2 weeks Ago By Atle Hetland
We live in a time when words are important, more than ever, it may seem, and the media is also essential in that connection. If an event hasn’t been reported on regular or social media, indeed on TV and podcasts, people may wonder if it really happened. A few generations ago, people said that there were only two times in life that one should be in the media, at birth and at death.
I had an American friend in Pakistan who was quite shy about coming into the media, and she was the one who reminded me that one might live happier without it. Well, she must have forgotten that being an American from the centre of the capitalist world, nobody can succeed unless one can advertise things in newspapers, on TV, and so on, and buyers cannot know where to buy things at the best price unless things are advertised. When I worked in Africa a while ago, well, almost a generation ago now, I had a Norwegian friend, a was in graphic artist, and since he also like to have his own ideas, he said that people don’t really need the modern media, only if the old-fashioned ways of observing and telling about things had failed, he said.
In the Swahili language in East Africa, the word used for greeting, for saying ‘How Are You’, is ‘Habari Gani’, which means ‘What is the News’. And my friend, being both academic and popular in his thinking, would say that it is only when the old system doesn’t work, that modern media is needed. His observation created a lot of debate, of course, and if he had been around today, he would have had more to talk about, Such as fake news, exaggerations, populist descriptions of reality, and so on.
Well, we have always had such things, from the village gossip carriers to the state propagandists, the secular and religious controllers of truth, and everything and everyone in between. Anti-polio campaign set for April 21-25 This is not an argument against the modern media and other exchange of knowledge and wisdom. I hope the traditional media, the old-fashioned newspapers, and the electronic media will live longer than me – for entertainment, news, information, and learning.
How we will actually use media in the future, we must discuss seriously because we already spend too much time on consuming and sharing news. Perhaps AI can help us, but IT didn’t quite, and new people and ideas will come, even unpredictable and exorbitant than Trump. As I began pondering on the content of today’s article, my first thoughts were to stress that we talk too much and have too many opinions about things in our time, with much or little knowledge.
Perhaps our many words actually take away content and purpose, and we understand less after hours of debate and reading. We don’t have to talk about everything. We also should let others think and draw the conclusions.
Too many words to tell somebody what he or she should think may obscure more than enlighten. Steps being taken to make Vehari clean, green But then, I was also reminded that I usually say that we talk too little; we don’t exchange enough views and learn too little from others – not the least important when people migrate and travel far and wide, taking with them religions, customs, traditions, and more. In addition, we constantly need to learn new things.
So then, I came to realize that we need to communicate, but not overkill issues and views either; we must let others say what they think, not only hammer our own opinions and views, and we must be accurate and true about facts, and present those that are relevant and important. And now then, let me be a bit theological, too, because when we discuss how to use words and communicate, there are theological aspects, too, and people have always pondered on these issues. We know that in the Bible’s NT, in John 1:1, it reads: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
’ In Greek, ‘logos’ means ‘word’, or rather, the ‘word of God’ and the entirety. This makes us realize that the ways we describe, communicate, and conclude about issues are deeply important. The words we use, the way we use them, not only describe reality, but they also constitute reality.
DPO secures healthcare welfare initiative for cops This week is what Christians call the Easter Week, also termed the Quiet Week or the Holy Week, which comes at the end of the Christian fast, called Lent by Catholic Christians, and this year, much of Lent overlapped with Ramadan. In the Bible’s Easter story, the three women who came to the grave of Jesus/Isa for the ceremonial treatment of the body with oil, they, to their shock, found the grave was empty, and an angel told them that he is not here but that he is risen. The women rushed to town to tell the news, which was in accordance with what the prophets and Jesus/Isa had said before the crucifixion.
Yet, it was great news and the women conveyed it. How Christian believers interpret the resurrection story varies. The most common is to say that it must be believed literally, and that Jesus/Isa rose from the dead.
There are also verses about Jesus/Isa ascending to heaven on Ascension Day, 40 days after Easter, and that he will return in his Second Coming. These dogmas are both in Christianity and Islam. It should be emphasized that Muslims do not believe in the Bible’s way of telling the story about crucifixion and resurrection.
One dacoit killed, four escape after police encounter The other interpretation among Christians is more intellectual and modern, and it emphasizes that we should understand the term of resurrection in the sense that it is Jesus/Isa’s message and teaching that are risen and will live forever. The power is in the Words, the transferred meaning, not in the concrete events taken literally only. Today, during Easter’s Quiet or Holy Week, and drawing attention to the way we use words in general, even the media, indeed the Word in a religious sense, I would like to underline that we must always use words with care and caution – and we must realize the power of all words.
We should know that the world and reality around us are created and shaped by the words we have learnt and use, indeed about God and everything else, including the way the women at the grave of Jesus/Isa told their experience. From my simple secular reflections and words at the beginning of my article today, even about the media, I have now ended up with more divine and sacred issues, indeed reflections and interpretations about the way we use words in general and about the holy and sacred issues, including God’s Words. I cannot say how we should reflect on these issues, but I know it is important that we do reflect on them, certainly now at the time of the holiest event of Christianity.
May I wish A Happy Easter to Christian believers, culturally Christians, and everyone else of faith in their own religion. Exam Chaos Atle Hetland The writer is a senior Norwegian social scientist with experience from university, diplomacy and development aid. He can be reached at atlehetland@yahoo.
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