The Wordy Shipmates

A summary of:
Vowell, S. (2008). The Wordy Shipmates. Riverhead Books: New York.

I've been pregnant to read this volume for a long time. Sarah Vowell is fabulous - she manages to brand fifty-fifty the Pilgrims entertaining! But the ground I travel read it straight off is because I began to remember patch reading Schultze's volume that perhaps at that spot is a connectedness betwixt America's religious foundations together with the detail way inwards which the Internet has developed. And if perhaps at that spot was no truth to this theory, agreement how the Pilgrims attempted to constitute a religious guild inwards America powerfulness offering some insight into how to (or non to) prepare a to a greater extent than spiritual 'space' inside or inwards conjunction amongst cyberspace. In the end, I'm glad I read this when I did.

I don't know how good respected Vowell is as a historian; but I don't know how much it matters for my purposes, firstly, because she cites principal sources, which I tin shipping away extract together with interpret for myself; together with secondly, because my PhD is non inwards history. I volition start out my ain dissertation past times making a historical/sociological argument, but the exercise of this is solely to articulate my enquiry biases together with brand a instance for the demand for to a greater extent than spiritual technology. Now that's out of the way, here's what I learned from the Vowell book:

1. Exceptionalism (and lessening the “digital divide”)

In his famous sermon, "A Model of Christian Charity," John Winthrop utters the famous, quintessentially American imperative: "'We shall live as a urban center upon a hill" (11); together with from together with so on, these words receive got been appropriated past times politial leaders who receive got failed to assimilate the profundity of its implications. The immediate impact, Vowell argues, is that speeches such as this were "watering the seeds of American exceptionalism that will, inwards the twenty-first century, flower into preemptive state of war inwards the shout of spreading commonwealth inwards the Middle East...," (6) etc.. For a people who became increasingly unsure nearly their ain salvation, Americans latched onto the thought of themselves as having a special "calling" (Weber) inwards this world, namely to relieve everyone else. And thence inwards a continual together with ever to a greater extent than manic sucking-up to God, America made its mission the liberation of the world... whether or non anyone asked for America's help. Vowell writes:

The most ironic together with entertaining illustration of that mind-set is the Massachusetts Bay Colony's official seal. The seal, which the Winthrop fleet brought amongst them from England, pictures an Indian inwards a loincloth holding a bow inwards 1 mitt together with an arrow inwards the other. Words are coming out of his mouth. The Indian says, 'Come over together with assist us.' That is truly what is says. The worldview behind that motto - we're hither to help, whether you lot desire our assist or non - is the Massachusetts Puritan's most enduring bequest to the hereafter United States. And similar everything the Puritans believed, it is derived from Scripture (24-5).

This exceptionalism is so ingrained inwards the American psychology that it is nonetheless real much manifesting inwards our unusual policies today. "Soon plenty nosotros were helping Europe inwards 2 the world wars, helping South Korea, helping South Vietnam, just as nosotros are now, as I write this, hleping Iraq" (206). And the justification provided past times Cheney (not that I believe anything that Cheney says, but it's of import that many Americans gobbled upwards Cheney's rationalization for the invasion of Iraq): "My belief is that nosotros will, inwards fact live greeted as liberators" (26).

There is clearly a humility occupation here. Vowell writes, "This contradiction - betwixt humility before God together with the egomania unleashed past times beingness chosen past times God - is truthful of both Winthrop together with the colony of Massachusetts itself. This adult man hopes for tallness for himself as good as for his hereafter city, pitched, inwards his mind, inwards a higher house sea level, on yonder hill" (39).

The betoken that's of import for my purposes is how this real same logic is the motivation behind the liberal ideals of lessening the "digital divide." We remember that nosotros must percentage what nosotros receive got created amongst all of humanity, whether or non they asked for it, assuming that nosotros know improve than they what they need. Technology, nosotros know, is the way. Where's the humility inwards this, I ask? Furthermore, patch people are start to wake upwards to the fact that forced democratization on the the world is perhaps immoral, together with increasingly people of my generation are creeped out past times missionaries, the give-and-take nearly the morality of forcing technologies on people nether the auspices of equality if it is happening at all, is non yet reaching audible decible levels. Yes, at that spot is a digital divide; perhaps this is because other cultures do non desire engineering scientific discipline taking over their lives the way it has for Americans. In short, nosotros demand to cultivate greater humility.

• Implication one: Responsibility
  

For Winthrop, beingness as a urban center upon a colina meant that this seat came amongst tremendous responsiblity. "In Matthew 5:14, Jesus said to the throng before him, 'Ye are the lite of the world. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 urban center that is assail a colina cannot live hid.'...'The eyes of all people are upon us,' warned Wintrhop, 'so that if nosotros shall bargain falsely amongst our God inwards this function nosotros receive got undertaken... nosotros shall live made a story together with a byword through the world'" (58). And as Vowell says far improve than I perhaps could:

The thing that appeals to me nearly Winthrop’s ‘Christian Charity’ together with Cotton’s ‘God’s Promise to His Plantation’ from this goal of history is that at to the lowest degree the arrogant ballyhoo that New England is special together with chosen past times God is tempered past times the self-loathing Puritans’ feel of reckoning. The same wakefulness that private Calvinist was to exercise to continue lookout adult man over his ain sins Winthrop together with Cotton called for also inwards the grouping at large. This humility, this fear, was what kept their delusions of grandeur inwards check. That’s what subsequent generations lost. From New England’s Puritans nosotros inherited the thought that America is blessed together with ordained past times God inwards a higher house all nations, but lost the fright of wrath together with retribution (71-2).

I receive got to wonder if our seeming loss of responsibleness is a straight final result of the soul-crushing dogma of Calvinism, the belief inwards predetermination, so harsh that it made Bishop Laud proclaim, "My real soul abominates this doctrine, for it makes God, the God of all mercies, to live the most tearing together with unreasonable tyrant inwards the whole world" (110). In other words, I do wonder if the impossibility of knowing whether 1 is going to live saved fosters what Weber calls "unprecedented inner loneliness" together with possibly, I would argue, bitterness toward the unfairness of it all... together with a subsequent rejection of the responsibleness (like the instance of the adult woman who, so perturbed past times her constant questioning nearly whether or non she was 1 of the chosen one, drowned her fry because beingness a murderer solved the puzzle 1 time together with for all: she was going to hell).

Yet at some betoken along the way, the notion of responsibleness was swapped for glittering fakes. Vowell quotes from a speech communication past times Cuomo during the fourth dimension of the Reagan administration's to a greater extent than egregious ethical violations: "We give coin to Latin American governments that murder nuns, together with and so nosotros prevarication nearly it.... We must acquire the American world to await past times the glitter, beyond the showmanship to the reality, the hard inwardness of things. And we'll do it non so much amongst speeches that audio goodness as amongst speeches that are goodness together with sound; non so much the speeches that volition convey people to their feet as amongst speeches that volition convey people to their senses. We must brand - We must brand the American people hear our 'Take of Two Cities.' We must convince them that nosotros don't receive got to settle for 2 cities, that nosotros tin shipping away receive got 1 city, indivisible, shining for all of its people" (62-3).

It seems that it is getting harder together with harder to concur 1 some other accountable inwards a the world inwards which nosotros tin shipping away hardly differentiate fact from fiction. We be inwards a plurality of truths, which seems to equate to a confusion of morality together with responsibility. It doesn't help, I imagine, to allow anyone together with everyone to receive got a microphone inwards monastic say to vocalization non-truths to confuse the affair fifty-fifty further. Again, as I wrote inwards 1 of my posts nearly Schultze's book, it seems our solely responsibleness at this betoken is to the commandment: "Thou shalt non inhibit another's liberty of speech." And straight off nosotros alive inwards a the world inwards which intelligence programs quote Newt Gingrich's venomous tweets together with Sarah Palin's moronic Facebook posts. Where's the responsibleness to the truth? Surely this is the foundation of responsibleness for greater moral causes, e.g. ensuring America is, indeed, as a urban center upon a hill.

• Implication two: Salvation

Vowell makes an interesting betoken nearly the centrality of the concept of salvation to the Puritan: "...to Winthrop together with his shipmates, the tradition of a covenant - a handshake bargain betwixt adult man together with God inwards which adult man promises obedience together with God grants salvation inwards render - extends, writes Perry Miller, 'unbroken from Abraham to Boston'" (50).

This made me remember over again of Wertheim's video conference (posted earlier) when she mentions the function of Jesuit scholar Michael Buckley who argues that traditionally inwards Christianity, at that spot were 2 conceptions of God. This persisted until the nativity of modern science, where straight off nosotros focus on the glory of God’s creations at the expense of focusing on his redemptive purpose. For example, Newton together with Copernicus believed that the exercise of exploring the industrial plant of God’s creations was to certain upwards the thought of God as the redeemer; but nosotros are straight off completely obsessed amongst the quondam (e.g. Big Bang). The final result is that God straight off is becoming almost just a metaphor of physical laws, together with sadly, this completely misses the betoken nearly redemption; “If God’s solely exercise is to live God the creator, together with he doesn’t play whatever salvific role, it truly becomes a form of meaningless concept, at to the lowest degree inwards the context of Christianity” (Wertheim). If you lot never span this chasm, you lot never acquire to redemption… which is what brings you lot to morality; or to responsibility, for that matter.

• Implication three: Compassion

I don't receive got a great bargain to say nearly this at the moment, but I did desire to capture this vivid Winthrop quote which may serve as inspiration for the blueprint of to a greater extent than "compassionate" technology:

"We must please inwards each other, brand other's weather our own, rejoice together, mourn together, task together with endure together, ever having before our eyes our committee together with community inwards the work, our community as members of the same body" (51).

• Implication four: Charity

Vowell notes that "'Christian Charity' begins: 'God Almighty inwards His most holy together with wise providence, hath so disposed of the status of mankind, as inwards all times some must live rich, some poor, some high together with eminent inwards ability together with dignity; others hateful inwards their subjection'" (37). This agency that although Jefferson after pens the 'self-evident truth' that all men are created equal, "Winthrop is proverb the reverse - that God created all men unequal" (37). But this is non - as it after became - a justification for capitalistic inequality (see forthcoming post on Weber); rather it a telephone phone for charity on behalf of Puritans. "Winthrop asserts, 'There is a fourth dimension when a Christian must sell all together with give to the poor, as they did inwards the Apostles' times.' (It is so curious that this sermon, inwards my lifetime, would travel so identified amongst the Communist-hating, Communist-baiting Ronald Reagan, considering Winthrop just proclaimed that a follower of Christ must live willing to renounce property. Utter Commie talk.)" (48-9).

• Implication five: We fine art holier than thou

The real ground that the Puritans sought to constitute their ain separate guild is because they "became convinced England was courting the wrath of God" (28). Hooker wrote:

So glory is departed from England; for England hath seen her best days, together with the vantage of sin is coming on apace; for god is packing upwards of his gospel, because none volition purchase his wares.... God begins to ship away his Noahs, which prophesied together with foretold that devastation was near; together with God makes occupation organization human relationship that New England shall live a refuge fro this Noahs together with his Lots, a stone together with a shelter for his righteous ones to run unto; together with those that were vexed to encounter the ungodly lives of the people inwards this wicked land, shall at that spot live prophylactic (29).

I can't assist but encounter similarities betwixt this form of thinking together with early on utopian visions of the Internet as beingness a haven away from the crass materialism of the existent world. Alas, how things acquire perverted over time...

So an of import message from this volume is that no affair how admirable your aims, things tend to receive got on a life of their own. The Puritan guild has morphed over fourth dimension into consumerist, anti-intellectual, rock-loving America. This, too, volition inevitably come about for whatever I design: if it takes off, it volition morph; it volition probable corrupt. I remember the lesson is non that it's non worth trying, but rather that this function is never done together with requires constant reexamination / redesign.

• Implication six: Information seeking

One of the major premises of Protestantism, 1 of the key features that sets it apart from Catholicism, is the thought that: "The word of God, non a adult man of God, is The Man. For that reason, Luther translated the Bible into German linguistic communication so Germans could read it for themselves" (7). Being a goodness Protestant thence requires that the private receive got responsibleness for agreement the Bible, together with otherwise educating themselves. In the words of preeminent Puritan scholar, Perry Miller, "Puritanism was non anti-intellectual fundamentalism; it was a learned, scholarly motion that required on the business office of the leaders, together with as much as possible from the followers, non solely noesis but a honour for the cultural heritage. Being goodness classicists, they read Latin together with Greek poetry, together with tried their hands at composing verses of their own. The amount they wrote, fifty-fifty amidst the task of settling a wilderness, is astonishing" (15). Furthermore, business office of their instruction involved a commitment to writing their thoughts down. This, writes Vowell, created a guild of "quill-crazy New Englanders" (13). But here's the crucial bit:

So an English linguistic communication dependent champaign of Henry VIII who already had a soft spot for the innovations of Luther rejoiced at the king’s interruption amongst Rome (while trying non to pic Henry together with Anne Boleyn doing it inwards every room of every castle). That is, until the Protestant sympathizer went to church building together with noticed that the Church of England was just the same old Catholic Church amongst a virile somebody monarch inwards pope’s clothing. Same old hierarchy of archbishop on down. Same old Latin-speaking middlemen standing betwixt parishioners together with the Bible, betwixt parishioners together with God. Same old ornamental gewgaws. Organ music! Vestments! (It is hard to understate the Puritan abhorrence of something as seemingly picayune as a vicar’s scarf.) Same old easily achieved, come-as-you-are salvation. Here’s what 1 had to do to bring together the Church of England: live English. But nosotros desire getting into sky to live hard! said the Puritans. And non for everybody (7)!

The betoken is, beingness a Puritan is hard work. Salvation is non guaranteed, but earned. Part of that is proving one's worthiness of salvation through strict together with dedicated instruction of oneself.

But then, here's the irony: "The USA is frequently called a Puritan nation. Well, hither is 1 way inwards which it emphatically is not: Puritan lives were overwhelmingly, fanatically literary. Their single-minded obsession amongst 1 book, the Bible, made words the middle of their lives - non land, non money, non power, non fun. I swear on Peter Stuyvesant’s peg leg that the province that became the U.S. bears a closer solid unit of measurement resemblance to the devil-may-care merchants of New Amsterdam than it does to Boston's communitarian English linguistic communication majors" (13). How has America travel so anti-intellectual? Here's Vowell's explanation:

Anne Hutchinson is just taking Protestantism’s side past times side logical step…. [She] is pushing American Protestantism further, towards a exercise approaching the to a greater extent than personal, ecstatic, anti-intellectual, emotional slant straight off practiced inwards the U.S.A., specially inwards the South together with Midwest….
Protestantism’s development away from hierarchy together with ascendancy has enormous consequences for America together with the world. On the 1 hand, the democratization of faith runs parallel to political democratization….
On the other hand, Protestantism’s shedding away of authority, as evidenced past times my mother’s annunciation that I needn’t travel to church building or hear to a preacher to attain salvation, inspires self-reliance – along amongst a unsafe disregard for expertise. So the impulse that leads to commonwealth tin shipping away also live the downside of commonwealth – namely, a suspicion of people who know what they are talking about. It’s why inwards U.S. presidential elections the American people volition elect a wisecracking goodness ol’ man child who’s fun inwards a malt store instead of a serious thinking who truly knows some of the pompous, brainy stuff that powerfulness truly acquire fewer people pose off or killed (213-5).

The betoken of involvement for my enquiry is that at that spot are religious roots to the form of individualistic, anti-authoritarian data seeking behaviour nosotros straight off exercise on the Internet. There is no 1 inwards cyberspace that nosotros tin shipping away travel to for all the answers. And at that spot is no Bible for this space. But what nosotros do receive got is the liberty to travel inwards search of our ain answers. As such, nosotros travel constant bricoleurs, assembling our ain individualized noesis from scattered data nosotros observe on the web.

• Democracy
  

Consider this quote from Ronald Reagan's good daytime address:

I’ve spoken of a shining urban center all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But inwards my mind, it was a tall proud urban center built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, together with teeming amongst people of all kinds living inwards harmony together with peace, a urban center amongst gratis ports that hummed amongst commerce together with creativity, together with if at that spot had to live urban center walls, the walls had doors together with the doors were opened upwards to anyone amongst the volition together with the see to acquire here. That’s how I saw it, together with encounter it nonetheless (64-5).

Firstly, this is rather unlike from the Puritans' exclusionary beliefs (i.e. that getting into sky should live hard together with non for everybody), reflecting the increment of democratic thinking. But again, I encounter a parallel betwixt this form of rhetoric together with that of utopian cyberspace. In fact, this could as live a description of cyberspace if you lot receive got out the allusions to physicality. My betoken is that the thought of the judge of commonwealth as evidenced past times this speech communication is undoubtedly influencing the emerging emphasis on the democratization of technology, majority inventiveness together with the like, evidenced past times the EPSRC's telephone phone for written report of "Democratisaiton together with Open Innovation": "This theme would written report the emerging phenomenon of the democratization of project design together with its technical, occupation organization together with blueprint implications as a key strategic contribution to the digital economy. Areas of activeness would include, citizen journalism, opened upwards source, co-creation, opened upwards innovation, post-participatory blueprint together with majority creativity."

• Losing my religion
  

Vowell writes:

So I ever cringed, wondering why, when the English linguistic communication showed up, most of the Cherokee dropped whatever they were doing together with adopted English linguistic communication ways on the spot, from becoming Christians together with speaking English linguistic communication to eventually printing their ain newspaper, ratifying a constitution, together with owning dark slaves similar white Southerners they aspired to be. Perhaps this is why: they 'despaired so much that they lost confidence inwards their gods together with the priests destroyed the sacred objects of the tribe.' It makes so much sense. Some microscopic predator comes along together with wipes out most of the tribe together with of course of instruction they would abandon their gods. Their gods abandoned them (34).

I experience just the same when I remember of the way the West is homogenizing the the world past times spreading their engineering scientific discipline together with destroying local beliefs together with civilization inwards the process. I can't assist but experience similar Roger Williams felt nearly imposing a novel faith on the natives: "...he points out that Jesus 'abhors... an unwilling spouse, together with to travel inwards into a forced bed: the volition inwards worship, if true, is similar a gratis vote.' Thus, imposing Christianity on American Indians (or anyone else) is, to Williams (and, according to Williams, Jesus) a rape of the soul" (160).

I just remember that it's of import that at that spot live greater selection inwards the engineering scientific discipline that these countries tin shipping away arrange so that they tin shipping away exercise something that fits amongst their lives without destroying their gods together with cultures.

• Final thoughts
  

I thought this was a truly interesting insight into American culture:

In the U.S.A., nosotros desire to sing along amongst the chorus together with ignore the verses, ignore the blues. That is why the 'city on a hill' is the paradigm from Winthrop's speech communication that stuck together with non 'members of the same body.' No 1 is going to concur upwards a cigarette lighter inwards a stadium to the melody of 'mourn together, endure together.' City on a hill, though - that has a backbeat nosotros tin shipping away trip the lite fantastic toe to. And that's why the citizens of the USA non solely elected together with reelected Ronald Reagan; that's why nosotros are Ronald Reagan (63).

The message from this is that it's naive to remember that anyone tin shipping away alter something that is so ingrained inwards culture. The Internet as it is straight off perfectly fits this sing-along-with-the-verses lifestyle. No affair how vivid whatever alternative vision of it powerfulness be, most people are non going to desire to change. The alternative vision volition solely appeal to those that do non experience at habitation inwards this world; the ones who play the blues, as it were. For them, I would similar to offering to a greater extent than options. (For a model of this, encounter Stuart Walker's conceptual designs for στοιχείο varieties ranging from a telephone that comes inwards pieces inwards a pocketbook that you lot receive got to get together whenever you lot brand a call, all the way upwards to the form of convenient στοιχείο nosotros encounter all around us.)