Anglonautes.com
Much of the country, as well as the world, has been captivated by the election of the first non-European Pontiff in over 1,200 years. Regardless of one's religious bent (or lack thereof) we can all appreciate the historical significance of this moment. The elevation of the first member of the Jesuits to the Seat of Peter holds special significance for those of us privileged to have been educated in schools run by the order. One of the primary missions of the Jesuits is to educate young people around the world and in this country they run such colleges and universities as Boston College, Fairfield, Holy Cross and Fordham. The Superior General of the Order, Adolfo Nicolas, recently gave a speech on the role of technology in our world today.
"When one can access so much information so quickly and so painlessly; when one can express and publish to the world one’s reactions so immediately and so unthinkingly in one’s blogs or micro-blogs; when the latest opinion column from the New York Times or El Pais, or the newest viral video can be spread so quickly to people half a world away, shaping their perceptions and feelings, then the laborious, painstaking work of serious, critical thinking often gets short-circuited.
[When] one can “cut-and-paste” without the need to think critically or write accurately or come to one’s own careful conclusions. When…the ugly or unpleasant sounds of the world can be shut out by one’s MP3 music player, then one’s vision, one’s perception of reality, one’s desiring can also remain shallow.
When one can become “friends” so quickly and so painlessly with mere acquaintances or total strangers on one’s social networks – and if one can so easily “unfriend” another without the hard work of encounter or, if need be, confrontation and then reconciliation – then relationships can also become superficial."
What do you think?
