MediaSlap blog

I came home from work the other day and my wife told me how our cat had gotten so excited. She plays a game with our cat Ringo – he knows to look out the French doors if she says “look at the squirrels” or “look at the birds”. Well a bird came right up to the window and they watched for many minutes. The bird had become enamored with his own reflection in the glass. It took him a long time before he realized that it was not another bird. The bird did finally understand it was a reflection. We need to see  things for what they really are – to see the difference between the message and the media.

The Greek mythological story of Peruses and Medusa offers a solution.  If you were like me you watched the Sinbad movies as a kid you know this story. Medusa was horrifying monster in the land. Everyone that gazed upon Medusa was turned to stone. But Peruses uses his shield. He watched her reflection in his shield, the gaze had no effect and he is able to cut off Medusa’s head.

Both this tale and the story of Narcissus use media, a low tech mirror to receive the message of a reflection. Peruses understood that the mirror medium was a reflection but Narcissus did not. In the same way if we fail to realize the difference between the message and the media, things can take on god-like characteristics and we might become their servants.

This post was inspired from the book “ Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith” by Shane Hipps

… to be continued

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