Dreher's thesis in Live Not By Lies is that Western society, and America in particular, is sliding towards a soft totalitarianism. A totalitarian state is "one that aspires to nothing less than defining and controlling reality." Soft totalitarianism appeals to pleasure and comfort more than threats of pain and punishment. It's more Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and less George Orwell's 1984. This soft totalitarianism, argues Dreher, will be supported by a nexus of big business (Fortune 500 companies and others), big tech - social media, and consumer habit data collection mechanisms in … [Read more...] about Live Not By Lies
Archives for December 2020
Living Life Backward
One of Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was to "begin with the end in mind." It's in this same vein that Pastor David Gibson exhorts us to live life backward. We must allow the inescapable reality of our death to dictate how we live: "Death can radically enable us to enjoy life. By relativizing all that we do in our days under the sun, death can change us from people who want to control life for gain into people who find deep joy in receiving life as a gift." Gibson draws from the mysterious book of Ecclesiastes to unpack his theme. The book can be thought of as one, … [Read more...] about Living Life Backward