Jeffrey Pugh has thought about the above question and has penned a fine book, called Devil’s Ink, Blog from the Basement Office
, which made my holding pattern on my flight much more enjoyable.
Pugh provides a series of blog entries in the book covering everything from social networking to political dalliances (Anthony Weiner, watch out!) and does it all with a, dare I say, wicked sense of humor.
What I really like is that if you even miss some of the references he implicitly makes within the words he puts on this devil figure, he provides tags at the end of the entry for you to re-explore the hidden references. Much of this brings back memories of past scandals and history.
I know what you’re thinking…
How is this different from C.S. Lewis’ Classic the Screwtape Letters? Well, Pugh admits being inspired by Lewis (and others) in the introduction, but I’ve found this to take more direct aim at certain events or individual moral failings and gives the reader a better opportunity to see moral failings for what they are, which is, evil at work in the world.
How does evil stay alive in the world? Pugh makes the clear point that evil is most happy when it can be covert, when our morality drops to the point where we believe that evil doesn’t really influence or exist at all. That is when evil can be most disruptive and damaging to people.
So why wouldn’t the devil blog? The truth might be that we’re already reading his words all over the place.
Oh shit, now it’s made it’s way here too.