I don’t own a television and I don’t live in the UK. I also don’t have an internet connection at my house. This is why it took me until Saturday night to watch a downloaded YouTube video of Susan Boyle on Britain’s Got Talent. I was completely blown away. Beneath the dramatic editing of reality TV and the sweeping music added for effect there appeared to be a real moment of grace where something genuinely surprising and beautiful happened. That kernel of something was enough for me to get swept away by the rest of the trappings and the moment.
For those, like me, who are usually out of the loop, a 47 year old Scottish woman who was unemployed and never been kissed pranced onto the UK’s American Idol (It’s actually the reverse I think, because the UK version is the original. I digress) in her frumpy Edith Bunker way and proceeded to shock everyone by belting “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables. I knew it was a real moment when the female judge (why is it always only one female judge, never two) said,
I’m so thrilled because I know that everybody was against you. I honestly think that we were all being very cynical. And I think that was the biggest wake up call ever.
The bubble had been burst and something beautiful happened. For a moment that upside kingdom was slightly visible, where the unexpected happens and the last are first. This wasn’t a rags to riches, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps story. This was a moment that made us realize who we really were. Our assumptions, prejudices and cynicism laid bare for all to see.
My wife said, “Yeah, but what happens now?” Will this genuine moment simply be subsumed by the consumer religion into another marketing strategy, a line of “I Heart Susan” paraphernalia? Consumerism demands that everything is a commodity: ideas, seeds, mortgages and bets on bets on mortgages. Advertisers already toy with our heartstrings, otherwise the jokes about crying at cotton commercials wouldn’t ring so true. I hope that a moment like this would teach us something, but I’m afraid it will be drowned out by the noise about the moment, telling us what to buy in order to capture the moment.
We still like to occasionally watch this classic video of Jesus Junk Music that made the rounds last year. We watched it again right after seeing Susan Boyle as sort of a palate cleanser before watching her again. It seemed so hollow and empty in comparison. Ironic, isn’t it? Here is the YouTube video for you to judge.
This may seem a digression from the topic of this blog, but if the question of what we should eat ultimately involves issues of justice then the answer must involve the church’s relationship to the state. There…now I’m justified in discussing this topic here.
I will be teaching the Netzer Co-op May 17th on “Relocation to Abandoned Places of Empire.” Some of you may recognize that this is one of the 12 “marks” of new monasticism. I’m in the early stages thinking through what I will talk about and how the evening will go. I thought it worth processing some of these thoughts here, particularly as they intersect my theology of food in numerous ways. I think I will organize the evening around three questions 1) What is Empire? 2) Where are the abandoned places of Empire? and 3) What does relocation mean? I’ll consider each of these questions in separate posts.
So, what is empire? Many call America an empire, but historians debate the accuracy of that description. In God and Empire, John Dominic Crossan defines empire as an entity that dominates in four areas military, economic, political and ideological.
Walter Wink calls empire a domination system. In order for this system to perpetuate its military dominance it must rely on the “myth of redemptive violence.” This is the idea that violence will be bring about peace and stability. This story so permeates our culture that we almost don’t see it. It is in almost every action movie, news story, cartoon, TV show and novel that we consume. It is the air we breathe. In fact the idea that violence can somehow achieve peace is so pervasive that we cannot even imagine the alternative, that nonviolence is a better way. We create elaborate “what if” scenarios to debunk the possibility of nonviolence. Empire dominates our imagination and molds us into a particular way of thinking, seeing and understanding the world.
Empire also controls economic power. This may be more difficult to put our finger on today than it was for Rome or other empires. Nevertheless, a shrinking number of companies and people control the flow of the world’s goods and capital. This could be an entire series of posts, but suffice it to say that the majority of the world’s people are not in control of the economic forces that run their lives. We have already considered how “free” the free market really is.
There is also the myth of democracy. In America this is most evident by looking closely at the two choices we seem to have in every election, Republican or Democrat. Both would have us believe that they are diametrically opposed to each other, yet they so often vote similarly and have similar agendas. The tell-tale sign is the money trail. All of the largest contributors to political campaigns and parties play both sides. Both Republicans and Democrats are beholden to the same corporate interests that finance them. It helps for people to believe that they have choices and can participate in the system, so that they can be co-opted to perpetuate as little change as possible.
Finally, empires dominate through ideology. Pax Romana or the American dream, what’s the difference? The thing that got the earliest Christians on the wrong side of Rome was not that they chose the wrong religion. Rome could care less who you worshipped…so long as you bowed down to Caesar as Lord. Imperial theology is the glue that holds the thing together. Propaganda is what allows empires to continue to dominate people and stay in power. The earliest Christians, indeed Jesus himself, got on Rome’s bad side because their message undermined the very glue that kept them in power.
After considering all of these elements I would like to suggest a definition of empire as that which defines the framework for thought and life and orders our lives over against the alternative imagination of the reign of God.
We are a culture of consumption. Think about it this way. Consuming means putting something into your body (self) which now becomes a part of you. The things we eat become our hair, skin, innards, etc. The things we buy define our identities, our self-image. Why do you buy one brand over another or one style over another?
Consumption is also at the heart of the Christian faith. Christians through history have disagreed and split most often over the two primary rituals common to all: Communion and Baptism. Communion, or the Eucharist or Lord’s Supper depending, involves two elements a piece of food and a liquid. This is most commonly bread and wine/ grape juice, although I think contextualizing this meal is certainly appropriate (how about tortillas and tequila in Mexico? ok, i’m joking…sort of).
Through whatever liturgy or form the ritual takes it involves eating the bread and wine. The interpretation of its exact nature is debated, but the fact of its centrality is not. So, we are also a people who consume. Central to our faith is a ritual by which we consume bread and wine. This incorporates the life, death and resurrection of Jesus into our very bodies. Whether it’s through symbolic reenactment or transmogrification, the consumption unites us with what we consume.
As this veritable frenzy of consumption approaches, there seems to be a different feeling in the air. The economy smells a little rotten and our belts are all a little tighter wondering what the coming months will bring. There are two competing ways to approach this. Our consumer economy (as our President also commanded after 9/11) wants us to consume gadgets, luxury items, gifts, and new appliances. If we’re going to turn this economy around, we’re going to have to buy and spend our way out of it. Debt is the all-loving answer and the market is the all-knowing, all-seeing eye (kind of like Sauron in Mordor).
As Christians our response to a more subdued economy should be to celebrate a return to the meaning of Christmas. Now, I have to be careful lest I associate myself with the likes of Bill O’Reilly and the Christmas wars. I’m not interested in my religion dominating people, states or other religions thank you very much. Perhaps it is a chance for those celebrating Christmas to think about competing forms of consumption.
Do we consume material things or the body and blood of Christ? What’s the difference? Which one is harder to swallow?
This Black Friday (aka day after Thanksgiving aka Biggest Shopping Day of the Year) why not “participate by not participating.” I am a huge fan of Adbusters and their Buy Nothing Day. A mennonite group also started a campaign called Buy Nothing Christmas. NPR’s Story Corps project has declared November 28th National Day of Listening.
You may have seen some ads recently on television or the New York Times (where this ad is from). The television ads feature two people in some ordinary situation (backyard barbeque, etc.). One person asks if something has HFCS in it and says something generally negative. Then person #2 asks what is wrong with it. The anti-HFCS advocate turns into a deer-in-the-headlights with mouth gaping open. The enlightened HFCS advocate then goes on to expound the benefits of sweetener made from corn. You are then encouraged to check out the “facts” at sweetsurprise.com.
This is as disingenuous and manipulative as some of the political ads we have already seen this year. Their print ad ends by saying that they “welcome the discussion”, even though their ad suggests there is no actual discussion to have. This campaign is funded by _____.
The people behind this campaign have huge sums of money, as evidenced by the amount that I, someone without a television, saw in one week. The people trying to shed light on the risks and dangers of HFCS don’t have the kind of money needed to do battle with these corporate interests. Just like campaigns, lies become truth if you just put them out there and keep repeating them, no matter how easy it is to prove that it’s a lie. Media is powerful in the minds of the masses.
As the slow food movement grows and gains momentums, this is what we’re up against. When you challenge the Powers, they do not take it lightly or sitting down. We have built enough momentum to warrant this kind of media blitz and leaders in the movement need to think seriously about how to deal with the coming reaction of those who benefit from the way things are.
I love it when advertising accidentally tells the truth.
“It’s not a bug, it’s a feature!” The characteristics that Safeway touts are exactly what makes these tomatoes good for transporting long distances. Unfortunately they are also the least tasty and least nutritious for the same reason. Consider this a Freudian slip from a food system that hasn’t tapped into it’s own subconscious yet.
