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EDITORIAL
Electronic communication

Jim Coggins

In the last 10 years, electronic communication has expanded at a colossal rate. There are two main forms:

1. E-mail: This is communication (usually a letter) sent from one computer to another computer (maybe hundreds or thousands of kilometres away) over the phone lines (or now on cable).

2. World Wide Web: Large amounts of information are now posted on computers in such a way that they can be read (over phone/cable lines) by people at other computers.

Fifteen years ago, electronic communication barely existed. Today it has become a dominant form of communication. Consider:

For the last five years, any Mennonite Brethren member (or any person in the world) who has a computer and an Internet connection has been able to read the MB Herald online (that is on the World Wide Web). Our French-language periodical Le Lien is now online. The Canadian Conference Web site contains all of the Board of Faith and Life pamphlets on current issues, the Confession of Faith, information on most Conference agencies, and links to other MB conferences, agencies and local churches. New material is being added to the site every month. The majority of news releases are now sent to the Herald by e-mail, as well as the majority of feature articles. I send and receive 20-40 pieces of e-mail on an average day, including inter-office memos between my office in Abbotsford and the other Herald office in Winnipeg.

I now use e-mail more than mail, telephone or fax – which has considerably reduced our costs.

On the other hand, electronic communication has some drawbacks (in addition to the most sensational and obvious problems such as the spread of pornography). Consider:

A Bible college professor tells me that most research for students’ essays is now done on the World Wide Web. The process is simple, and the student doesn’t even have to leave home. Using a program called a “Web browser” or “search engine”, he simply types “Mennonite”, “war” or whatever topic he happens to be researching, and he is directed to 10, 20 or more Web sites which contain information on that topic. The student then records the information, as well as the Web “address” and the date he read the site (since the information may be changed or deleted the next day). The problem, the professor says, is that the students don’t distinguish between the sources of the sites. The information could have been posted by a scholar who has been studying the topic for 30 years, a news agency which has spent thousands of dollars investigating the issue, a hate group, or simply another student. On the Web, all sites and all information appear equal. The source of the information and the credentials of the person or group posting the information may or may not be given. In some cases, the first sites listed by the search engine are not those with the most relevant or reliable information but those who have paid the search engine company the most money to have their site listed first. In other words, the Internet encourages the modern problem of pluralism and relativism, where everybody’s ideas are right and no one’s ideas are wrong. For a long time, I was convinced that the most common use of e-mail was the circulation of jokes. Also passed around, especially among Christians, are inspiring stories. Some of these are very moving, but are they true? I once received a story so inspiring that I wanted to publish it in the Herald. I tried to trace the story to its source, and found it was impossible. The story had been passed on from friend to friend, perhaps hundreds of times, and no one knew where the story originated. Perhaps the story was stolen from the legitimate owner’s Web site and passed on without permission. I had more success tracing another inspiring story. I found three Web sites which had posted the story as if it were their own. I also found on the Internet information about the school where the story had supposedly taken place and discovered that the facts about the school were significantly different from the details reported in the inspiring story. Also passed around among Christians are “warnings”. Recently I received two. One told of AIDS-infected needles being left in the coin slots of vending machines. It is possible, but if it had really happened, it would have been reported in the news media. Several details identified this story as an “urban legend”. The story was passed on at third hand, happening to a FOAF (friend of a friend). The details of where the story happened sounded convincing, but no such place seems to exist. Another e-mail being circulated warned that the Harry Potter books were a deliberate plot by Satanists to turn children away from Christianity. I have made my own criticisms of the Harry Potter books (see MBH, Nov. 17, 2000), but some of the quotations in the e-mail were clearly fabricated, and the charges were ridiculous. The notable thing about such e-mails passed on from person to person is that the person who started them remains anonymous and cannot be held accountable for his words. Before the invention of electronic media, there were different terms for the circulation of such stories. They were called “gossip” or “rumours”. A youth pastor told me that some of the kids in his youth group were sending each other nasty e-mail messages, things they would never dare to say to each other face to face. The youth pastor then had to try to sort out in person relationships that had been damaged through a faceless electronic medium.

Electronic communication is a wonderful and powerful tool, and like most tools it can be used for both good and evil. Let us be diligent to use it only for good.

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Last modified April 2, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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