Here's David Brooks, the token conservative on the NYT editorial staff, talking about how technology is ruining romance. I think his conclusions are overly simplistic (after all, Betsy and I sort of required cell phones, e-mail, cars, and planes to make everything work out), but he does touch on something that Betsy and I have talked about before: The notion that modern society has devalued the religious traditions/mythologies of old, variously accusing them of being "unscientific", "oppressive to one group or another", or "hopelessly outdated". Unfortunately for us, we have a lot to learn from the past, and many lessons from the past come in the form of these traditions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/opinion/03brooks.html?_r=1&em
By the way, I think the exchange between Dad and me in the comments under the dog costume picture is very important.
1 comment:
Interesting article but I think the author is giving too much creedence to modern technology. When he describes people as having lots of choices, compartmentalizing, being detached...he's describing a bar. A huge virtual, worldwide bar...but a bar nonetheless. This has been going on since people have been young and looking for partners. True, strict codes of conduct were in place back then. But they were also being broken every day. Similar codes of conduct exist today, and the people who are following them are settling down with one partner and having a reasonable life thereafter. To me, the author is just looking for something to write about.
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