I just finished Thaddeus Williams' new book Confronting Injustice Without Compromising Truth: 12 Questions Christians Should Ask About Social Justice. In one place he talks about a concept he calls "fast food knowledge."
"Fast-food knowledge is what happens when we want grand conclusions about the world with the same speed and convenience with which we want a Big Mac. We want it now, and so we bypass the traditional means of truth-seeking. We rarely immerse ourselves in the great thought traditions of human history. We rarely wrestle with the best arguments of the other side (as John Stuart Mill famously said, 'He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that.') We rarely spend time in distraction-free space to ponder the nuances and complexities of big issues. We prefer knowledge all boxed up and handed to us through a window, or a glowing screen, in a matter of seconds. No doubt, the 'knowledge' we can now gain with ease in the Google age is abundant and more accessible than at any prior age in history. But prepackaged, expedient answers, especially when they involve deep human questions, have the same nutritional value for our heads that a daily diet of Big Mac would have for our hearts." (p. 186-187)
