Be Present

Taylor Swift and Ethics

What in the world does Taylor Swift have to do with Ethics?  Absolutely everything.

The definition of ethics includes: “a system of moral principles”  Moral principles, that’s what it’s all about.  Could I tear into Taylor Swift about how she promotes a certain image that little girls strive for or how women need men to be complete with little to no acknowledgement of Christ?  Sure.  But I’m not gonna be that guy.  Plus, I love Taylor (yeah, we’re on a first name basis already).

A great place to start our ethical evaluation of the songstress is her hit song “Mean”.  I’m sure you’ve heard it. “Lyrics are as follows: You have pointed out my flaws again; As if I don’t already see them I walk with my head down; Trying to block you out ’cause I’ll never impress you”.  In “Mean”, Swift points out the most obvious, it’s not nice to be mean.  Let’s ponder on that for a moment.  It’s not nice to be mean.  The most simple of ethical concepts I can think of; and yet one of the most essential.

So in some songs we see Taylor Swift tackle situations with the moral high ground.  Yet, in other songs such as “Picture to Burn” we see Taylor take the very vindictive and vengeful road.  Granted, most of the guys she sings about seem to be total douches (more of a reflection in her terrible choice in men), it is not excuse to break into someones house and resort to vandalism.  In another song, “Better Than Revenge”, she not only sings about revenge, but gloats about how well she does it, and almost points fun to the fact that she writes vengeful songs about her ex’s.

So in the end, what do we see?  We see a young woman who sings about people being mean in one song and how she wants to take revenge on others in another tune.  Most would point the finger and yell accusations of hypocrisy, but not I.  Taylor after all is just relating well to her key demographics.  Confused teenage girls, who are often left heartbroken by their terrible choice in guys who turn out to be douches.

Kudos Taylor, kudos.

What Ke$ha Can Teach Us About The Gospel

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have heard a Ke$ha song in the last 12 months.  This young singer has seemed to come out of the woodwork, taking over almost all aspects of pop culture.  Her songs have been featured on the wildly popular TV show “Glee” as well as one of the most popular video games “Just Dance” for the Nintendo Wii.  Ke$ha is nothing short of a cultural phenomena.  But what can this blond bombshell teach us about the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  Perhaps a little more then you would think.

At first glance, Ke$ha seems like your typical 2010 singer; in that she has that identifiable look to her.  And it’s the look that intrigues you to pay attention to her, but if you ran across her in your everyday life… you would never want to be around her.  The woman is covered in so much glitter it would appear as if she just gave a unicorn a bath.  Want to make it big in the music industry?  Dress like a complete bafoon, it’s been working since the 80’s with the glam metal.  You don’t have to be particularly good at making music to be popular, you never needed to be.  So we have this outrageously dressed singer who has lyrics that are so dang catchy, it’s impossible not to sing along.  Ke$ha is often bashed by the most conservative Christian community, but why?  I think she gives a good secular parallel to what has been going on in the Church for decades.

You don’t have to be a good teacher to be a popular pastor, you just need a different look that separates you from other pastors, and be able to come up with a few catch phrases to repeat over and over again until they become so meaningless they are just engraved in our everyday lives.  It doesn’t even have to be about pastors!  Look at Christian conferences, the most popular are the same way.  You get 15,000 people in an area with loud music and your theme is “Love God”.  Really!?  Sure, “Love God” is great, but do I really need a conference for that?  It’s the most fundamental principal of the entire bible, both new and old testament.  It’s also the most elementary teaching of any monotheistic religion.  Jews and Muslims teach the same thing, how does this separate us?  It doesn’t.  It makes about as much sense as saying “We r who we r”.

It’s like both Christian and Popular Culture follow the exact same path.  Both use to carry so much more meaning and philosophical truths to them.  While Christian culture is now like Ke$ha, there was a time where it use to be more like Bob Dylan and Buddy Holly.  But over time we have made it so that discussing theological issues and biblical truths are now “uncool”, and it’s only cool to talk about Gods Love and his grace.  Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but they are just exceptions.  We have gone from “Desolation Row” to “We r who we r”.  Ke$ha is a perfect representation of where Christian culture is at, and where it is going.  Ke$ha said it best herself “And no, you don’t wanna mess with us Got Jesus on my necklace”.  We have reduced God to nothing more then someone who keeps people from messin’ with us.