Influence or Expertise?

By Douglas Groothuis, PhD

With the advent of television, a new dynamic and sensibility was let loose on culture. The image trumped the word. What was spectacular dominated what was rational. Words remained on TV, but what made TV different were the moving images, so available and so alluring. Before TV, films gave us moving images, but they were only available in theaters, so exposure was limited, and the experience was moral communal.

As Neil Postman warned us in 1985, we were "amusing ourselves to death," since all of culture was affected by the TV mentality, not just its domination of our time. Everything had to be entertaining, showy, and flashy, whether education, politics, or religion. Watching was replacing reading. The effect on the intellect was not salutary.

The world of Neil Postman's critique was tame and tepid compared to our media environment. TV was limited to a few networks; cable TV was just beginning; there were no cell phones. There was no internet with its relentless tsunami of images and personalities. Where have we come?

Influence can now be acquired by most anyone with the technological and theatrical skill. There is no need to get "on TV," since one can build a personal platform through Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and more. Yes, there are real experts in their discipline who enter this zone. I am one of them, with fifty years of experience in philosophy, apologetics, ethics, and cultural criticism. But expertise is optional for most influencers. This is how it works:

1. Select a persona that is edgy, or sexy, or somehow media savvy.

2. Master a format that attracts followers, subscribers, and likes.

3. Produce content that appeals to instant gratification and which aims to be addictive.

4. Attack people and ideas about which you know next to nothing--and do so in just a few minutes (usually). Consider Erwan McManus's takedown of Ecclesiastes I responded to recently.

5. Find an angle or a brand that is attractive. I recently found one miscreant whose brand is to enlighten us that masterful guitar players, such as Allan Holdsworth, aren't really that good! This fellow is good at smirking and interrupting videos with his wisecracks.

This is my trouble. This is our trouble—that is, if we care about the knowledge of what matters most. And for those who do, I recommend these works:

Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death; Technopoly; The End of Education; The Death of Childhood

Jacques Ellul, The Humiliation of the Word

Jerry Mander, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television

Samuel James, Digital Liturgies