It’s Still Garbage In, Garbage Out

In the early days of computers, when we were just getting used to having them around, there was a common saying: “Garbage in, garbage out.” This meant if programming was faulty, computers would not perform as desired. They either would malfunction or not operate at all. Today almost everyone has a computer and non-techies like me don’t worry much about programming. But the adage is still true.

If you install flawed software on your computer, or the existing software becomes corrupted (perhaps by bad company?), you’re going to become very distressed. Computers are supposed to do what we want them to do; when they don’t, we’re tempted to express some words that aren’t suitable around children or at formal social gatherings.

Speaking of which, I’ve heard the recently released Martin Scorsese film, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” is being called the “swearingest film” of all time, employing the f-word more than 500 times. (Who was responsible for the official count, I don’t know, but that’s not a job I’d want.) Based on the length of the film, the word was used, on average, about every 20 seconds!

I haven’t seen the film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, and won’t. Why pay good money to be bombarded by dialogue that sounds like someone gargled with dirty toilet water? My mind is exposed to enough garbage during the course of an ordinary day. I don’t need to go to a theater and buy some more.

Hollywood seems so very fond of the so-called “f-bomb.” In some quarters the film aristocracy apparently regard it as sophisticated, cool, or something like that. I think it’s simply an excuse for lazy, unimaginative script writing and cesspool thinking that masquerades as “creativity.” It also shows a lack of respect for many members of the viewing public.

There might be occasions when using profanity can be justified. But when usage of a word that’s unacceptable in most public settings is spewed excessively, at machine-gun pace, how can that be excused? Maybe that’s how those directors and actors speak in private as well, so for them it seems normal. In that case, I won’t be inviting them over for dinner.

Based on how you're programming
your mind, what are the words most
 likely to come out of your mouth?

As Proverbs 4:24 wisely advises, “Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.” Ephesians 4:29 adds, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

Granted, in moments of anger or frustration a profane word might slip out, but when such words become as common as periods at the end of sentences, something’s awry. It’s to no one’s benefit.

But the larger issue – that of garbage in, garbage out – goes far beyond motion picture dialogue. We need to be careful of how we “program” our minds in every way. Romans 12:2 admonishes, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind….” Each day our minds are renewed, influenced and shaped by what we allow into them.

I frequent some social media sites, but have noticed the gossip and negativity that make up much of the content we read can undermine our thought patterns. Some people apparently ascribe to the motto, “If you can't think of something bad to say, don’t say anything at all.” So I try to avoid “friends” like that.

Years ago I was an avid reader of horror novels and stories about the occult. I enjoyed a good scare. But after my pastor gave a sermon about the occult, I asked his opinion of my reading preference. He didn’t respond with judgment, but simply replied, “Well, when you read those books, are they pointing you to God – or away from Him.”

Thinking about what he said, I realized that whenever I was reading books like that my tension level would increase, interactions with other people became harsh, and the pervasive language that typified such novels certainly wasn’t helping my own speech to be “edifying,” as the Bible describes it. They definitely weren’t pointing me toward God.

I often wonder about the extreme violence depicted in many video games today, all in the name of “entertainment.” If it’s entertaining to immerse yourself in a virtual experience in which people are killed, blown up and maimed, is it any surprise that at least some of the perpetrators of mass violence have histories of having been engrossed in such “games”?

The human mind has often been described as the most complex, sophisticated and wondrous computer ever observed. But as with electronic computers, programming makes all the difference in how our cerebral computers operate: How we think, the way we act, and what we say.

How are you programming your mind today?

“Garbage In, Garbage Out Syndrome”

Recently I cited an old phrase, “garbage in, garbage out,” used by computer technicians to describe faulty data. No matter how good the computer, if it’s programmed improperly or software isn’t working as intended, you’ve got problems.

Sometimes it seems as if our American society – and perhaps the world in general – has become afflicted by what we could call the “garbage in, garbage out syndrome.” We all seem mad, sad, and feeling bad.

This “garbage” comes from many sources. We have violent TV shows, movies, video games and websites, as I referred to recently. But it’s even more pervasive than that.

We celebrate self-absorbed, narcissistic individuals on reality shows and crown them “celebrities,” making them famous for no other reason than they are…self-absorbed and narcissistic. Modern sitcoms and dramas feed us a continual intellectual diet of immorality, greed, selfishness and generally negative thinking.

What's on your mind - or more
accurately, what are you putting into it?

We listen to incessant talk shows on radio and TV, few of them uplifting or encouraging. Most are disparaging toward someone or something, heeding the philosophy, “If you can’t say something bad about somebody, don’t say anything at all.”

We watch cable news networks, where “experts” deliver gloom and doom 24/7, shouting down anyone that disagrees with their commentaries. If you’re not convinced the world is marching toward a cataclysmic end (erroneous, supposed Mayan predictions notwithstanding), you just need to watch more cable news.

Recently on Yahoo.com, top trending “news items” were: the breakup of a celebrity athlete and his girlfriend; the Newtown, Conn. shooter’s haircut; misdeeds of another athlete; a country-western singer’s personal despair; conflict in the Middle East; a huge storm-related traffic pileup in the Midwest; and a woman stealing Christmas lights in the dark of night. The only “uplifting” article was about how good an aging actress looks in a bikini.

But it’s not just the fault of the media. How often do we find ourselves listening to gossip about coworkers, friends or acquaintances, and then passing that information to anyone willing to listen? Or read books with such dismal content that prescriptions for antidepressants should be included?

The Bible states, “As a (person) thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). Information we store in our minds not only affects our attitudes, but also our actions.

As we embark on this new adventure called 2013, maybe it’s time to turn over the proverbial new leaf by adopting the advice of Philippians 4:8 – “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things.”

It’s easy to consider the negative, to find fault, to criticize and demean. What would happen if we each made a conscious attempt to focus on things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy? It could be revolutionary!

Are We Ignoring the Obvious?

Shootings take the lives of 20 young children and six adults in a Connecticut elementary school. Similar senseless, horrific events claim many other lives at high schools, colleges, entertainment and retail centers, and businesses across the country. Each tragedy prompts us to ask, “Why?” The question seems to defy answers.

We struggle to determine what can be done to curb such shocking outbursts of anger and violence. Debates about gun control intensify. Curiously, the morning of the Sandy Hook Elementary School slayings, a man went to an elementary school in China and slashed 22 children and one adult with a knife. Should knife control be added to the debate?

“How could a good, loving God allow something like this to happen?” some people ask. It seems strange that when something terrible occurs, people want to know why God didn’t intervene, but when things are going well, they hold Him at arm’s length as if to say, “Mind Your own business.”

At the movie theater in Aurora, Colo. earlier this year, the gunman’s weapon jammed or more people might have been killed. At Newtown, police said the gunman had additional weapons and ammunition, but took his own life. Perhaps God did intervene?

I’m not a gun person, and have no idea why anyone other than military and law enforcement personnel needs semiautomatic or assault weapons. Perhaps bans on those would be warranted.

But I doubt more stringent gun laws will end growing mayhem in the United States and around the world. Those intent on performing violent acts, especially people with imbalanced mental states, will find ways to obtain what they need. If not guns, they’ll opt for knives, machetes, sharpened pencils if necessary.

The problem is far deeper than available weaponry. Look at our entertainment industry. It glorifies killing in the movies, TV, and computer and video games. Just the other day, at the close of one of my favorite crime shows, one of the detectives killed a criminal, and moments later he and his partner walked away, sharing a joke. As if taking the life of a human being – even a bad one – was of no greater consequence than flicking lint off their slacks.

Video games turn killing into contests. The more you kill, the higher you score. “But it’s only make-believe,” game designers and movie producers say. “It’s just fantasy.” Perhaps, but these aren’t Pac-Man or Donkey Kong graphics – they’re designed to look as real as possible. And with mentally unstable individuals that easily mix reality and fantasy, are we surprised when they move “fun” from the world of fantasy and into the real world?

Daily our minds are bombarded with images and messages of murder and mayhem. No wonder some are adversely affected. As the Bible states, “For as he thinks within himself, so he is” (Proverbs 23:7). Or to borrow the old computer phrase, “Garbage in, garbage out.”

But I believe the greatest factor is that for decades society has systematically and aggressively sought to eradicate God – and thoughts of Him – from our collective psyche. We’ve made the Ten Commandments (including “you shall not kill”) abhorrent. Symbols of faith are treated as offensive. Anyone expressing spiritual beliefs is conveniently discredited as “religious.”

When I was a boy in school, every day started with the Lord’s Prayer and reading a passage from the Bible (usually the Old Testament, perhaps in deference to Jewish students), along with the Pledge of Allegiance. I didn’t fret a single day that some gunman might enter the school and cause us harm.

Today, these practices are either prohibited in public schools or opposed. We’ve “evolved.” We’re “enlightened.” Really? Seriously?

I don’t believe we “took God out of the schools.” As they say, wherever there are tests and exams, He will always be summoned. And God is not subject to human legislation. But by attempting to remove the divine from our daily consciousness, whether in school, business, or even the playing fields, we’ve discarded our moral compass, the foundation for making good and informed decisions.

Proverbs 29:18 states, “When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild” (New Living Translation). Another version puts it this way: “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint.” Then the verse ends, “…but blessed is he who keeps the law.”

“Running wild.” “Casting off restraint.” Observing the landscape of 21^st century society, don’t these descriptions sound appropriate?

When are we going to acknowledge the obvious – that there is evil in the world, and God is the only solution to this growing evil presence?

On Dec. 14, a troubled, perhaps deranged young man terminated the lives of 20 children and seven adults (including his mother) in Newtown, Conn. The chapter from Proverbs coinciding with that date included these words: “He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge” (Proverbs 14:26).

In refusing to rightly fear God, are we depriving our children of refuge?