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I am not sure exactly where this best fits - it crosses a few domains. I trust the mods to relocate it if they see fit.
Yesterday, I made a trip from Woodbine, GA to Selma, NC. Almost the entire trip was made on Interstate 95, where I was treated to a seemingly endless stream of billboards.
First, I would like to thank Vermont for banning these behemoths and leaving the state more pristine. I wish more (all?) states would follow your example.
Second, I quickly noticed that there were four basic themes (I left one out in my travel log): food and fuel, adult stores, fireworks stores, and religion. I found that an interesting combination of themes, but I want to focus on the religious signs.
I should note that the vast majority of the religious ones seem to come from two sources. The first is https://gospelbillboards.org/. Their billboards are distinct because they all have the 83-FOR-TRUTH phone number clearly displayed. Just on a whim, I decided to call that number this morning; it is basically a religious help line. No, I didn’t talk to anyone. The second source is a single man: Daniel Brothers. Professionally, he puts up log cabins. Personally, he is a Christian who spends up to half of his annual salary on these billboards. They are distinctive, with big red letters on a yellow background (https://apnews.com/general-news-a30f...5ca74bbca233cb).
Here’s a sampling of the ones I saw as I drove (I dictated them into Siri).
I certainly cannot fault Mr. Brothers for his passion and commitment; there is a man putting his money where his mouth is. He apparently makes $50-70K per year and spends half of it on these billboards, feeling an obligation to “save the lost.”
I was struck by a theme, especially in Mr. Brother’s billboards: fear. Mr. Brothers apparently thinks that the best way to “save” people is to scare them into believing. Gospel Billboards is not innocent of this approach either. I find myself reminded of Pascal’s Wager. Derived by Blaise Pascal in the 17th century, the wager suggests that the logical person will believe in god and live as if he exists. This is due to a simple analysis of a truth table of two statements: “God exists” and “I believe in god.” There are four possible combinations:
Blaise would argue that believing in god either results in a bit of wasted time or eternal salvation, whereas not believing in god either results in living in touch with reality or eternal damnation. To Blaise, the greatest risk is not believing because it has that “eternal damnation” possibility.
What Blaise and the fear-based billboards ignore is a simple reality: fear-based arguments say nothing about reality. They are not rooted in uncovering the truth. They are 100% rooted in feelings. All they say is, “you should be so afraid of this possible outcome that you should believe.”
Fear is an important emotion. It can keep us from making some really stupid mistakes. It keeps us from walking too close to the edge of that cliff. It keeps us from playing with that grenade. It keeps us from eating that unrecognized mushroom. But as a basis for belief, it truly sucks. It can lead us into a snakepit of conspiracies and ridiculousness. We are touching, here, on a reality that I believe has a great deal to do with our current political climate.
Conservatism is a worldview based in fear. It fears change. Change is messy. Change is an unknown. Conservatism wants things to be as they have been. The problem with this is that locking the world into a fixed configuration out of fear also locks into place all of the ills of that world.
Liberalism is a worldview that embraces change without fear. It wants to constantly improve and grow. The problem with that is that unbridled change can become change for its own sake. In a quest to improve, it can introduce a whole new set of ills into our world.
This is why conservatism and liberalism are better together. The latter drives the world forward, while the former provides the cautionary brakes and reflection. Of course, that cannot happen if the two each believe the other is unnecessary. It certainly cannot happen if each sees the other as an enemy to be vanquished.
But fear is not a reasonable basis for belief. Fear is an emotion. It may or may not be linked to anything real or true. What is real or true is arrived at by observation, experimentation, and the application of reason. It doesn’t matter if the worst outcome in Pascal’s Wager is “eternal damnation.” If there is no god (or if there is a god that does not subscribe to eternal damnation), that outcome doesn’t even exist. We must and should believe what we have found to be true, reject what we have found to be untrue, and hold judgment on what we cannot determine to be true or untrue.
Another common theme from these posts is the claim that, somehow, Jesus will save us, make us better, or provide “the answer.” This is perhaps one of the most psychologically compelling part of the Christian message, and I suspect it has a great deal to do with the success of Christianity over the centuries. We all have fallen short of our own ideals. The more we fall short of those ideals, the more guilt we tend to carry. Imagine the relief that comes with knowing that the all knowing, all powerful, all good creator of the universe is willing to forgive you your worst transgressions and embrace you in love if you will only embrace belief in this being. What an amazingly transformative experience this must be for so many. If this being, with the whole universe before them, can take specific concern about this tiny human being, what is there to be afraid of?
But, again, this is belief based on feeling - and feelings can and do mislead us regularly. Truth is an alignment between what is spoken or thought and what is real. It’s as simple as that. “Jesus is the Truth” is a meaningless sentence. “Jesus is the Answer” is a claim that ignores the reality that no one has specified the question.
We live in a world where we are being blasted with memes, but memes are not new. Humans have been spouting memes for a long, long time. Memes are like hyperbole, gossip, and stereotypes; they contain a germ of truth nested in a context of misrepresentation and misinformation (or perhaps even disrepresentation and disinformation).
So, as you read those bulletin boards, or look at those political memes, or hear those over-the-top claims, remember to ask yourself if what you are reading is trying to drive you through feelings (especially fear) and if it is making any claim that can be shown/known to be true.
Yesterday, I made a trip from Woodbine, GA to Selma, NC. Almost the entire trip was made on Interstate 95, where I was treated to a seemingly endless stream of billboards.
First, I would like to thank Vermont for banning these behemoths and leaving the state more pristine. I wish more (all?) states would follow your example.
Second, I quickly noticed that there were four basic themes (I left one out in my travel log): food and fuel, adult stores, fireworks stores, and religion. I found that an interesting combination of themes, but I want to focus on the religious signs.
I should note that the vast majority of the religious ones seem to come from two sources. The first is https://gospelbillboards.org/. Their billboards are distinct because they all have the 83-FOR-TRUTH phone number clearly displayed. Just on a whim, I decided to call that number this morning; it is basically a religious help line. No, I didn’t talk to anyone. The second source is a single man: Daniel Brothers. Professionally, he puts up log cabins. Personally, he is a Christian who spends up to half of his annual salary on these billboards. They are distinctive, with big red letters on a yellow background (https://apnews.com/general-news-a30f...5ca74bbca233cb).
Here’s a sampling of the ones I saw as I drove (I dictated them into Siri).
- Come out now and say Jesus’s name!
- Find peace. Surrender to Jesus
- I said, REPENT!
- JESUS!
- Jesus’s Blood (I wanted to fix the syntax)
- Jesus is the answer!
- Jesus rebukes your demons!
- Jesus saves
- Judgement Day is a breath away
- Life is short, eternity isn’t
- No Jesus, No Life! Dead already!
- Save me, Jesus
- Selling your soul for what?
- Shackled by lust? Jesus sets free.
- There IS evidence for God!
- When you die, you WILL meet god!
- Where are you going? Heaven or Hell (complete with blue skies and flames)
I certainly cannot fault Mr. Brothers for his passion and commitment; there is a man putting his money where his mouth is. He apparently makes $50-70K per year and spends half of it on these billboards, feeling an obligation to “save the lost.”
I was struck by a theme, especially in Mr. Brother’s billboards: fear. Mr. Brothers apparently thinks that the best way to “save” people is to scare them into believing. Gospel Billboards is not innocent of this approach either. I find myself reminded of Pascal’s Wager. Derived by Blaise Pascal in the 17th century, the wager suggests that the logical person will believe in god and live as if he exists. This is due to a simple analysis of a truth table of two statements: “God exists” and “I believe in god.” There are four possible combinations:
- God does not exist and I do not believe in god: no harm, no foul. I am living in touch with reality.
- God does not exist and I do believe in god: I am wasting time and living in a bit of a delusion
- God exists and I do not believe if god: Eternal damnation
- God exists and I do believe in god: Eternal salvation
Blaise would argue that believing in god either results in a bit of wasted time or eternal salvation, whereas not believing in god either results in living in touch with reality or eternal damnation. To Blaise, the greatest risk is not believing because it has that “eternal damnation” possibility.
What Blaise and the fear-based billboards ignore is a simple reality: fear-based arguments say nothing about reality. They are not rooted in uncovering the truth. They are 100% rooted in feelings. All they say is, “you should be so afraid of this possible outcome that you should believe.”
Fear is an important emotion. It can keep us from making some really stupid mistakes. It keeps us from walking too close to the edge of that cliff. It keeps us from playing with that grenade. It keeps us from eating that unrecognized mushroom. But as a basis for belief, it truly sucks. It can lead us into a snakepit of conspiracies and ridiculousness. We are touching, here, on a reality that I believe has a great deal to do with our current political climate.
Conservatism is a worldview based in fear. It fears change. Change is messy. Change is an unknown. Conservatism wants things to be as they have been. The problem with this is that locking the world into a fixed configuration out of fear also locks into place all of the ills of that world.
Liberalism is a worldview that embraces change without fear. It wants to constantly improve and grow. The problem with that is that unbridled change can become change for its own sake. In a quest to improve, it can introduce a whole new set of ills into our world.
This is why conservatism and liberalism are better together. The latter drives the world forward, while the former provides the cautionary brakes and reflection. Of course, that cannot happen if the two each believe the other is unnecessary. It certainly cannot happen if each sees the other as an enemy to be vanquished.
But fear is not a reasonable basis for belief. Fear is an emotion. It may or may not be linked to anything real or true. What is real or true is arrived at by observation, experimentation, and the application of reason. It doesn’t matter if the worst outcome in Pascal’s Wager is “eternal damnation.” If there is no god (or if there is a god that does not subscribe to eternal damnation), that outcome doesn’t even exist. We must and should believe what we have found to be true, reject what we have found to be untrue, and hold judgment on what we cannot determine to be true or untrue.
Another common theme from these posts is the claim that, somehow, Jesus will save us, make us better, or provide “the answer.” This is perhaps one of the most psychologically compelling part of the Christian message, and I suspect it has a great deal to do with the success of Christianity over the centuries. We all have fallen short of our own ideals. The more we fall short of those ideals, the more guilt we tend to carry. Imagine the relief that comes with knowing that the all knowing, all powerful, all good creator of the universe is willing to forgive you your worst transgressions and embrace you in love if you will only embrace belief in this being. What an amazingly transformative experience this must be for so many. If this being, with the whole universe before them, can take specific concern about this tiny human being, what is there to be afraid of?
But, again, this is belief based on feeling - and feelings can and do mislead us regularly. Truth is an alignment between what is spoken or thought and what is real. It’s as simple as that. “Jesus is the Truth” is a meaningless sentence. “Jesus is the Answer” is a claim that ignores the reality that no one has specified the question.
We live in a world where we are being blasted with memes, but memes are not new. Humans have been spouting memes for a long, long time. Memes are like hyperbole, gossip, and stereotypes; they contain a germ of truth nested in a context of misrepresentation and misinformation (or perhaps even disrepresentation and disinformation).
So, as you read those bulletin boards, or look at those political memes, or hear those over-the-top claims, remember to ask yourself if what you are reading is trying to drive you through feelings (especially fear) and if it is making any claim that can be shown/known to be true.
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, then I win.
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