which Paul enjoins us, "Let it not be named once among you," we certainly seem to have an awful lot of adultery named among us. This week I learned of two more couples who have had their marriages rocked by a love that keeps rudely shouting its name. One couple are Reformed friends who are unknown to our readers, the other a couple rather in the Reformed limelight. These disheartening revelations once again have me asking that most sagacious question, "How does this happen'?"
Our tendency is to treat adultery like the monster from outer space. No one planned that it would conic, and it defies all the laws of science we have managed to conic up with so far. It is outside our control, and thus the guilty invariably cry out, "I didn't plan it; it just happened." Of course it is natural for us to treat the great sins this way. It absolves our guilt.
But the truth is that adultery happens on purpose. For the sake of our PG rating, let's ask the question this way. "What has to happen, and what decisions are made before the first kiss'?" If you are a professing believer I think you have to think one of three immeasurably foolish ideas. Either you affirm the Two-Face answer-. My faith is false and so I will indulge in this secret sin. Or you affirm the Keswick Answer- God actually wants me to do this. Or you affirm the Adam Hiding Behind the Bush Answer- No one will ever know. The only answer that has a chance of being true is the first one. And no sexual relationship is worth eternity in hell.
If you are a professing Christian, and if you are married, and if you have baptized children, to commit adultery is to violate the three most significant vows you can make in this life- your church membership vows, your marriage vows, and your baptismal vows. It's no wonder that God allows for divorce. Having broken these most sacred of vows, how can you be trusted again?
War, Again
As I write, it appears that the U.S. is at the threshold of entering Gulf War II. I am still waiting to hear the reason why the U.S. is going to war with Iraq . The most consistent reason I've heard yet is, "Well, if we don't do it now, we'll never be able to." And you've almost got a point there. My personal favorite is, "We have to go in and seize the oil fields to pay for the war and post-Saddam reconstruction." Hey, don't stop now or you'll run right into the back of yourself. Did you ever hear the one about war being good for the economy?
For certain, Iraq has broken the treaty which was made at the end of Gulf War I. But then that doesn't mean we were just in entering the treaty or meddling over there thirteen years ago. And it still does not mean we have the duty or right to dictate democratic socialism there or anywhere. If Iraq participated in the September II, 2001 attack, this would be a just cause for attack, but no official is making that case.
We are far removed from the wars we wage. We fight them with joysticks and remote controls. We fight them with smart bombs for foolish, dangerous, and sinful reasons. We are many years from having fought a just war.
It has been a long time since we have needed to defend our own lands and fight for our own physical homes and freedoms. But we are not at peace. It has been a long time since we men in this country have fought for the very dirt beneath our fingernails. And I think that the more we continue to fight for lofty ideologies the more we will continue to wage war unjustly.