Saturday, March 09, 2002
All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes
by Kenneth A. Myers
SIGH! Thanks to this book, I'm going to feel guilty about watching TV or listening to the radio all week. AGC&BSS is a look at popular culture from an intellectual and Christian perspective. Basically, Myers argues that popular culture is shallow, lacking morality and defines our society. Unlike high or folk culture, which have definite roots in the past, pop culture is a culture of the moment, created of things to be discarded when the new one comes along. Now, I've heard about this general topic for years. My first recollections are lectures and articles about things in the culture that were supposed to be bad for you. Some were a call to avoid those things entirely, others were a way to enjoy the spirit of the media or activity while keeping away from overt sin. More recently, I've read and heard opinions criticizing the popular culture itself. Overall, I've experienced these arguments without feeling convicted. They either spoke of excesses in which I didn't indulge or were so far in left field that I couldn't take them seriously. Well, now Mr. Myers has come along and I have stopped to think that maybe he's right. It's not that this book is so radical or great, but rather I think that I've reached a point where I can understand what he's talking about. Over the past few years, without meaning to, I've been rejecting popular culture in my life. (It's all my wife's fault...) I pretty much elimanted TV watching when I started working evenings. I stopped worrying about the latest and greatest computer equipment when I couldn't afford to keep up. I started getting into folk music when I discovered that neighborhood festivals were cheaper and more family friendly than the big rock concerts. Now I read this book that talks about some of the things I've left behind and I realize that I really don't feel that I've lost anything. Instead I wonder if I should not be seeking something more for myself, my children, perhaps even my community. (Or maybe this is all another diversion -- another turn in the vaudeville show of the modern American experience. We'll see.) Anyway, I would recommend that y'all check it out.
LibraryThing link
SIGH! Thanks to this book, I'm going to feel guilty about watching TV or listening to the radio all week. AGC&BSS is a look at popular culture from an intellectual and Christian perspective. Basically, Myers argues that popular culture is shallow, lacking morality and defines our society. Unlike high or folk culture, which have definite roots in the past, pop culture is a culture of the moment, created of things to be discarded when the new one comes along. Now, I've heard about this general topic for years. My first recollections are lectures and articles about things in the culture that were supposed to be bad for you. Some were a call to avoid those things entirely, others were a way to enjoy the spirit of the media or activity while keeping away from overt sin. More recently, I've read and heard opinions criticizing the popular culture itself. Overall, I've experienced these arguments without feeling convicted. They either spoke of excesses in which I didn't indulge or were so far in left field that I couldn't take them seriously. Well, now Mr. Myers has come along and I have stopped to think that maybe he's right. It's not that this book is so radical or great, but rather I think that I've reached a point where I can understand what he's talking about. Over the past few years, without meaning to, I've been rejecting popular culture in my life. (It's all my wife's fault...) I pretty much elimanted TV watching when I started working evenings. I stopped worrying about the latest and greatest computer equipment when I couldn't afford to keep up. I started getting into folk music when I discovered that neighborhood festivals were cheaper and more family friendly than the big rock concerts. Now I read this book that talks about some of the things I've left behind and I realize that I really don't feel that I've lost anything. Instead I wonder if I should not be seeking something more for myself, my children, perhaps even my community. (Or maybe this is all another diversion -- another turn in the vaudeville show of the modern American experience. We'll see.) Anyway, I would recommend that y'all check it out.
LibraryThing link
Labels: CheckItOut
// posted by John @ 5:52 PM 
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