I spend a lot of time absorbing media from the world around me, mostly in the form of TV, music and computer games. I was really struck by some stuff Mark Driscoll said during his talk on being a missional Church which has really changed the way I do that absorbing.
Ever since the conference I have been finding myself asking questions about what I watch/listen to/play. Questions like “what world has this artist painted?”, “why does this situation appeal to me?”, “what is wrong with this world view?”. Essentially I have found myself picking apart the world view that the media is trying to put across, and frankly it’s fascinating!
I found a new depth to the episode of Star Trek where the crew find a paradise world which seems to have no unlawfullness, only to discover that the reason for this was that the punishment for even the smallest crime was immediate death. This utopia is of course flawed because it relies on the assumption that people are actually capable of being good with the correct motivation. It does however imply that the law makers managed to convince the society as a whole at some stage that death was an appropriate punishment for all crime, not something I can really imagine happening but at least some people will entertain the idea!
A while back I had a spurt of writing reviews of various things (mostly movies and beer), I might get back into the habit with a slightly different approach and aim in mind.