The consistent quality of your substack content is remarkable. You're really hitting on all cylinders. As a small (college) group leader trying not to say too much - or not enough - I've found these all so very helpful. Not enough people with a platform wade out in the deep and speak honestly. Glad you're doing it.
Jul 11, 2022·edited Jul 11, 2022Liked by Kristin Du Mez
I was early on Twitter. When I passed my 14th twitter anniversary in May I decided it was time to delete my account. The prospect that Elon Musk would purchase twitter and turn it into 4Chan also weighed into that decision. As I hovered over the 'delete' button I hesitated. I thought about this for a bit and decided that that hesitation was due to the addictive nature of twitter and that made it seem all the more urgent to get off of it. I finally gathered up my resolve and pressed the button (took about a week to get there). It takes a while to detox from twitter - I'm still in that process about 2 months later, but already I feel so much more peaceful. I can say it has definitely been beneficial to my mental health.
I came to realize that social media is a rage machine. The algorithms try to maximize engagement and it seems that maximizing rage is good for maximizing engagement. They're playing on basic human psychology. The early years of twitter weren't like that, but in recent years they figured out how to get us more riled up and it worked all too well. I came to the conclusion that the only way to win was not to play the game.
“A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.” WOPR from War Games
What I most appreciate about your writing and messaging is the ability to shine the full light of historical context onto challenging issues of theology, culture, politics, etc. as you have.
Choosing to “play” with individuals digging for dismissive dirt or evidence regarding someone’s views on these challenging issues of the day is a tough do or don’t do call.
The Do? or Don’t do? Or play? Or don’t play? questions hinge on saying enough without saying too much or meandering off in too many directions. (Clumsy bad grammar sentence) You have modeled sharp incisive compelling scholarship & messaging.
Playing games with people who are mercilessly trolling is probably a “Don’t do.”
This resonates. I'm on staff with a campus ministry and have a donor base. My husband and I feel a strong affection for these folks who "support" us, some of them having done so for many years. Last fall I was concerned that some of them were reacting against a misrepresentation of CRT. Though I'm no expert, I knew enough to see that many had been manipulated to fall for a concocted boogeyman version of CRT, and I sent out a hard copy letter with quotes from Kimberlé Crenshaw and Ibram X. Kendi. I threw in a defense of the 1619 Project as well. Rather naive of me, of course. We lost about 10% of our support base. It would have been more, I figure, except for the likelihood that a good deal of those who stuck with us never got around to reading what I'd written. Some of the folks who left us did so quietly. A few bothered to engage us with some pushback, and I appreciated the opportunity for dialogue. A longtime friend and ally sent me the Jerry Maguire "Who's Coming With Me" clip. A small part of me questions whether or not I needed to "go on record" or even "cast pearls before swine." But mostly it seemed right. And honestly, in the past few months, a lot of what we lost in support, has been replaced from out of nowhere. I can't help but see that as God's affirmation of our willingness to take a risk.
The consistent quality of your substack content is remarkable. You're really hitting on all cylinders. As a small (college) group leader trying not to say too much - or not enough - I've found these all so very helpful. Not enough people with a platform wade out in the deep and speak honestly. Glad you're doing it.
I was early on Twitter. When I passed my 14th twitter anniversary in May I decided it was time to delete my account. The prospect that Elon Musk would purchase twitter and turn it into 4Chan also weighed into that decision. As I hovered over the 'delete' button I hesitated. I thought about this for a bit and decided that that hesitation was due to the addictive nature of twitter and that made it seem all the more urgent to get off of it. I finally gathered up my resolve and pressed the button (took about a week to get there). It takes a while to detox from twitter - I'm still in that process about 2 months later, but already I feel so much more peaceful. I can say it has definitely been beneficial to my mental health.
I came to realize that social media is a rage machine. The algorithms try to maximize engagement and it seems that maximizing rage is good for maximizing engagement. They're playing on basic human psychology. The early years of twitter weren't like that, but in recent years they figured out how to get us more riled up and it worked all too well. I came to the conclusion that the only way to win was not to play the game.
“A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.” WOPR from War Games
What I most appreciate about your writing and messaging is the ability to shine the full light of historical context onto challenging issues of theology, culture, politics, etc. as you have.
Choosing to “play” with individuals digging for dismissive dirt or evidence regarding someone’s views on these challenging issues of the day is a tough do or don’t do call.
The Do? or Don’t do? Or play? Or don’t play? questions hinge on saying enough without saying too much or meandering off in too many directions. (Clumsy bad grammar sentence) You have modeled sharp incisive compelling scholarship & messaging.
Playing games with people who are mercilessly trolling is probably a “Don’t do.”
Grace. Peace. Persist. Disrupt.
Thank you Kristin. This is another great piece!
This resonates. I'm on staff with a campus ministry and have a donor base. My husband and I feel a strong affection for these folks who "support" us, some of them having done so for many years. Last fall I was concerned that some of them were reacting against a misrepresentation of CRT. Though I'm no expert, I knew enough to see that many had been manipulated to fall for a concocted boogeyman version of CRT, and I sent out a hard copy letter with quotes from Kimberlé Crenshaw and Ibram X. Kendi. I threw in a defense of the 1619 Project as well. Rather naive of me, of course. We lost about 10% of our support base. It would have been more, I figure, except for the likelihood that a good deal of those who stuck with us never got around to reading what I'd written. Some of the folks who left us did so quietly. A few bothered to engage us with some pushback, and I appreciated the opportunity for dialogue. A longtime friend and ally sent me the Jerry Maguire "Who's Coming With Me" clip. A small part of me questions whether or not I needed to "go on record" or even "cast pearls before swine." But mostly it seemed right. And honestly, in the past few months, a lot of what we lost in support, has been replaced from out of nowhere. I can't help but see that as God's affirmation of our willingness to take a risk.