Monday 26 March 2012

Commenting suspended, perhaps permanently - media withdrawal strategy

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Although this blog seems to be read by plenty of people, and the quality of comments has been really excellent (for example, Thought Prison was greatly helped by the comments from this blog, for which I am grateful); the number of comments is at such a low level (no doubt because the fact that I reject so many comments is, understandably, off-putting) - that as things stand now, the time I spend in checking for comments, and moderating them, is grossly disproportionate - and is in itself induces a bad - excessively web-oriented - state of mind.

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Indeed, there are a few commenters who have become pen-friends - so that is a measure of how much comments are valued.

However, for reasons described below, the necessary process of monitoring and dealing with comments is having a destructive effect on daily life.

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Although I have been trying to reduce my exposure to media for a couple of years, this isn't working - the reduction has not been effective in breaking free from the media influence.

Instead, I recurrently fall into  the trap of trying to get at the truth behind the mass media by 'clever' (or wise) web usage - yet, all the time the mass media are setting the agenda and monopolizing my attention.

In some ways, I am now more in thrall to the media than I was when I was an uncritical consumer of it; since I waste time so much time and expend to much energy in thinking about how to outwit it. 

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Current mainstream media are probably not much different than they have been for some while; but somehow I find that the past year has revealed an attitude so utterly demonic in its calculated destructiveness, in its manipulation with the goal of actively promoting evils, that it is now clear that engagement with the media and its agenda is just so much time spent debating with The Mouth of Sauron or Wormtongue (or, more likely, Bill Ferney or Ted Sandyman).

Once you recognize who is behind the scenes, pulling the strings, then you must be cautious about exposing yourself to their agenda.

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Charles Williams used to reiterate that the devil is inaccurate; yet if we use the (favoured) media to fight the (mass) media, we too are being inaccurate - since our sources are inaccurate - and so we help the devil in spreading lies.

The actual activity of engagement is itself harmful - since even (local, temporary) success in out-arguing or detection in lies leads to little more than pride in myself (the worst of sins), and the delusion that a bit more engagement and more effort of mine in this direction will 'make a difference'.

A common version of this delusion is that traditional, reactionary Christians are making progress, are a rising tide, a coming thing...

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At any rate I perceive that my avoidance of media matters will need to be more active and complete, and that my disbelief/ disregard of the media line on anything at all must be as total as I can make it.

As well as making blogging less of an obsession, this entails having no opinions on matters about which the sources are from the media; but holding to eternal truths, common sense and direct experience as far as possible.

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