Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, and the downfall of original thought

So, my baby sister gave me a gentle kick in the pants the other day to get back to my writing.  I decided to put down some thoughts that have been floating through my head for a few months.  We’ll see what comes of it I suppose…

Not since the invention of the printing press has the rate of transfer of information increased so rapidly.  A new invention, perhaps ahead of its time, revolutionized the way we think, the way we create, the way we share.

It’s not the one you’re thinking of, it’s the other one… Copy and Paste.

The computer was the mere forerunner of this great invention, a necessary cog in the machine that would become Copy and Paste.  Yes, mankind had waited thousands of years, from the ancient Sumerian alphabet, through scrolls, codices, printing press, even the seemingly advanced computerized world of digital media.  But now, finally, man was liberated in totality from the drudgery of recreating something someone else had already done!  No longer did one have to look repeteadly at a line of text and painstakingly reproduce each tedious word, character by character.  A simple highlight, a few key strokes, a bit of magic, and life was easier.

The signs of the Copy and Paste transformation are everywhere.  The Ctrl, C, and V keys across America show the wear marks of this revolution.  A collective shriek went up as Apple fanboys in every state of the union geeked out when it was announced that one of the key features (and selling points) of the iPhone 3Gs would be Copy and Paste functionality.  You thought multi-touch interactivity was impressive?  Nope, just another necessary feature to bring about the true goal.

Copy and Paste.

Now, I’m all for Copy and Paste in the functional sense.  I use it all the time to transfer website URLs, take information from an email and move it to a document, or speed up the process in creating footnotes.  The possibilities are endless!  But as the title of my rant might have lead you to believe, I have a bone to pick with ol’ CaP.

I’ll admit, I’ve yet to discover if the relationship is causitive, or corollary, but I can’t help but notice a rising lack of original thought recently.  I’m not saying CaP is the cause, maybe it’s just a symptom, but something is definitely going on.  When CaP is used as a tool, I applaud it.  But when it’s used instead of creative capacity, my inner Bob Ross wants to paint some happy trees and then burn them all down!

We miss ya Bob!

I started noticing the pattern in entertainment media first.  That’s not to say it started there, I just picked up on it there.  Here’s an example: have you seen a new movie recently?  No, you haven’t, that one was a remake.  Nope, remake!  Uh, no, that one was a reboot.  Actually, that one was a reboot of a remake that failed five years ago.  Ok, yeah… with the blue people?  Yeah, I’ll give ya that one.  Nope, TV show first.  Nuh uh, from the 80′s.  No, that’s a reimagining of an old classic.

Starting to see my point?

Well, how about a new TV show?  Well, there’s that new one that’s in LA that’s totally different from the one in DC, sort of.  Oh!  And the one that’s in Miami, that started after the one in New York, that came after that really good one in Las Vegas.  Or the really funny one with the single people that do funny stuff and has the one guy, that one’s great!

Then I started seeing it on Facebook.  My minifeed is currently 85% notifications of people becoming fans of “Laughing win I have soda in my mouth, adn it kinda berns,” “You’re duuuuuumb, so stooooooooop trying !!!!11!!!!!1!” or my new fav “Fan this if your sick of the ‘fan this to see the pic’ fan pagez.”

Well, I’m a pastor, and so here’s the bend in the road you knew was coming… it’s in the church too.  It comes in two flavors: and Bandwagon Blueberry, and Apathetic Apple.

Bandwagon Blueberry is the favorite flavor of most churches.  If some church is growing, let’s do what they’re doing.  If a preacher is reaching lots of people, let’s have him at our church, or at least demand that the pastor start dressing or speaking like him.  They showed this DVD at Central Baptist and the whole town got saved and became missionaries, maybe we should watch it too!  While this annoys me, it’s not what I’m here to talk about really, so I’ll just leave it at this:

One size rarely fits all.

Apathetic Apple is a more mature, sublte flavor.  It’s like that first sip of Dr. Pepper when you ordered Coke.  You have to sip it again, scrunch your nose, turn to your friend and say, “Try this, does this taste like Coke to you?”  At first, you might not notice it.  In fact, if you’re not an avid Coke-0nly kinda guy, if you’re fine with the occassional DP, you might not notice at all.  You might actually grow to prefer the drink you didn’t order.  Hey!  Whaddaya know!

I’m a Pepper too!

Apathetic Apple is the kind of Copy and Paste I was harping on earlier.  It says, “Why waste all that time and energy when what we’re looking for is right here?”  It sneaks into the committee meeting and listens for that magic phrase, “What did we do last time?”  Then it swoops in with photocopies of last year’s meeting minutes (Apathetic Apple never carries originals) and says with triumph, “This looks good!  Why reinvent the wheel!”  When some rogue thinker dares to utter, “What if we tried this?”  Apathetic Apple squalls back, “We’ve never done that before!” and the non-conformist is appropriately shunned.  Perhaps a more positive approach will be taken, “We always do it this way.”

Have you ever noticed that always is a maleable word of indefinite duration or iteration?  I’ve heard someone say, “We always do such and such,” and when pressed to it they will admit that they’ve done such and such once. I’ve heard “twice” referred to as a tradition! I have seen programs and meetings and events repeated for years after their timely death, merely because “We’ve always done this.”  A friend of mine has discovered four distinct ways that a particular thing is always done, depending on who you ask.

Copy and Paste.

Are we afraid, or just lazy?  I’ll admit, it takes hard to work create something from scratch.  Sometimes it’s easier, and perfectly acceptable, to use what you have instead of reinventing the wheel.  But sometimes the best thing is to be preferred over the good thing, and the best thing is almost always harder.

And hard is good, as Brad Stine would say.

Hard forces us to be original, to be creative, to exert ourselves.  New things force us to look at a situation, forget everything we previously thought, identify the need or problem, and find a solution that will work because it’s right, not because we’ve always done it.  Some traditions should absolutely be kept, especially biblical ones like the Lord’s Supper, meeting together on a regular basis, etc.  But some traditions might need to be evaluated.  Some might need to be let go of.

But for goodness sake, let’s not keep doing what we did yesterday just because it’s easier than thinking today.