Pauline Kael, The Apostle Paul, and Echo Chambers
Pauline Kael was a film critic for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. The magazine for which she worked may give you a clue about her political leanings. That fact may also give you a clue to the kind of people who were in her circle of associates and friends. She is probably best known today for a quote about politics than she is for any opinion about a movie.
In 1972, Richard Nixon won reelection for the office of President of the United States by winning 60.7% of the popular vote and receiving the electoral votes of forty-nine of the fifty states. Apparently Ms. Kael was incredulous. The quote that is usually attributed to her is, “I can’t believe Nixon won. I don’t know anyone who voted for him.”
When I did a little research, I discovered that the quote is not accurate. What she really said was, “I live in a rather special world. I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don’t know. They’re outside my ken. But sometimes when I’m in a theater I can feel them.”
It seems to me that the actual quote is more telling in a lot of ways than what is usually reported as what she said. Whether she realized it or not, she was, in effect, saying she was primarily around people who lived like she did and who thought the way she did.
You may have heard people today talking about “echo chambers” when discussing situations like this. Some of us have a tendency to “run in the same circles,” and basically bounce the same opinions back and forth as if we were in an echo chamber.
To take this to another level, sometimes people prefer to live in communities and/or neighborhoods that are fairly homogeneous. Sometimes, the division is not a matter of preference, but of pressure. In large cities, there are places like “Little Italy,” “Chinatown,” etc.
In smaller cities and towns, the divisions may not be quite as well defined, but they can still exist. There are communities/neighborhoods in which there doesn’t seem to be much difference in house styles, types of vehicles driven, political opinions, or even racial identity. If somebody who doesn’t “fit the pattern” would happen to move into the neighborhood, they might not actually be verbally or physically confronted, but they might soon realize that some, if not all, of the other people don’t appreciate them or the fact that they are there.
All of this has caused me to think about Paul’s experience in Athens. Notice how the people to whom he spoke are described:
Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. (Acts 17:21)
It is very easy to be critical of these people. It is very tempting to think that they could have found something more productive to do than that. However we may want to criticize them, it definitely cannot be said that they lived in an echo chamber.
It also cannot be said that Paul lived in an echo chamber. He was willing to associate with and speak to people who were in so many ways unlike him and who had already called him “a babbler” (v. 8). You may recall that there basically were three responses to what Paul had to say on that occasion. Some mocked; some wanted to hear him again; and some believed (vs. 32, 34).
If, in fact, “variety is the spice of life,” then associating with and conversing with people who are just like me probably would result in my life being very bland. A reluctance to have my lifestyle disturbed and my opinions challenged could lead to a lot of things that are very unhealthy and unproductive. I might never become a complete recluse, but I would miss out on a lot of what associating with others could bring to my life – and what I could bring to them.
It could be said that living in an echo chamber could cause me to forfeit any opportunity I may have to live in heaven. Surely, nobody wants that to happen – either to themselves or to others.
AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
