Month: October 2008

Anti-intellectual Revolution

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Like most people I talk to I am impatient for the election to be over and done with already. The rhetoric and the mudslinging is to be expected of course, but this time around the intensity is profound. I’ve mentioned here before my frustration with the assumption I encounter everywhere that people are only voting for Obama because they are blind sheep or have been brainwashed. Or that if we vote for him we are not “real Americans.” These attempts to solidify and intensify the divide between us and them are a sad reflection on our ability to understand the other. But what frightens me the most is the undercurrent of such sentiments – an anti-intellectual stance that turns educated into enemy.

To be educated in this politicized environment is to be written off as brainwashed, elitist, and unAmerican. The educated voter who asks thoughtful questions is mocked in favor of some self-esteem rally gone bad message that encourages an “I’m okay, you’re okay, anyone not like us is weird” attitude. The average Joe (be that six-pack or plumber…) is fed the lie that to be educated is to be liberal and to be liberal is to be evil, so therefore education (and thoughtful intellectualism of any sort) is evil. Flawless logic of course.

I recently had some guy link to my blog saying that it is because of educated liberals like me that he votes Republican. When did education become a bad thing? And worse, when did mocking it become a political slogan? I know that there are many wonderful educated Republicans, but what I keep hearing over and over from them is that it is far better to be average and stupid. Perhaps this is just pandering to persuade a vote out of those least likely to think through the issues, but is creating a new uneducated elite really the best thing for our country or the world? I’m all for democracy and the voice of the people, but to vilify thinking enters some dangerous territory. Maybe it’s some brilliantly insidious conspiracy theory – glorify the average, mock the intelligent, and pave the way for a brave new world (or something like that). Or perhaps it just plays off people’s fears and jealousy issues. Whatever the case, having an education and being a thoughtful person has nearly become a crime in this country.

Jacqueline Carey, one of my favorite fiction authors, wrote about this recent trend in her monthly blog –

Many things about the last eight years in America have disturbed me, and one of the most subtle, yet profoundly detrimental, is the rise of anti-intellectualism. It’s like being back in junior high, only with a weird secondary adolescence twist where being smart, intellectually curious, and well-informed makes a person a condescending, out-of-touch, latte-sipping elitist… Electing a president of the last remaining superpower in the world is a lot more important than electing the junior high prom king. I want the smart guy in charge. I don’t want another cowboy filled with steely-eyed resolve, ready to trust his gut instinct. We’ve had too many guts with lousy instincts in charge. It’s time to give the brainiacs a chance.

I’m all for that. And for the record I really don’t care about what degrees from which institutions people have (if they have them at all), just that they are willing to thoughtfully engage. Reverse this trend of anti-intellectualism America – please. I want my leader to expect me to be thinking – not lauding me for being too American to think.

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Fireproof Marriages?

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I’d heard the buzz within Christians circles about the “number one inspirational film in America.”  Everything from “this movie shows what true faith really is” to “this movie will save your marriage.”  Always wary of such claims and not really a fan of firefighter flicks, curiosity got the better of me and I headed out to a weekend matinee of Fireproof (www.fireproofthemovie.com).

I settled in to watch the story of a firefighter try to save his failing marriage through something called “the Love Dare”.  Unfortunately once the movie began, it was immediately evident that Fireproof followed the pattern of most explicitly Christian movies: the acting was flat, the dialogue awkward, and the scenarios unbelievable.  Full of sitcom-esque comic relief moments, and the requisite tear-jerker scenes, it also had more far-fetched set-up lines for evangelistic opportunities than a youth group apologetics manual.  But I did my best to look past all that and focus on the main theme of the movie – how to save a troubled marriage. (Spoiler alert: Jesus is the answer.)

What I couldn’t get past, however, was the movie’s conception of marriage itself.  Marriage is presented as a distinct entity that must be preserved for its own sake.  Thus, as the movie unfolds and Caleb (Kirk Cameron) embarks on a journey to save his marriage to Catherine (Erin Bethea), one doesn’t see a story of two people working together to have a better relationship, but of one person striving to keep a formal structure intact.  Of course, once both characters find Jesus, they have an epiphany moment, renew their vows, and live happily ever after (as shown by them getting into their car bibles in hand on their way to church).

What we don’t see is the actual reality of a husband and wife working together to build a stronger bond.  Yes, the husband realizes that he needs to do things around the house, stop lusting after a boat and porn, and get over being a selfish jerk; but we hear very little from the wife.  In fact we hear very little from women in the movie in general.  The prominent women in the movie, Caleb’s wife, his mother, and his mother-in-law, are essentially silenced.  He is constantly trying to avoid his nagging mother and asks her to leave or get off the phone repeatedly.  His mother-in-law is physically unable to talk due to a stroke.  And except for a comic scene displaying every stereotyped difference between men and women where his wife tells her friends how she feels, we hear very little of her side of the story.  The women in this movie play the silent victims as the heroic firefighter rushes in to save the day – or in this case, the marriage.

The message conveyed is that women need a strong man to guide their lives.  Women who step out on their own (like Catherine getting a job after seven years of marriage – without kids – because her husband won’t help her financially care for her ill parents) are outside that realm of protection (thus in danger of forming inappropriate bonds with their male coworkers).  The husband is implored not just to love his wife, but to take control of both his and her lives.  In the name of safeguarding the marriage, the sacrifice of the personality and identity of the wife is assumed.

I admit to seeing the appeal of the movie.  Anything to get husbands to send flowers and do the dishes is to be commended, but scratch the candy-coating and one sees the imbalanced core.  Living up to the hype, Fireproof is very much about saving marriages – as long as they are hierarchical institutions and not mutual relationships based on two whole persons becoming one.  Sorry, but as a married woman I’m not willing to sacrifice who I am for the sake of a few clean dishes.

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Worship, Money, Crisis

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I recently saw a promo piece on The History Channel for their show “Cities of the Underworld.”  At first one sees an overview of a busy commercial street teeming with professionals and consumers.  The captioning states – “A pagan ritual is taking place on these streets.  Can’t see it? Look deeper.”  The premise is that some secret society once met in the abandoned tunnels below the city that you can hear all about on the show, but the irony of the commercial struck me.

Of course there is a pagan ritual taking place – the daily oblation of ourselves to the idols of money and stuff.  Now I know there is nothing necessarily pagan or evil with buying, selling, and trading, but the obsessive way we commit our lives to the pursuit of such things reveals a devotion akin to worship.  We acquire stuff and build our wealth often without thought to our religious beliefs and guidelines.  Instead of caring for the least of these among us, we look out for number one.  Instead of loving our neighbor we love our possessions – often at the expense of our very neighbors.  This religion of consumerism isn’t hidden underground; its rituals take place in broad daylight.

The problem is that with the economic crisis the intensity of these rituals doesn’t diminish, in fact they simply becomes more sinister.  People are not giving up on the desire to have more stuff.  They just want to find the stuff more cheaply.  So instead of rethinking our addiction to consumerism and the global impact of our shopping habits, we become more focused on finding the things we want at a lower price (apparently Wal-mart is doing quite well these days).  Chanting our mantras of “it’s all about me,” we face the economic crisis with a determination to live just as well as we always have.

This is truly a worship that glorifies the self.   Feelings of financial strain generally do not have the effect of pushing us towards compassion for those hurting more than we do.  We cut back on our giving and increase our propensity for supporting systems that oppress others for our own personal sake.  We want a cheaper product, which pushes the stores to find cheaper suppliers, who then must find cheaper labor.  And these laborers are the ones who worked to the bone in sweatshops or kept as slaves (the cheapest labor possible) pay the real price.  The strain of the financial crisis trickles down to choke those at the very bottom.

Even amidst the pressures of the economic crisis we need to remember that true worship doesn’t involve rituals of self-seeking consumption that exploits or ignores those around us.  Instead as we are told in Isaiah that the faithful are implored to “spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed.”  So instead of using troubling financial times as an excuse to turn inwards perhaps it could motivate us to lend a caring hand to others who are hurting.  Abandoning our self-centered pagan rituals in favor of loving our neighbor might perhaps be the best response we can give to a hurting world in crisis mode.

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Call + Response

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So last night I got a chance to go see the documentary Call+Response about modern day slavery. I have to start by saying – go see this film. It should be required viewing for anyone with a beating heart. I know a lot about modern day slavery – I’ve read the books, I’ve seen the pictures, I’ve heard the stories. I still left this movie raw. It is hard not to have a visceral reaction of absolute rage after seeing it. Rage at the greedy bastards who enslave people for profit. Rage at the men who create the demand for sex slaves because they are ruled by their dicks. Rage at those who dismiss this discussion in the name of political or economic philosophy. Rage at myself for supporting the system that rewards slavery.

The rage starts the moment the movie begins and you see a group of 5 and 6 year old girls lined up in a brothel explaining what sex acts they offer. And it continues as one sees story after story portrayed of those in slavery – women chained in brothels, an entire family still enslaved for a debt incurred four generations ago, children abducted and trained as marauding soldiers and rapists. Atrocities that exist all around us and support the systems and lifestyles we take for granted.

The theme holding the film together is that of music. Music that is the voice of the people sending out their call. And as in the old spirituals that musical call must be answered with a response. So musicians came together to sound the call and be informative agents for this often unknown plague. Those who hear the call – hear the stories – are now expected to respond.

One line that struck me in the movie was when in an interview Dr. Cornel West spoke of the need to encourage those prone to paralysis to action. When I heard that phrase, the lines from the hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing sprung to mind – “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” So often we hear sin and rebellion described simply as this wander away from God. The hymn pleads for God to fetter our hearts to him to prevent such wandering away. But Dr. West’s word’s reminded me that all too often the worst we can do is to do nothing. We are prone to paralysis. We don’t respond to the call. We ignore injustice, or, worse, find some excuse as to why we really shouldn’t bother to care. We do nothing.

And that multiplies the rage.

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Pleasure, Guilt, and Talk Shows

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I’ve mentioned here before my love of Anthony Bourdain’s travel/food shows. Last night saw the premiere of an occasional talk show titled “At the Table with Anthony Bourdain.” It’s the sort of thing that only the elite New York foodies could even dream up – a talk show where elite New York foodies and writers eat at a trendy restaurant and well, talk. Navel gazing in the extreme. And then there are the people like me that are fascinated by the whole thing.

So as Bourdain and his guests proceed through a molecular gastronomy tasting menu, they address deep and meaning questions like “is it ethical to spend $1800 on one meal?” and “is torturing animals for our pleasure wrong?” Alright. I half expected the group to use the space as a platform for humane eating or at least an ironic look at the absurdity of high end dining. But no. While acknowledging that they should perhaps care about such things, they all agreed that they would choose such guilty pleasures any day – and not feel guilty. It was all about savoring the pleasure of the experience. Sure it’s insane to spend $1800 on a meal, but they would spend more on a piece of art; so, the memory of their enjoyment of the meal is well worth the cost.

Of course it could be easy to dismiss the silly New York elite who are so self-consumed that they make a TV show about how self-consumed they are. But the whole thing intrigued me. Here is a group of people who have no qualms stating that seeking pleasure is the greatest good in their lives. It honestly made me laugh. These are the people I’ve been warned about my whole life. The pleasure seekers who “exchange the truth of God for a lie” or try to fill their God-shaped vacuum with sex, drugs, and food. They are the negative example given to demonstrate that pleasure – all pleasure – is a sin.

Either pleasure is the greatest good or the biggest sin.  It’s the ongoing either/or issue.  I find both extremes absurd. But it seems that all to often all we get are the extremes. I want to affirm pleasure. One should not feel guilty for enjoying life. Life is meant to be savored. But not at the expense of others. My desire for pleasure should never justify torturing animals or enslaving people. We really need a third way that gets beyond both self-centered myopia and guilt inducing condemnation. Pleasure should affirm life – all life. Pursued in joy and love and enjoyed guilt free.

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Jesus and Halloween

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I just had to share this from my MOPS newsletter….

Make Jesus A Part of Trick-or-Treating

God has chosen to reach the world through us. It has been said that nothing cost less, goes farther, lasts longer or says it better than a gospel tract. These little booklets use funny stories, pictures and jokes to introduce a scriptural study of the “Light of the World.” Just put the tracts under a light for a few minutes before you hand them out to activate the glow-in-the-dark ink on the front cover. Hand them out with each piece of candy and introduce your neighborhood kids to the love of God. Go to www.atstracts.org.

Mike’s response was – “at least they are giving candy with the tracts.” There are so many things I have issues with in that paragraph I don’t know where to begin. The tracts though are priceless. There are the typical bait and switch joke tracts that eerily present a version of the gospel in joke format. Then there’s the one with the message – eat too much candy and you go to the dentist with cavities, sin too much and you go to hell. (so therefore going to the dentist is like going to hell???). Or the one that states “sin makes us do bad things.” (really, makes us???).

Anyway, just had to share…

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Public Beauty

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One of the obvious differences between Chicagoland and Texas (besides the weather) is the visual aesthetic of city infrastructure. Honestly, driving around Chicago everything is just ugly. Ignoring the fact that most of the year the roadways are covered in dirty snow and caking salt, it’s the cement structures themselves that offend. They are stark, utilitarian, and generally falling apart. But here in Texas (and in New Mexico), public structures like highways are visually interesting. Nice brickwork, sculptural elements, color variations, and the ubiquitous symbols of the state adorn the roadways. It’s nice to look at and far less depressing than the functional but ugly Chicago roads. In short, I like it.

But of course the issue goes much deeper than rather I like it or not. The roadways are paid for with tax dollars. And my gut reaction is to say that there are far better things for our tax dollars to be spent on than making our highways look nice. I’m sure the cost of those premium bricks could have gone a long way in a public school. Stop at bare bones functionality – no matter how butt ugly – and (theoretically) save money to be used elsewhere.

Yet the result of that line of thinking is that aesthetically pleasing environments then become available to those able to pay for it themselves. Beauty and art (of whatever variety) then belong to the rich while the poor just make do with the hand they are dealt. And that hand generally equals an ugly, utilitarian, and depressing environment. If you don’t have money, you don’t “deserve” beauty.

So in regards to the age-old argument about the uses of tax dollars, I can support public works projects that seek to bring beauty to all – even if it is as simple as the construction of highways. Trapping people – whatever their income – into something that is merely functional but ugly does little to uplift or encourage hope.

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Self-Interest and Justice

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At a conference I attended recently, the speaker mentioned that she was confused by the current interest in environmental issues as justice issues.  In her view caring for the environment, although a good thing, is merely enlightened self-interest.  We care for the environment because we care about our own survival.  Mess this place up, use up all our resources, and we have a problem.  If we want to ensure a decent, comfortable existence, we take care of the world around us.  It’s as simple as that.

I chuckled at the simplicity of her equation, but failed to see the reality behind her words.   Just because something is obviously and unequivocally good for us doesn’t mean that most people will actually be moved to do it.  Take healthy living as an example.  Most people know that smoking is bad for them or that a diet of fried food, sugar, and red meat might not be the best thing for living a long life.  But people still smoke and super-size it up in the drive-thru.  Similarly, most people know that taking care of the earth is a good thing, but few of them even make time for baby step environmentalism like recycling.  So enlightened self-interest isn’t exactly a motivating factor that works.

I think the recent popularity of seeing environmental issues as justice issues has developed because people need something outside of themselves to motivate them.  Behaviorism and rewards can only work for so long before people get bored.  If the carrot that is dangled before me is that my life will be improved (or safer) if I make the effort to care for creation, I can easily choose to opt out of that particular reward.  If it’s all about me, then it’s only about me.  But seeing environmental responsibility as a justice issue brings love into the equation.

If seeking justice involves loving God and loving others with every aspect of our lives, we then are pushed beyond ourselves into patterns of discipleship and worship.  We can always choose to opt out of such things as well, but sacrificing our relationships with God and with others is a much harder step to take.  So we need to understand that we love God by taking care of his creation and his children.  We demonstrate that love by refusing to trash our oceans and preserving the food supply for communities around the world.  We stop emitting toxic gases into the atmosphere that alter ecosystems in areas of the world where most people have never even driven a car.  We push for the restriction of pesticide use for the sake of the farmer’s exposure to such poisons every day.

Caring for creation is just that – an act of compassion that is done for others.  We aren’t buying into some trend just for the sake of saving our own butts, but because we care about the people God has commanded us to care for.  In loving our neighbor, we are restoring our relationship with them.  If that relationship so far has been based on destroying their ecosystem, then restoring that relationship means ending that destruction.  Instead of being self-centered, it is about being other-centered in obedience to following and serving God.

In short, it is not about me.

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Roland “Stormy” Goss – 1920-2008

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My grandfather passed away this week and we are headed to Dallas this weekend for the funeral. His death wasn’t unexpected, but it is still unreal. In the past decade I only got to see him a couple of times – he was in hospice care and I rarely made it to Dallas. But growing up I spent lots of time with him. Every Sunday evening we had a family dinner at his place – my cousins, brothers, and I building blocks and playing with Star Wars figures in living room while the “big people” chatted away in the dining room.

During my childhood, he was building and losing his fortune in the Texas oil business, but what remember most are his stories. From stories of his dad the policeman who was involved in the pursuit of Bonnie and Clyde, to his football days at SMU, to WW2 we never tired of hearing those tales. A former officer in the U.S. Navy, he would show us the dagger he “liberated” off of a dead Nazi SS officer. He told us about his ship almost sinking in the D-day invasion at Normandy. And in helping General Patton win his rivalry against British marshall Montgomery by coordinating the naval end of the crossing of the Rhine River and getting Patton across first. And also of his best friend dying in the foxhole next to him.

Stormy wasn’t able to remember who I was the last few times I saw him, but he remembered these stories – the defining moments of his life. I’m sure we will all be remembering these stories as the family gathers this weekend.

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Blog Action Day – Poverty in Austin

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So it’s Blog Action Day and I signed up to blog about poverty issues in Austin. Great idea – but I sheepishly have to admit that I have no idea what to blog about. Having just moved back into the area less than two months ago I haven’t had much of a chance to understand the state of the city’s culture today. Most of my knowledge of poverty issues in Austin is from a dozen years ago or so when I last lived here.

My experiences started as I lived through Austin’s final attempts at desegregation in the early 90’s and was bused to East Austin for Jr. High. East Austin is often called the “bad side of town” and I had friends who weren’t allowed to cross to the east side of I-35 even in the “good” areas. I recall someone even running for city council on the platform of tunneling the highway underground so as to eliminate east and west sides and therefore the economic divide in the city. But for a Jr. Higher, passing prostitutes and witnessing drug deals on streets lined with trash and broken glass to then enter a highly secure locked down school did more to inspire fear than compassion. Add to that the resentment and violence the local students had toward us bused in students and it was easy to simply think of them as “other.” Poverty wasn’t a problem to be solved, but a situation to be avoided.

Fast forward a few years and I became part of the establishment of the Austin based outreach group Mission Possible. I know little of the large organization it has become, but in the beginning it was about loving and helping children in poverty. We would work in local housing projects providing tutoring and activities for the kids. A couple of friends and I started girls clubs and spent our weekends in the projects with the kids. We were in High School and we couldn’t do much, but we did what we could. Our youth pastor told us to stop working with those kids because it took us away from youth group activities, but we did it anyway. Getting involved and providing opportunities these kids didn’t normally have were the small steps we could take to reversing the constraints of poverty.

So as I return to Austin and blog about poverty here today it was these personal stories I remember. There are of course huge systemic issues at play – the sort of stuff I usually discuss here. But so far my time back here has just brought me personal stories. Neighbors struggling to get by in this crazy economy. A single mom of a teenager who has become an adopted mom to all the teens in the neighborhood – providing love and some stability where she can (even though her dog scares me to death). Another single mom with a girl Emma’s age who has moved back in with her parents as she battles cancer and the financial troubles that brings. Real people, real stories.

I’m still trying to figure out my role in this particular story of poverty issues here in Austin. Where I am going and what I’ll end up doing here is up for grabs. For now I’m just listening to stories.

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