As Christians, we like to take the moral high ground -- I mean we ought to be able to take the moral high ground at least. But here's the problem. Shock and Indignation don't let you keep the high ground. They knock you off of it.
Consider the latest dust up with Miley Cyrus at the VMAs. What?
A female artist doing something provocative on stage at the VMAs?
It's not like that hasn't happened any all in the past 29 years. Or a
former Disney kid turning out a bit "dirrty"? NEVER!
What's next? Lewdness at the Super Bowl halftime?
...
The outrage is kind of silly, isn't it? Because this is nothing new, this is nothing surprising... but we still act shocked.
That's not holding the high ground, that's not being above the fray -- that's being a muckraker. That's being overly excitable (you realize excitability doesn't normally coincide with moral high ground, right? When I think of one who is moral, I don't think of one who flies off half cocked at the slightest provocation... you know, those patience and kindness things we hear made mention of in the Scriptures).
See, here's the thing. Very few people are saying, "Wow, that Miley was sure dynamic" or "what a great performance" (Madonna in 1984 she was not). No, even the wild masses are rolling their eyes at this one. So you know what... so should we. Eh. See, this is where your stupidity leads, and we tried to tell you.
Calm resignation. Coolness. We aren't surprised - we knew where all this moral craziness was headed.
Oh, wait, no, we would rather panic... because an army that panics ALWAYS keeps the high ground and wins, right?
2 comments:
To outrage and panic I would add "contrived".
I wouldn't have known about it if it wasn't blared all over every news outlet out there. She did it to provoke a reaction, she provoked a reaction; she won what she wanted, and the rest of us, in giving it to her, lost.
Absolutely nothing shocks me anymore. Or surprises me.
Sad to say.
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