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| "The terms, the terms, he doth accept the terms. He looks not smart..." |
When essentially every motion of modern life involves a corporation, corporate "Terms of Service" (TOS) become the governing principle that overrides the Bill of Rights. This TOS Override has far reaching implications in the 21st century. If Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram can say, "We're private. You can't say that on our private platform," while functioning as a public utility, then where does it end? If this precept is valid and consistently applied, then internet service providers can deny you web access and telecoms can deny you phone service for the very same reason. Indeed, every bank, insurance company, and health care provider can deny you service on the same basis as well.
We have all clicked the "Agree" button on the "Terms of Service" from numerous corporations without reading them, as the default initiation ritual for gaining access to some application, software, or service. This practice has catechized us on the principle that, "reading the fine print is unimportant, all that matters is meeting our immediate, short-term need." But we are beginning to see seeing the first, tangible, harvest of fine print negligence ripening before our eyes. Given that God controls the weather, let us pray for a crop failure. Moreover, let's take steps to plow the field under by eliminating our entanglements with corporations who use TOS to oppose the principles of constitutional liberty.
The picture for this blog post comes from The Court Jester - a film that my family and I have enjoyed for many years. I have often described it as a "perfect movie." It is a delightful, family-friendly respite from current events.
Cheers on the film reference, quite brilliant but your kids must be able to concentrate better than mine as the format had my 10 year old son 'bored' in less than 5 minutes.
ReplyDeleteAlthough what you're asking for is as likely to happen as Star Trek's Federation and humanity moving beyond Capitalism to embrace the Mutual Aid concept described by Kropotkin in his book of the same.
Isn't it of the essence of thought conditioned by the reality of Christ that the 'whole world lies in wickedness' and to hope of anything from said world - which in this instance I use to refer to any principality and power in opposition to Christ - is to love the world where love is the act of faith which believes that good is possible from participation in that which is loved.
Hence true piety consists not in engagement; which makes like Aaron gods of its desires and blasphemously asserts that this is that true God who liberates, but rather to visit the widow and orphan that is those robbed of their certainties but in so doing to 'keep oneself unspotted from the world' (world as defined above). It is for this reason that Christianity when genuinely internalised is always a 'sect spoken against everywhere' for what else can it be but its own distinct Oikonomia of course in the hilarity of Jehovah from such come Diogenes and Orthodoxy - each revolution goes from liberty to the guillotine (ironically enough an invention of the Revolution to euthanise manslaughter as its blade never hesitated or went awry). Just so the internet went from being the dissemination of information to a celebration of American culture in the form of its Pornographic industry to the increasing repression of opinion through its propaganda value and the ability to shame anyone anywhere by any unknown hand for shame is the guillotine of the soul against which the light of the gospel strives to bring resurrection to that soul who is enabled to answer 'out of the depths I cried to thee'. Peace
PHILIP: Cheers on the film reference, quite brilliant but your kids must be able to concentrate better than mine as the format had my 10 year old son 'bored' in less than 5 minutes.
DeleteTETH: Glad you liked the reference. As old films like this fade in the tsunami of media proliferation, there’s probably a very small audience for a Danny Kaye reference. As for 10-year-old-boredom, I can relate to that sentiment. I believe my children were probably much more receptive of this movie because we started watching it when they were much younger and had not developed a sense of what is “cool” and what is not. I guess we soaked my kids in Warner Brothers cartoons, Marx Brother’s and Bob Hope movies, and other old “classic comedy” that I was raised on. They were hooked on this type of comedy from a very young age.
PHILIP: Although what you're asking for is as likely to happen as Star Trek's Federation and humanity moving beyond Capitalism to embrace the Mutual Aid concept described by Kropotkin in his book of the same.
TETH: Perhaps. Nevertheless, history is strewn with world-shaping, unlikely events.
PHILIP: Isn't it of the essence of thought conditioned by the reality of Christ that the 'whole world lies in wickedness' and to hope of anything from said world - which in this instance I use to refer to any principality and power in opposition to Christ - is to love the world where love is the act of faith which believes that good is possible from participation in that which is loved.
TETH: I believe this observation gets into the matter of how one navigates this wicked world; practical application of the “in the world but not of the world” principle (John 17:11,16).
PHILIP: Hence true piety consists not in engagement, which makes like Aaron gods of its desires and blasphemously asserts that this is that true God who liberates, but rather to visit the widow and orphan that is those robbed of their certainties but in so doing to 'keep oneself unspotted from the world' (world as defined above).
TETH: Much of this depends on what one intends by “engagement.” I’m sure that we would find variance in how that term is used among Christians. To my way of thinking, not all “engagement” is idolatry, even as not all being in the world is of the world. But we must all figure out how to navigate that matter. “I do not claim to have it all figured out,” he said, fumbling with his compass.
PHILIP: It is for this reason that Christianity when genuinely internalized is always a 'sect spoken against everywhere' for what else can it be but its own distinct Oikonomia of course in the hilarity of Jehovah from such come Diogenes and Orthodoxy - each revolution goes from liberty to the guillotine (ironically enough an invention of the Revolution to euthanize manslaughter as its blade never hesitated or went awry).
TETH: Yes. These are all manifestations of the underlying and unavoidable biblical truth of fallen depravity that exerts a relentless retrograde force on even the most noble of human societies.
PHILIP: Just so the internet went from being the dissemination of information to a celebration of American culture in the form of its Pornographic industry to the increasing repression of opinion through its propaganda value and the ability to shame anyone anywhere by any unknown hand for shame is the guillotine of the soul against which the light of the gospel strives to bring resurrection to that soul who is enabled to answer 'out of the depths I cried to thee'. Peace
TETH: Your internet lament does not fall on deaf ears. This unprecedented mechanism for distributing truth is now under the inevitable assault of man’s baser instincts, leading to a pool of degradation, tyranny, and censorship.
It’s a messy world. Lord have mercy,
TETH
It's good to see you are still posting somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI have been watching your YouTube videos and refer to them often since I do not have and Original Baptist teachings/ churches where I am from.
I know this should be about the article but I am hoping some day you would continue to provide more content to the masses.
Or is there a website I can be directed to to gather information?