Showcase yourself

I use Facebook...Who doesn't? Although I don't spend as much time as some others I know who use up hours of time creepin' on this site. Facebook is a virtual community where people with same interests can come together, a place where you can keep in touch with friends and place to showcase yourself.

Possibly the most attractive feature of Facebook is the ability to make a page all about "you." People love to talk about themselves, to show pictures they have taken, to let people know their thoughts and ideas, and to have center stage. Facebook gives people this opportunity. People get to share everything they want about themselves and put effort into "everything about me."

This reflects our culture of individuality and self-centeredness. Facebook feeds the human desire to care mostly about oneself. As stated in the paper "The Benefits of Facebook 'Friends:' Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network," the online communities liberates people to form communities around shared interests instead of shared geography. The focus is on what interests "me" not about working together with people who might not have the exact same views or interests as "I" do.

This trend can be seen in the way that new media is going. Things like MySpace, YouTube, and Facebook all put the power in the hands of the individual. This can be a positive thing where people's voice's can be heard but it can also be negative in the sense that real, often difficult community is becoming a thing of the past. We are loosing the art of working together and helping our neighbor and gaining the ability to become specified and individualized.

Santa is an illusion?

 In "Sound Scans of the Urban Body: Cellphones, Eavesdropping and Ambient Music", the writer, John Shiga brought something new to my attention. Shiga talks about an artist, Rimbraud who scans the conversations of people, mixes it and makes it into a sort of abstract, ambient music. He draws a great deal of his material from phone call conversations. I listened to some of Rimbraud's work and it isn't really my cup of tea but it is interesting what he does. I actually found it quite stressful to listen to his "music" and was suddenly having the urge to poke my eyeball out. 

Even if you love his music and think he is an angel sent down to bless us all...He is still listening in on people's private lives! Just a little freaky. Come on, I like living every day in complete confidence that I do have my privacy when I want it and there's nothing that anyone can do about it. Privacy is my right as a Canadian...right?

On the one hand I want to scream at Rimbraud and then broadcast his most intimate, private conversations over the radio and on the other hand I think he's doing a good thing too. He is raising awareness that we really don’t have privacy. It is just an illusion. So once we realize that privacy is an illusion then it makes you wonder what else are we living out as reality that is actually just an illusion.

Maybe Santa Claus isn't real.

Nah. Just kidding. Bet I had you going there for a minute though.

The Best of Both Worlds

I'm tired of complaining. So lets take a different approach to Shultze today. In chapter 12 of his book "Understanding Evangelical Media" he talks about Christian theme parks and museums. Like everything else in this world there are good and bad sides of pretty much everything. Sure, some Christian theme parks or museums are corny and maybe over the top but there is good in them too. 

Probably if I was faced with the choice of Six Flags or a day at HLE (Holy Land Experience) I would choose Six Flags. But that doesn't mean I would never go to HLE. These them parks or museums would be a good place to take your kids where they can get a better picture of what bible times were like and a better understanding of some of the biblical stories. And heaven forbid, you could probably achieve some level of fun even if it is a Christian theme park. 

For the most part these museums and parks would not be that effective in reach the non - Christian world but would rather be focused to Christians. That is ok too. Not everything has to be evangelism focused. Maybe I want to enjoy a cheesy day with David and Goliath as I eat mannah and Silas' stew. What's so bad about that?

There is also room for improvement, as always, but lets leave that one for another day.

the ipod is no friend of mine

I would agree that the ipod is an icon but not one to be praised. Our culture is on the continual path of disconnection and individualism. The person is substituted for a thing. The person becomes less important. We close ourselves off from one another by plugging our ears with the music of our choice. That way we can deal with the things we want to deal with and the rest is blocked out. 

I would argue that it is not healthy to be able to choose only what you want and then be able to leave out what you don't like, don't care about, or that makes you feel uncomfortable. Part of being human is dealing with conflict, pain and being stretched by things that are unfamiliar or uncomfortable. When we block everything out except what suits us we miss out on life, community, growth and meaningful love.

I never have and I never will own an ipod. I don't want to miss out on a chance to be changed by someone or something that tells me what I want to hear as well as what I don't.

preach it brotha

"Artists uninterested in worship music should go mainstream, elevating their skills to compete. If they are good enough, they can sing about God there." 

Couldn't have said it better myself Paul Creasman...in Understanding Evangelical Media, page 121 (always site your sources). Yes, Paul raises an interesting point: why should Christians get to take the easy road by signing under a Christian record label? This is just not fair!  Believe you me, in all honesty a good amount of CCM artists would not be making it with their music if they were competing in the mainstream music scene. Christians should be steppin' it up, competing in the mainstream media and showing the world their talents. Doesn't everybody deserve a chance to hear Christians' music? Instead it seems like Christian artists are being stuffed into this itty-bitty little box called "my way or the highway" aka "Contemporary Christian Music." Then their once gigantic dreams of reaching the world with their music has been dwindled to reaching the already-Christians who listen to CCM to feel warm and fuzzy inside (Steve). Good old Paul says it well, "Mainstream society should have all the good music. It ought to have a chance to hear high-quality music crafted by gifted Christian artists. it's not going to tune into today's copycat CCM" (page 121). 

So, to all my fellow brother and sister artists out there...make your music...sing your songs and take the noble road. Don't use a Christian label as a marketing tool! Don't conform to the CCM itty-bitty box! Get out there, wow the world with your lyrical sonnets and let em know that, bigolly, Christians Got Talent, too.