Someone close to me baited me with this rant, saying, "I'm sure you will have an opinion." So here's my response:
I would say that blaming the media for unhappiness is just more evidence of the spoiled brat mentality the author is ranting against. How many times did we get stuck in gaper's block traffic on the way to and from [Florida on a recent trip]? The media isn't responsible for people slowing down to gawk at an accident, so one could argue they're just giving us what we want by focusing on bad news. I'm not saying the media isn't broken, but we have to admit there's something wrong with us as individuals, too--we can't just pin it all on the evening news. The author asks how we can have so much, but be so unhappy--maybe because it's not all the "stuff" he lists that makes us happy (televisions, houses, restaurants). And maybe we feel physically secure, but mentally and spiritually assaulted by more vague enemies like consumerism, chronic depression, anxiety, narcissism, paranoia etc.--things that all of the police and volunteer soldiers in the world can't protect us from. If we're seeking "happiness" (I would say "contentment" is a better goal), bigger armies, more weapons, better cell phones and larger houses aren't going to work, as we have seen. Peace within ourselves and with our neighbors and solid community with God and others to sustain us...we can seek these things in any country in the world, from any level of economic prosperity. Ironically, it's the false "pursuit of happiness" that keeps us from the true pursuit of contentedness in God.
Any other "opinions"? Issues that remain for me: the misuse and watering down of the notion of "blessing", as well as the way in which poor logic and writing such as this receives such a wide audience due to the internet. I suppose I'm perpetuating that problem by linking to it here, but I'm interested in a larger question of how such circulated rants reinforce abstract blame and hatred, particularly among self-identified Christians.
