Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 8:18am

PopeWatch: Internet a Gift From God?

VATICAN-POPE-AUDIENCE

 

Well, doubtless Al Gore will be miffed by this statement from Pope Francis:

The internet, in particular, offers immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity.  This is something truly good, a gift from God.

In a message for the 48th World Communications Day (who knew?) Pope Francis celebrates communication on the net while pointing to problems:

In a world like this, media can help us to feel closer to one another, creating a sense of the unity of the human family which can in turn inspire solidarity and serious efforts to ensure a more dignified life for all.  Good communication helps us to grow closer, to know one another better, and ultimately, to grow in unity.  The walls which divide us can be broken down only if we are prepared to listen and learn from one another.  We need to resolve our differences through forms of dialogue which help us grow in understanding and mutual respect.  A culture of encounter demands that we be ready not only to give, but also to receive.  Media can help us greatly in this, especially nowadays, when the networks of human communication have made unprecedented advances.  The internet, in particular, offers immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity.  This is something truly good, a gift from God.

This is not to say that certain problems do not exist.  The speed with which information is communicated exceeds our capacity for reflection and judgement, and this does not make for more balanced and proper forms of self-expression.  The variety of opinions being aired can be seen as helpful, but it also enables people to barricade themselves behind sources of information which only confirm their own wishes and ideas, or political and economic interests.  The world of communications can help us either to expand our knowledge or to lose our bearings.  The desire for digital connectivity can have the effect of isolating us from our neighbours, from those closest to us.  We should not overlook the fact that those who for whatever reason lack access to social media run the risk of being left behind.

PopeWatch has a less exalted view of the internet than Pope Francis.  It sometimes seems to PopeWatch that, other than endless cat videos and as a forum for arguing with distant strangers at all hours, the most striking feature of the internet is how it shrinks the necessity for actual human contact.  With a few clicks of a mouse and a keyboard, commerce, entertainment, education, etc. are literally at our fingertips without the necessity of actual face to face involvement that life used to require.  There is certainly no putting this particular genie back into the bottle, but the literal dehumanizing of common activities is something to regret, rather like the realization of a farmer circa 1938 that it was time to trade in his cherished horse drawn wagon for a truck that would never have the beauty and majesty of his horses.  We communicate around the globe in seconds, have access to information that no library would ever be capacious enough to hold and can be entertained by endless videos, but unless we have loved ones we can see and touch to share our wonder and delight, we are poor creatures indeed.  The internet will never be a substitute for normal human contact as Pope Francis notes:  We cannot live apart, closed in on ourselves.  We need to love and to be loved.  We need tenderness.  The internet, like most things on this Earth, will be what we make of it, no more and no less.

 

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c matt
c matt
Friday, January 24, AD 2014 12:40pm

You bring up pretty good points – the net is basically an amoral tool, its morality depends upon what we do with it (although given the proliferation of porn on it, it could arguably be considered a near occasion of sin). On the whole, I have to say this is one of Francis’ better reflections.

Mary De Voe
Friday, January 24, AD 2014 1:15pm

The internet is a gift from God. Its salvation comes from the good it brings. Tienenmen Square was out of China in 8 minutes. Big Brother could not stop it. Of course Tank Man, the man who prevented the tanks from rolling over the people, would not have saved the people, if the internet was not watching. Tank Man has not been seen or heard from since. Perhaps a chip inserted under the skin could locate him or his body.
Pornography is not the internet’s fault. Pornography is the fault of the Supreme Court redefining the perjury of pornography, the lie about the human being, human sexuality, as nothing but the truth, so help me God. The Court redefined the vice of lust which has no place in civilization with the virtue of love, love of neighbor, of another and of self, not to mention the love of God.
The internet, like television, has been commandeered by the devil and his minions. Let the devil fall down and break his neck.

Mary De Voe
Friday, January 24, AD 2014 1:25pm

Only truth has freedom of speech and press. “All the news that is fit to print.” Lies, perjury and pornography are unconstitutional. Truth in packaging is also freedom of the press. Read the leaflet. Condoms do not prevent HIV/aids. Death is the side effect of so many drugs, and this is only what the drug companies have begun to learn. The Supreme Court did not ban prayer in public school. The Court told the atheist that “She can go her own way.” “Teachers teach in loco parentis” All public places and taxes belong to each and every citizen without discrimination. I am having tea.

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Wednesday, January 29, AD 2014 6:13pm

[…] – Frank Cronin, The Reg Opus Dei Prelate’s Beatification Set for Madrid – EWTN News PopeWatch: Internet a Gift From God? – Donald R. McClarey JD, TACatholic Public Employees, Compulsory Unionization & Social […]

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