Burn those books! Or iPads... or Kindles...

Not really, do not burn any books, your iPad, laptop, or eReader (at least not until you finish reading this…). 

Although there have been times when I wanted to burn my laptop (such as when I got the blue screen of death after a month's worth of writing and no backup!), I've never wanted to burn it because of what it displayed or what I chose to have on it.  Where am I going with this?  Stick with me for minute…

I was thinking about social media again this week and the impacts it has and could have on society.  In my meanderings I thought about the printing press. (I’m not a historian – so don’t dissect my facts here.)  The printing press was invented in the mid 1400’s.  One of the key early inventors was Johannes Gutenberg (Gutenberg Bible).  His techniques revolutionized the printing industry and soon books were being made in mass quantities and spreading all over Europe.  It is considered one of the greatest inventions in man’s history, and its impact on society was enormous.  It allowed knowledge and learning to be mass produced and made available to the common man.  No longer was it only the rich or well off that had access to information.  No longer were the commoners at a disadvantage based on what information they had direct access to.  And very importantly, it allowed for God’s word to be mass produced so that it could reach millions, and not just to those who had access to people, who had access to people, who had access to people, who had access to people, who knew what the Bible said.

Let's Dance!

Skip forward several hundred years.  Not only were good books still being printed, but obviously this technology was also being used by those who wanted to do harm by spreading bad and evil thoughts through the use of books.  So people decided to put a stop to all that by burning the books they felt contradicted their thinking (this is actually called libricide, no kidding).  Most notably in our history were the Nazi book burning during WWII. Second most notably was outside the library in the movie Footloose when the townsfolk started losing their control over those wild teens (that is a joke, I just wanted a reason to use this picture.)

Now, book burning did not arrive after the printing press, they burned books long before that.  But I wanted to tie the two together to make a point.  Book burning were attempts (both physically and symbolically) to show unhappiness with the material.  However, you never hear anyone state that the printing press was the root of all this evil!  Even the book burners (who were idiots) knew it was the material and the ones who thought of the material they didn't like!

So this brings us full circle to where we are today.  The internet (and other social media outlets) is our printing press.  It allows us an opportunity to share information and knowledge at rate and in areas never before imagined.  And yes, there are people out there that take advantage of this and flood the Interweb with garbage.  

But we can’t become book burners – or hate all social media because of the bad seeds.  We have to work harder to get the good words out and not be overrun by the bad words.  We have to be diligent to let our children and brethren know what the garbage is and where to find good information.  We have to ensure that we support what is good (share, like, retweet, etc.).  And we have a responsibility to inject good words and inspirations of God into these social networks so that they don’t become completely overrun with trash.

So write something good today and put it out there (and if you don't have anything to say, then re-share one of my blogs!)

God Bless,
Rob
www.starvt.com