Beyond Outrage: Vetting Media to Increase Sensibility and Stability
by Michael W. Philliber
“Validate before you palpitate; authenticate before you propogate.”
With clear, practical wisdom Pastor Philliber guides the reader through a penetrating reflection on how we process, respond to, and spread news and information. Though the focus is on social media the lessons may be (and indeed are!) pressed into a self-examination of how and why we consume, seek out, and share the kind of information available to us, from late 90s email forwards to gossip at work and in the neighborhood.
More than just a challenge to meditate on the 9th commandment, Pastor Philliber goes further, bringing various studies and research to bear on how news reporting and spreading (which includes us, dear reader!) share responsibility, even culpability, for dangerous behavior in wider society, such as suicide clusters and mass shooting events.
Of course this is the kind of book we all wish that one remote (or close) relative on Facebook would read and take to heart! But it is also helpful for self-searching and for small group study. Each chapter even includes practical homework to help the wisdom come to fruit in one’s life.
I would heartily recommend this book to pastors, elders, small group leaders, school administrators, parents, relatives on Facebook, and anyone who uses social media of any kind, from Threads to the office water cooler.
