I HAVE come to believe, each time more strongly, that the more freedom
one has, the more responsibility he should also exercise. The two
cannot and should not be separated.
Freedom is such a tremendous gift that it gives us power to be
anything or anywhere we want to be, including to be in the gutter—or
worse, in hell. That’s why, it has to be directed and conformed to a
law that is meant to be good for all of us.
That’s not a limitation of freedom. That actually enhances freedom,
since that makes freedom to get engaged with its proper purpose.
That’s when freedom would truly serve us for our own good and the good
of everyone else. And that good is none other than ultimately to love
God and others in the truth.
The Internet, especially its very popular social networking services,
has opened a wide, new and apparently endless and borderless avenue
for us to exercise our freedom of expression. It has brought about a
quantum leap of benefits and advantages unknown before.
In the words of Pope Benedict XVI, the digital social networks are
creating “a new ‘agora,’ an open public square in which people share
ideas, information and opinions, and in which new relationships and
forms of community can come into being.”
He went to the extent of saying that the spaces created by this new
technology, if properly handled, can make the exchange of information
into true communication, the links can ripen into friendship, and
connections can facilitate communion.
That’s why, according to the Pope, all those who make use of them must
exert great effort to be “authentic since, it is not only ideas and
information that are shared, but ultimately our very selves.”
That’s a statement worth meditating on, if only to make into a strong
conviction the truth that in any communication, it is not merely ideas
that are exchanged, but ultimately a person-to-person
interrelationship is taking place.
Great care therefore has to be done. And it should be made clear that
in these exchanges, it is not only about who makes sense or more sense
that matters, but rather the ultimate goal and requirements of charity
have to be reached and met.
We need to examine ourselves more deeply if we are using the Internet
and its social network services properly. While it’s true that these
technologies can be used to further facilitate our ordinary
communications, we also need to make sure that they are not used to
foster inanities, vanities, waste of time, obsessions or worse, to
commit big sins and crimes.
Nowadays, pornography is a common stuff in this environment. Also
phishing and trolling. And all sorts of fraud and forms of indignities
are committed.
We definitely need to check ourselves frequently to see if our use of
these powerful means is on the right track toward our proper goal, if
we truly are facilitating authentic communication, if we are all
becoming better persons, understanding and loving each other more,
aside from understanding issues more deeply, etc.
The digital world should improve our capacity for tolerance to an
ever-increasing range of diversity, but it should also sharpen our
love for one another and our understanding and appreciation of
opinions as well as absolute truths.
These should be the standard and criteria to assess the quality of our
use of these means. We cannot remain cavalier in this regard, because
these new technologies, while giving us great good, can also cause big
and even almost irreparable damage to us.
We also need to understand that there has to be an effort to use these
technologies for the ultimate purpose of communication. And that is
evangelization, spreading the Good News about God and ourselves with
respect to our ultimate end.
The Pope spells this out quite clearly. “The challenge facing social
networks is how to be truly inclusive,” he said. That means these
networks should include God and should be open to all.
Otherwise, these powerful means can be likened to the Tower of Babel
that was built for the purpose of reaching heaven merely by human
effort. God destroyed it and made it to cause such confusion of
languages that the people could not understand one another anymore.
We need to be most responsible in enjoying the tremendous freedom
afforded by the Internet and its very popular social networks. When we
use them, are we clearly driven by love for God and for the common
good, or are we just allowing our merely human and temporal impulses
free play?
one has, the more responsibility he should also exercise. The two
cannot and should not be separated.
Freedom is such a tremendous gift that it gives us power to be
anything or anywhere we want to be, including to be in the gutter—or
worse, in hell. That’s why, it has to be directed and conformed to a
law that is meant to be good for all of us.
That’s not a limitation of freedom. That actually enhances freedom,
since that makes freedom to get engaged with its proper purpose.
That’s when freedom would truly serve us for our own good and the good
of everyone else. And that good is none other than ultimately to love
God and others in the truth.
The Internet, especially its very popular social networking services,
has opened a wide, new and apparently endless and borderless avenue
for us to exercise our freedom of expression. It has brought about a
quantum leap of benefits and advantages unknown before.
In the words of Pope Benedict XVI, the digital social networks are
creating “a new ‘agora,’ an open public square in which people share
ideas, information and opinions, and in which new relationships and
forms of community can come into being.”
He went to the extent of saying that the spaces created by this new
technology, if properly handled, can make the exchange of information
into true communication, the links can ripen into friendship, and
connections can facilitate communion.
That’s why, according to the Pope, all those who make use of them must
exert great effort to be “authentic since, it is not only ideas and
information that are shared, but ultimately our very selves.”
That’s a statement worth meditating on, if only to make into a strong
conviction the truth that in any communication, it is not merely ideas
that are exchanged, but ultimately a person-to-person
interrelationship is taking place.
Great care therefore has to be done. And it should be made clear that
in these exchanges, it is not only about who makes sense or more sense
that matters, but rather the ultimate goal and requirements of charity
have to be reached and met.
We need to examine ourselves more deeply if we are using the Internet
and its social network services properly. While it’s true that these
technologies can be used to further facilitate our ordinary
communications, we also need to make sure that they are not used to
foster inanities, vanities, waste of time, obsessions or worse, to
commit big sins and crimes.
Nowadays, pornography is a common stuff in this environment. Also
phishing and trolling. And all sorts of fraud and forms of indignities
are committed.
We definitely need to check ourselves frequently to see if our use of
these powerful means is on the right track toward our proper goal, if
we truly are facilitating authentic communication, if we are all
becoming better persons, understanding and loving each other more,
aside from understanding issues more deeply, etc.
The digital world should improve our capacity for tolerance to an
ever-increasing range of diversity, but it should also sharpen our
love for one another and our understanding and appreciation of
opinions as well as absolute truths.
These should be the standard and criteria to assess the quality of our
use of these means. We cannot remain cavalier in this regard, because
these new technologies, while giving us great good, can also cause big
and even almost irreparable damage to us.
We also need to understand that there has to be an effort to use these
technologies for the ultimate purpose of communication. And that is
evangelization, spreading the Good News about God and ourselves with
respect to our ultimate end.
The Pope spells this out quite clearly. “The challenge facing social
networks is how to be truly inclusive,” he said. That means these
networks should include God and should be open to all.
Otherwise, these powerful means can be likened to the Tower of Babel
that was built for the purpose of reaching heaven merely by human
effort. God destroyed it and made it to cause such confusion of
languages that the people could not understand one another anymore.
We need to be most responsible in enjoying the tremendous freedom
afforded by the Internet and its very popular social networks. When we
use them, are we clearly driven by love for God and for the common
good, or are we just allowing our merely human and temporal impulses
free play?
No comments:
Post a Comment