Comments on: McLuhan, Media, and Ministers

By: Wesley Menke

Wesley Menke — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:35:18 +0000

http://youthjusticenetwork.blogspot.com/2010/02/image-of-fish-mcluhan-gusdorf.html Thanks Callid for developing this video and posting it for our class – Theology After Google. I’ve written a blog about it, and I invite you to respond. Thank you!

By: Katie Jo Vasquez

Katie Jo Vasquez — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:28:58 +0000

I had the thought that the very people McLuhan says will “tribe” themselves together because of new technology, those very people count, in his system, as new technology. A new friend, or a new conversation with an old friend, extends the senses and changes the way the individual sees the world. My wonderful hubby, for example is a technology to extent my memory. He is always remembering old conversations I had forgotten, and facts about my relatives that had slipped into the back of mind. Marrying him changed the way I look at the world (for lots of reasons). He has done all four things Jesse mentioned about new mediums above.
The last few minutes were the perfect example of what you are talking bout in the video: I had this thought about tribe members being a medium after watching your video. I wasn’t sure if I was the only person who had ever thought of it, or if i was totally misinformed, but I aimlessly checked the conversation happening on the transFORM network (a fun little emergent ning community, for those who are unaware) and found a post from a guy in my faith community about a book by Winifred Gallagher called “Spiritual Genius” on ten spiritual geniuses and their quest for meaning. I started reading the intro on Amazon’s book preview and read this sentence: “We are deeply disillusioned with institutions, especially religious ones, but we still hunger for the meaning and authority they once supplied. So, for better or worse, we have created a ‘culture of celebrity’ in which the special individual or expert, rather than an organization, is the most trustworthy medium for any message, including spiritual ones.” Right there in a book I hadn’t heard of, from a post on a discussion forum actually started by you (!), was confirmation that at least one other person has thought in these terms before. Great minds aren’t the only kind that think alike, so I’d still like your feedback.
But if our tribe members themselves are a new medium for our re-discovery/re-evaluation of the world around us, then the pattern is circular, and the cycle of technology bringing people further apart, then closer together again will continue.

By: Jesse Turri

Jesse Turri — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:22:32 +0000

Great Post Callid! I love McLuhan. Being in communication design I am also familiar with his work. It’s amazing how many of his predictions are remarkably accurate. I love how he would say that we’re moving forward looking through the rear view mirror. I think he is right on.

As far as the digital age bringing about a re-tribalization, I think he’s right to a degree. But
McLuhan also points out that each new medium does four things:

Enhances something
Obsolesces something
Retrieves something
and flips or reverses when pushed to the extreme

For instance, the security camera enhances our eyes, obsolesces watch towers, retrieves city walls, and when pushed to the extreme, can rob us of our privacy.

I think it’s clear that even though new technologies and mediums like the internet have the power to connect us in so many great ways, they also have the power to isolate us and rob us of many important things. We must consistently be mindful of this.

By: Tweets that mention The Image of Fish » McLuhan, Media, and Ministers -- Topsy.com

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:46:33 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by trippfuller, L.B.C. Keefe-Perry, THEOPOETICS(dot)NET, Rochester Emergent, Callid Keefe-Perry and others. Callid Keefe-Perry said: @trippfuller Here you are sir: McLuhan, media studies, and what we can get out of it as theologians and ministers. http://ow.ly/10FP4 [...]