{"id":7981,"date":"2026-06-05T18:44:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7981"},"modified":"2026-06-05T18:44:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:44:03","slug":"tgfi-volume-558-global-stupidity-and-counterproductive-relevancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2026\/06\/05\/tgfi-volume-558-global-stupidity-and-counterproductive-relevancy","title":{"rendered":"TGFI, Volume 558: global stupidity and counterproductive relevancy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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You\u2019ve heard of TGIF? This is TGFI: Things Glen Found Interesting<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Fridays I share articles\/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues likely to be of interest to Christians in college. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions, so if you read something fascinating please pass it my way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things Glen Found Interesting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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  1. Unlocked: The Fire of Stupidity Cannot Be Contained<\/a> (David French, New York Times): \u201cA disturbing number of young people on the right are fascinated with fascism. An extraordinary 34 percent of young people overall express a favorable view of communism, and young Americans are far more likely than their parents or grandparents to say that political violence is \u2018sometimes OK.\u2019 And hovering over American culture like a dark cloud is the rise of antisemitism on both the left and the right.\u2026 When you step back and actually think about it, these trends are confounding. I mean, I can understand the temptation to return to some of the discredited ideas of the recent past, I guess, but to revive so many, all at once? And to do it so soon after those wretched ideas ravaged the world?\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. The Commodification Of Christianity<\/a> (Freya India, Substack): \u201cFor a while I thought my generation might be finding God. Now I worry we are just finding content about God.\u2026 Who knows, maybe in the future many of us will say we found Jesus through a YouTube Short, that God got recommended by our algorithm. But I doubt it. I think if Christians want to reach my generation, really reach us, they have to promise something totally separate from that, something otherworldly, something that doesn\u2019t abide by market logic, something different, divine. Something, for once, that isn\u2019t cheapened or commodified.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. There\u2019s a Playbook for College. There Should Be One for Marriage.<\/a> (Aaron Renn, Substack): \u201cWe need to provide young people with the same sort of structure for finding a spouse that we\u2019ve given them for getting into college. And they need to understand the degree of effort and intentionality required to get married.\u2026 Many people will be perfectly happy being single or childless for life. These aren\u2019t for everyone. But college isn\u2019t for everyone either. Yet we educate our high schoolers on the economic value it can bring, the prestige of various schools, the likely career prospects of different majors, the realistic schools one could attend and how to get into them. We could do something similar for marriage. In fact, we could tack some of that onto the college advice. We should let young people know that college is a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet large numbers of high quality singles who are potential future spouses, for example.\u201d