When pop culture gets it wrong
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A couple months ago I wrote about what the church can learn from pop culture. Today I want to point to a couple issues that remind us that we are to be set apart too, living in this world but reflecting Christ in us rather than the world around us.
If you read much in the special needs community, you've probably heard about GQ's stupidity. In the latest issue, they had a list of the worst-dressed cities. (And my husband would like you to know that he represents Raleigh well on that list. His words, not mine!) I found the page through a link from my local news about Raleigh's place on the list. And, as I scrolled through the other cities, I gasped and tears sprung to my eyes when I saw this: "but due to so much local in-breeding, Boston suffers from a kind of Style Down Syndrome, where a little extra ends up ruining everything."
Wow.
I haven't seen an apology yet for Tracy Morgan's "comedy" warning folks against messing with moms of kids with special needs and comparing those kids to chimps, and I don't know if we'll see an apology for this either. The GQ folks have changed the wording, dropping reference to Down syndrome, on their website.
Noah's dad - also known as Rick Smith - wrote about this yesterday with an open letter to GQ. As Terri Mauro said in her piece yesterday, Denying Our Children's Humanity for a Laugh,
This, my friends, is why I argue that it's worth taking a hard line with the students in your youth group against slurs about disabilities, like throwing around the word "retarded." I've had youth leaders say, "Shannon, c'mon, there's much more important things to focus on than the word retarded." To which I respond, "so you would be comfortable with them dropping the f-bomb because there are more important things to focus on than that?" Words matter. And even more than that, people matter. This is even more about people than it is about words.
Sure there are examples of secular and religious groups who show love to individuals with special needs, and pop culture doesn't always get it wrong. But there are also countless examples of people and groups and media and even churches who insult or reject people with special needs.
Let's set ourselves apart by showing with our words and actions that "the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable" (1 Corinthians 12:22).
On a related note, though, our hearts matter more than our words or programs or inclusiveness. Check out John Knight's post yesterday at Desiring God, in which he reminds us: "We can create elaborate programs and train people to use the right words and help people behave properly toward those with disabilities — yet completely leave God out of it, ignoring or even discounting all that God has said about his own sovereignty over all things, including disability." And while you're at it, read about four things Mike Anderson has learned about God through his baby who was born blind.)
If you read much in the special needs community, you've probably heard about GQ's stupidity. In the latest issue, they had a list of the worst-dressed cities. (And my husband would like you to know that he represents Raleigh well on that list. His words, not mine!) I found the page through a link from my local news about Raleigh's place on the list. And, as I scrolled through the other cities, I gasped and tears sprung to my eyes when I saw this: "but due to so much local in-breeding, Boston suffers from a kind of Style Down Syndrome, where a little extra ends up ruining everything."
Wow.
I haven't seen an apology yet for Tracy Morgan's "comedy" warning folks against messing with moms of kids with special needs and comparing those kids to chimps, and I don't know if we'll see an apology for this either. The GQ folks have changed the wording, dropping reference to Down syndrome, on their website.
Noah's dad - also known as Rick Smith - wrote about this yesterday with an open letter to GQ. As Terri Mauro said in her piece yesterday, Denying Our Children's Humanity for a Laugh,
Inbreeding? Really? But I think the key is in that last little bit: When you see people with Down syndrome as ruined, you dehumanize them in a way that makes mocking them no more emotionally involving than mocking, say, a chair. And then you also get to mock the people who get upset about your chair mockery, because, man, it's just a chair! Can't we even insult chairs now?
This, my friends, is why I argue that it's worth taking a hard line with the students in your youth group against slurs about disabilities, like throwing around the word "retarded." I've had youth leaders say, "Shannon, c'mon, there's much more important things to focus on than the word retarded." To which I respond, "so you would be comfortable with them dropping the f-bomb because there are more important things to focus on than that?" Words matter. And even more than that, people matter. This is even more about people than it is about words.
Sure there are examples of secular and religious groups who show love to individuals with special needs, and pop culture doesn't always get it wrong. But there are also countless examples of people and groups and media and even churches who insult or reject people with special needs.
Let's set ourselves apart by showing with our words and actions that "the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable" (1 Corinthians 12:22).
On a related note, though, our hearts matter more than our words or programs or inclusiveness. Check out John Knight's post yesterday at Desiring God, in which he reminds us: "We can create elaborate programs and train people to use the right words and help people behave properly toward those with disabilities — yet completely leave God out of it, ignoring or even discounting all that God has said about his own sovereignty over all things, including disability." And while you're at it, read about four things Mike Anderson has learned about God through his baby who was born blind.)