One day the professor introduced us to an old movie called A Face in the Crowd starring Andy Griffith.  Griffith plays a bum-turned-celebrity, who at one point meets a faltering politician who requests help from Griffith to become successful.

Many of us would think that in order to make a successful political campaign, one should find the issues that are relevant to the nation and prescribe solutions for them; immigration, debt, etc (notwithstanding this year’s election).  However, Griffiths’ response was basically the opposite. He advises the politician to get a dog, because people like dogs.  He tells him to stop pressing his lips together because it makes him look like a sissy.  He tell him to go by the nickname “Curly” because the man is balding, and could use the humor.

Why, you may ask?  Griffith answers this by introducing the politician to a tweedledum former convict who has has hired to be his consultant.   Griffith says, “If this stupid guy doesn’t like my show, there’s something wrong with it.  How are you going to get this man, this bush monkey, to vote for you?…You need a whole new personality.”  The politician follows his advice, and what do you know?  Without changing a word of his beliefs, the politician suddenly becomes an overnight success.

The concept behind this something that Marshall McLuhan came up with in 1967, called “the medium is the message”.  The idea is that the form in which a message is delivered is more important than the actual message itself.  It’s like the saying “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it”.

Why does a picture on Instagram garner more interest than a post on facebook?  Because visuals are more interesting than words.

Why is the preamble to the Constitution treated like it’s straight from the mouth of God?  For one thing, it’s written in iambic pentameter – a Shakespearean type of poetry, which gives it rhythmic quality and lets it go down much easier.

Why did Freud refuse to listen to (most) music?  Because music manipulates us in ways that the mind can’t comprehend.  This is why I think why worship music is so popular, and why it never stops playing during the entire church service in some places – music is a drug that can pacify a congregation and allow us to accept whatever is being said…regardless of a Scripture’s actual context or relevant truth.

Why was Martin Luther successful in starting the Protestant Reformation, while Jan Hus a hundred years earlier was burned at the stake when they both had the same radical message?  For one thing, Luther had the advantage of the printing press, which allowed him to send his ninety-five theses to all of Europe within two months of him writing it.  Thomas Paine did the same thing with Common Sense in the American Revolution; as of today, in proportion to the USA’s population it still holds the record for highest sale and circulation of any book in American history.  Paine wasn’t even a Christian and published it anonymously, but because he quoted a lot of Scripture and structured it like a sermon, the Protestant colonies ate it up.

For another thing, in both the Protestant Reformation and the American Revolution, there was some serious coloring-outside-the-lines, shall we say.  Luther called the Roman Papacy a “rotten paunch, crude ass and a fart-ass”, a “truth werewolf”, and a “toad-eater and a fawner”.  In the American Revolution, what we today call the “Boston Massacre” was really no more than a street-fight initiated by rowdy Bostonians throwing stuff at British soldiers and challenging them to fire.  Need proof?  John Adams himself defended the British soldiers during the trial, and got most of them exonerated.  However, Paul Revere’s famous engraving of British soldiers firing at “innocent, peace-loving bystanders” fueled the Patriot cause for “justice” against the British, leading to the First Continental Congress less than a year later.

Neither personal insults nor manipulation of truth is what I would call fair play.  Yet to many, Luther and the Patriots are basically divinity.  History is written by the victors.  It all makes sense now why Tony Kushner, who wrote Angels in America, said “Art that’s polite is not much fun.”

The point I’m getting at is that perhaps we need to ask ourselves if our idea of truth can really survive without a marketing strategy.  To me, I had always believed that truth doesn’t need gimmicks, advertising or photoshopping; that a product speaks for itself.  But now, as I watch the church commit ever-increasing resources to in-building coffee shops, before-service donuts, new color schemes, fancy media displays, better singers, hip young pastors, and “Christian entertainment” – I can’t help but wonder, is this all REALLY in the name of communicating that “Jesus is the only way”?  And if it needs all this outside help…can the message still really be about an omnipotent God?

It was funny, when it would come up that I deactivated my account, people would often say something like, “Oh yeah I’m trying to use it less” or “I only use it to keep in touch with (insert relative here)”, as if they had to defend the fact that they have an account.  It wasn’t like I was trying to make a statement.  But these responses made me wonder if perhaps there is something deeper to this whole social-networking-can-be-a-problem thing.

Another strange thing observed is that the week I deactivated my accounts, I proceeded to have the most active social life I’d had all year.

So, as I return to under the ole banner of blue and white, I have decided that I now WILL make a statement.  There’s five things I’ve been able to pinpoint about social networking, specifically Facebook (since I’m not as avid a Twitter user, I can’t say it has affected me in the same way), that I think can be harmful to us without us consciously realizing it.  You may think I’m being extreme, and for some, this will be a little overdramatic.  But to others, this might be just what you need to hear.

So, ready or not, here they come…

1.  The Newsfeed

Ever thought about the fact that the newsfeed tells you what to care about?  Gone are the days when you actually have to go and THINK about someone.  Facebook does it for you.  This is pretty much a lose-lose situation, because on the one hand, most things on the feed have no actual significance whatsoever, but on the other hand, if you’re not posting or getting tagged in stuff, it’s likely that none of your facebooking friends will actually will think about you, because they’re too lazy to type the first four letters of your name into the search bar.

Like, what if you have a friend who is going through some deep stuff?  Maybe they’re thinking suicidal thoughts or something?  If they don’t post about it for all the world to see, your mind may be quickly diverted from any meaningful thinking, and instead, engross itself in the 50 new manicure pictures from that random girl that you don’t actually know but hey – don’t those fingernails look dandy?

2.  Friend requests

It was cute back in the day.  Now it’s often just a weird way to feel electronically gratified by another person’s desire for your “friendship”.  Look, if we’re kids on the playground saying to one another “let’s be friends”, then after that we’re supposed to actually BE FRIENDS.  Like, hang out, play checkers, etc.  Who (other than Jesus) has time for 1000+ friends?  If the mark of one’s “friendship” is two clicks of a mouse, this seems a little shallow.  At the very least, call it something like followers or connections, because what we’ve often ended up doing is putting the cart before the horse by “friending” someone in the hopes that we will someday, in the future, become actual friends.  It’s more accurately termed “an invitation to mutual stalking”, in which you are rewarded by allowing all the world to see exactly how many you’ve managed to rack up over the years.

3.  The Like Button

You have to admit, when this thing was first introduced, your heart dropped a little, didn’t it?  Did anyone go – “FINALLY!  I WAS SO TIRED OF WRITING AND/OR VERBALLY SHARING MY SUPPORT FOR PEOPLE!  NOW I HAVE A LITTLE BUTTON THAT WILL ENCOMPASS ALL OF MY OPINIONS AND EMOTIONS REGARDING EVERY STATUS OR PAGE I WILL EVER SEE!”?  Cuz that’s basically what it’s turned into.

The other problem is that the like button has become the most tangible way to gage one’s popularity…ever.  Now it’s next to impossible to post anything without having to ask that foreboding question of whether the Next Great Status Update will be a “hit” or a “flop”.  Play on, status DJs…

But as the old adage goes, if a status gets posted and nobody “likes” it, is it still true?

(By the way, there are now people in third-world countries hired to simply “like” pages thousands of times.  Still think truth follows crowds?)

4. “Read by”

This one isn’t as bad, but I still prefer email to facebook messaging.  Sometimes I feel like if people know I’ve read their message and I don’t reply immediately, they think I either A) don’t care about them, or B) am composing the Iliad in response.

5.  TMI

I talked about this a lot in an article a few months ago (read it here), so actually…just go read that article.

So you might be thinking, “Nathan wants everyone to deactivate their accounts and become tree-huggers”.  Not necessarily. Part of the problem is that there are still many good things that come out of facebook, and, used right, it can be pretty legit.

But I think Facebook has become for many people (especially younger ones) a jealousy-inducing machine.  It’s become an RPG video game where you struggle to upgrade and show your stuff; where you are free to find out just exactly how many things you’re missing out on and how lame your life is, or else give your friends the opportunity to feel that way about themselves.  It’s allowed you to connect with more people but diminished your ability and desire to make it personal.

We need to love the one in front of us.  If social networking takes away from that, we need to reassess what we’re doing with it.  I know for me, there’s certain things I’m going to be cutting out of my social media diet for good (I hesitate to tell you those things though because I don’t think a hard and fast rule is necessary).

Just remember that social networking is a map, not a reality.  So let’s keep it simple and actually be social in our network…I think that’s a “like”able idea.

(And if you’re wondering, you may “like” this article.  Just don’t judge how true it is based on how many people clicked on that little blue button)