Choose Your Party Carefully

Ephesians 5:12
For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.

Those words have been haunting my thoughts recently. In a recent blog I noted that both Google search toolbar and Google News offer up sexually charged and deviant material even when I've done nothing to ask for them. Why?

I think St. Paul understood perfectly well how both of these phenomena have come to pass, and his insight into the matter exposes exactly why our world is on a downward spiral into debauchery. We have forgotten that it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.

The Google folk who provide both services have their excuse ready, of course. "Don't shoot the messenger!" they cry. "We don't pick the stories or the phrases. An automated algorithm decides what to display based upon what stories people are reading and what people are searching for."

This is, of course, quite true. And sexual depravity, moreover, is hardly a recent invention. What I find disturbing, is our collective failure as a society to find an Internet answer to Paul's admonition. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret, but the Pied Pipers of the Internet — the ones leading the way — are the disobedient. The tail wags the dog.

A case in point: how did "average penile length" find its way the top of the list for those typing in the word "average" into google search? I am not certain, but I have a pretty good hunch. It goes like this...

Suppose you have a sample of 100 ordinary people. For argument's sake let's assume that 70 people in this group avoid depravity altogether. Of the remainder, 25 know they shouldn't go there, but can easily be tempted. The last 5 people are consuming sexual depravity on the Internet whenever the opportunity arises. Let's call this last group of people"The Fringe Five" — or TFF for short.

What happens when an Internet search engine tracks the behavior of all 100 people? Inevitably, some of the preferences of TFF will make it onto the bottom of the auto-complete suggestions list. Maybe just barely — the last option on a list of 20. But once those search terms hit the list, even if it's the bottom of the list, a certain respectability is imputed to the behavior of TFF.

Why do I say that? Well, the big shift is that the choices of TFF are no longer hidden and not really stigmatized. What society in the past had the wisdom to shun, the Internet exposes. What wider society used to shame the Internet now allows to be nurtured. Auto-complete lists are value-neutral. 95 other people can now see what TFF are doing on the Internet, and the habits of TFF are simply more options to choose from.

The coup de grâce lies in the fact that the actual lives that make up TFF are hidden from view. Nobody sees who these people are or, critically, how their lives are impacted by their sexual addictions and licentiousness. It's not a pretty sight! But we don't see it. We just see that their sexual interests are now on our auto-complete options when we start to type. And we start to suspect that we're missing out on the fun.

I'm reminded of what I'll call "The Mardis Gras Syndrome" — the fact that women who never lift their shirts elsewhere will perhaps do it in New Orleans during Mardis Gras. Somehow devant group behavior helps individuals abandon their principles, if only for a day. The problem is, of course, that the Internet is one endless Mardis Gras.

Returning to our sample of 100 people, what happens after TFF legitimize a bad search term even just a wee bit? It's safe to say that a few of the swayable 25 souls give in. Yesterday only five fringe people were curious about average penile lengths. Now ten are. The search term makes it higher up the list.

From there it is all downhill. Eventually a pretty boring topic (come on, we have to admit it is...) has become Hit Topic #1 for those looking for information on averages. What was once depraved and shunned gets legitimized first, and celebrated second. All this is accomplished via anonymous mouse-click democracy. One click at a time.

I don't think there is any happy ending to this story. This is a trend which I don't believe will ever be reversed. The evil genie is out of the bottle and I cannot imagine it going back in.

So... is it time to give up hope?

No! St. Paul saw the problem 2,000 years ago, but he also knew the cure. Those who want it can have it any time. You just have to switch party affiliations.

Ephesians 5:15-20
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ... Be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We as individuals do not have to join this Mardi Gras parade to the bottom. We can party with God. Needless to say, if we choose the latter, we'll be stigmatized, called prudes, ridiculed, and (worse still!) our search words will not impact the Internet.

Try this, for example... Type life with (and a space after the with) into google search. Derek, Liz and Louie are there. Christ didn't make the list. The Internet apparently is not much aware of the glories of life with Christ.

I have no idea who Derek, Liz and Louie are — and I don't need to.

My life is with Christ. I party with Him.