Religious about Podcasts

Okay, first of all, I have to comment on a couple of observations I had while just starting this exercise. I went to www.podfeed.net, and marveled at the number of religious (presumably Christian) topics listed under "popular" tags. I went back and counted: ten percent of the topics in the list were religious, ranging from "Christianity" to "Bible" to "Jesus" to "faith." Okay, interesting.

I decided to click on "science." The podcast at the top of the list was an item from "College & Young Adult Podcasts from Exodus Interactive Forum" that claimed to have "Christianity explored and defended in a way that pushes each believer to examine their own faith." The item had been tagged with "science," along with many others including "adult," "intelligent," and "sex." I wondered how many users clicking on those tags would be surprised to find this podcast in the list. I also found several podcasts dealing with the paranormal, another topic I wouldn't expect to find under "science." Apparently those who post the podcasts have a great deal of latitude in how they tag their presentations.

I sorted through the questionable material and found something that looked promising. I clicked on Brain Food and was not disappointed. This episode was a special Q&A edition covering topics from the constancy of the speed of light to the difference between static and kinetic friction. The host explained these concepts in an engaging and easy to understand format. This is definitely a podcast I want to tune into again. I might even start to follow it religiously.

Food for Thought

While most of YouTube is fluff at best, there are some eye openers. I started this journey by clicking on the 70's commercials link provided by Learn and Play and watched the Kool Aid commercial, which reminded me of other commercials from my childhood. I viewed the classic "I Want to Buy the World a Coke" commercial from the 70's (nothing like good old fashioned peace, love, harmony and consumerism), and then marveled at the difference in the messages and images behind commercials from 1967, the mid-70's and 1978 for McDonald's. Then there was a local news story of a meat processing plant for McDonald's that promoted eating McDonald's hamburgers as a way to support a farmer providing for his family. Yeah. And finally, I found a video featuring Morgan Spurlock of "Super Size Me" demonstrating McDonald's french fries that had not even begun to decompose after 10 weeks. He posed the question to viewers of what was in these things to keep them from decomposing, and what did that do to our bodies when we eat them?

I think what I find most eye-opening about sites like YouTube, though, is not the occasionally thought-provoking subject matter that pops up, but the vast array of inarticulate and simple-minded responses from users. I continue to be amazed at the vast majority of responders who are not only unable to write coherently but who seem completely unable to formulate an independent thought. I'm saddened by this. Time after time I've seen social media that has so much potential to educate and to provoke thought; yet most of these efforts seem lost. My hope lies with the occasional user who does scratch his or her head after viewing a video like the Morgan Spurlock piece and thinks about things.