American Idol Punching Bag
Claudia and I enjoy following each season of American Idol. This is the singing competition that leads viewers along from mass auditions where the good, the bad, and the bizarre hope to hear, “You’re going to Hollywood!” from Lionel, Luke, and Carrie. Through numerous cuts, getting harder with each round, at the end there is just one left as the winner…the next American Idol.
A new judge this season is Carrie Underwood. She won the competition in 2005 and launched her successful singing career from there and has brought a new twist to the judging, having lived it herself, and has brought her faith into the mix. By all appearances, Carrie comes off as smart, grounded, gracious, and a good balance to the other two.
One singer is a young Texas mom who loves Jesus and comes across as a bit shy and unsure of her talent, but who could stop a train with her voice (she is on the playlist this week down below). When she sang after making the Top 10, she shared how many cruel comments she had gotten on social media about her appearance, the outfits she wore, even her song choices and that mostly came from the Christian community (or at least trolls who hide there). She sang a heartfelt song, choking up part way through.
Carrie, who has endured plenty of criticism along the way (the latest being her choice to sing at the recent inauguration), counseled, comforted, and encouraged the young woman as one who has also been an online punching bag. The best advice, she offered, was when posting on any platform to “Post and ghost.” Turn off the comments. Ignore the uninformed. Resist gauging how good you are based on “likes.” To not get spun up over anyone else’s opinion. (Luke’s retort was that he “posts and drinks”, and Carrie said OK as long as he didn’t “drink then post”!).
Why are we so mean? Is it the anonymity that gives false courage where in person we might check ourselves before we wreck ourselves…and another?
Have you noticed the growing number of voices saying similar things? Sharon McMahon, who writes under the heading “Sharon Says So” has this line:
I share because I believe the answer to the question I posed—Why are Christians on the internet so mean?—is one we must urgently examine.
Another person I read endured the most vicious, graphically sexually vulgar and hateful comments in response to an article she had published. The author did a bit of online sleuthing and discovered the writer was married with children, a deacon in his church and plastered bible verses on his Facebook page. He is only one of so many who see nothing wrong with singing praise songs in the morning then jumping onto the hate-train after lunch.
There has always been a spiritual/practical disconnect in people, but with the immediacy of the internet, gas is poured on those fires. And it’s not “them” doing the mudslinging, it’s us.
The sandpaper that gets scraped across sunburn that is internet cruelty finds a home in more than a few hearts who call Jesus their Lord. This is the same Jesus who challenged followers to love enemies, who welcomed outsiders and the unclean, who railed against religious hypocrisy and general meanness, and the same Jesus who described himself as “gentle and lowly of heart”. This Jesus stands apart and far away from those Christians who feel free and sometimes obligated to take another to the woodshed, often in words that they would never allow spoken in their homes or tolerate in church.
How might the Book help us in this arena? Listen to Paul writing to the church at Ephesus.
With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the unbelievers do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.
But you did not learn Christ in this way. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life….
When I get on a negative roll, it’s so tempting to slip sideways and act as though I had no faith at all. When I mimic the worst of the non-Jesus crowd, I’m just like what Paul described: full of darkness in my thoughts and words, wandering far from the life God intends, living for the pleasure of media combat, and then stand covered in digital mud wondering how I got dirty, all with no sense of shame.
But that is so different from how we learned about living the Jesus Way. Why would we ever choose to dive into a divisive, harmful, mean-spirited bog of yuck like that?
So, here are the two challenges I get from this:
I can’t recall the last time I posted anything to social media, but if I did it would be wise to take Carrie’s advice to heart to “Post and ghost” then go my way. If I do feel the need to share a picture or a complaint or just an observation, I should send it off to the winds of the interweb with best wishes. By not listening to comments I free myself from either feeling good based on another’s opinion or let down when no one agrees with me. It is never healthy to judge how you are doing by the idle prattle of people who have nothing better to do than prowl the web.
The second is when someone, maybe a friend or relative, posts something that fires you up or that you feel needs correcting. Rather than throwing rocks via your keyboard, buy that person a cup of coffee and have the courage to tell them how you feel to their face. If you can’t do that, make a phone call. If neither of these are within your reach, let it go. The battleground that is social media will not miss you, but at least you have not been baited into writing something Jesus would just shake his head at and maybe alienate a friend in the process.
So, friend, that’s my rant for the week. How about we work toward being people who allow God to work in other’s lives in ways that are individual to them, and not demand that they bow to our view of right and wrong.
If you make a habit of posting or reposting stuff just to kick up dust, or taking others on with snarky comebacks to a post, knock it off. You didn’t learn Christ in that way and it makes us all look bad and you a fool.
And if you are a routine poster, whether it’s a picture of your lunch or a tirade of some sort that you believe in…Post and ghost. Give it a try.
One last thought…from Ps.1.
Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the Law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing good fruit in each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.
Music from American Idol this season
Does anyone have time for a bad joke or 2wo?
An English teacher asked her class to write an essay on what they'd do if
they had a million dollars.
Alec handed in a blank sheet of paper.
"Alec!" yelled the teacher, "you've done nothing. Why?"
"Because if I had a million dollars, that's exactly what I would do!"
******************
A retiree was given a set of golf clubs by his co-workers. Thinking he'd try the game, he asked the local pro for lessons, explaining that he knew nothing whatever of the game.
The pro showed him the stance and swing, then said, "Just hit the ball toward the flag on the first green."
The novice teed up and smacked the ball straight onto the green, where it stopped inches from the hole. "Now what?" the fellow asked the speechless pro.
"Uh... you're supposed to hit the ball into the cup," the pro finally said, after he was able to speak again.
"Oh great! NOW you tell me!" said the beginner.