Best-of Best Quotes: Your Revolution Does Not Exist

I have just finished reading an essay from Harold Best called Creative Diversity, Authenticity and Excellence and as always Dr. Best provides a dense and thought-provoking read. There was a lot that stood out to me, but one paragraph in particular caught my attention:

“But to our dismay, all of this wondrous stuff begins to be constricted and shut down by a slickened and cynical culture in which our children and young people are made to think that they are personally unique, while unwittingly being made into each other’s image. It is really commercial totalitarianism: this massive hype, this cynical flattening of human diversity, this ornamented stasis. Our children are Michael Jordaned, and Barneyed, mega-churched, Sandi Pattied, Nintendoed, and MTV’d clean out of their uniqueness. The local, home-grown heroes–those necessary stay-at-home mentors–are almost no more. They have either left us, trying for bigger things, or if they humbly choose to stay at home, their worth is belittled by the steroided hype and illusion which surround the super-stars. Their options are curiously shut down by the gatekeepers: these product mongers who choose our culture for us and then manipulate us into thinking we have freely chosen it.”

This paragraph immediately reminded me of a documentary I saw a couple years ago on PBS Frontline called The Merchants of Cool. For years I’d wished I’d taped it so I could show it to as many people as possible.well, thankfully someone else with more computer savvy than I had the same idea and posted the entire thing on youtube. Here is the first installment of 5, but I highly recommend watching all of them:

What you will see will probably depress you (as I hope it should), but at the same time no one should be ignorant about it. Keep in mind this was made a couple of years ago and I’m sure the statistics he mentions have only gone up.

What really struck me was how well Best nailed the same sentiment in his article, which is really impressive for a guy who is old enough to be my grandfather. AND he wrote this article in 1993, when I was seventeen. Imagine how it must be for the 17 year olds now. 

Seeing this documentary, and reading this article now, helped me to put more definition on something I had felt for a long time growing up.that somehow I was part of a generation without any real identity. Everything we had seemed borrowed, sampled, or copied. Anything that may have been unique and organically developed was snatched up and packaged back to us in a watered-down version before we ever got to the original. I wonder if it is still like that today for teenagers.and to be honest I hardly know any teenagers anymore, so I’m not one to talk. Do things like myspace encourage the creativity Best is talking about, or do they result in more homogenization?

One thing is for sure, when I was seventeen the whole process and state of affairs made me very frustrated and repulsed.but I also wasn’t armed with an understanding of scripture. Thinking on this now my mind is drawn to Ecclesiastes where God gives us the message through the hand of Solomon that life’s pursuits are inherently meaningless.”like chasing after the wind.” In the end he concludes “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of a man.” I still think its justifiable to get upset at the degradation of creativity, the destruction of culture, the mass consumerism and greed that seem to have a throttle-hold on the United States.but I no longer place my hopes in any of those things, so I am not as disappointed when they fail. My hope is in Christ, and he stands above all.and he never fails or lets me down.

It is interesting that amidst this Mars Hill Church is running a series called “The Rebel’s Guide to Joy.” It could be argued that we are guilty of the same packaging and marketing of rebellion, but I think both the means and the ends between Mars Hill and those marketing to the “consumer” are very different. The ends (as with anything Mars Hill does) is to bring more people into a saving relationship with Christ, and to help believers to be closer with and more like Jesus. The ends for most people marketing to the public are to make money, under the pretense of making their lives better. The means for Mars Hill is by loving God and our neighbor, holding fast to the truth of scripture, and giving our utmost for His highest that Jesus’ name may be made greater. The means of most of the companies in the world is “whatever works.” We see that so clearly in the Merchants of Cool from the mouths of the people in charge, the gatekeepers themselves. They have no concern for the lives and well-being (much less salvation) of the consumers they study beyond figuring out the best and quickest way to get them to part with as much of their money as possible.

I’m not saying that we should expect businesses to be anything but businesses, but seeing the stark difference between them and Mars Hill makes me feel at ease. I worry less about our size as we grow. I worry less about sacrificing truth to reach more people, or that somehow we will lose our authenticity. So long as we cling to Christ we will remain true and viable.even if we make a few mistakes along the way.