Long time, no write.
I've been busy with school, and composing liturgical music.
A week ago I had lunch with two other Catholic bloggers, and blogger #1 brought up the fact that the illustrious Justin Bieber has recently been booed off stage. Some people may think this is entertaining, and that Justin deserves it for being an irritating young man... or simply because it is satisfying to see someone of such great success fall into a pit once in a while. Maybe people think he has become stuffy in his fame and thus can use a bit of humility.
I think it is important to note that I love Justin Bieber. However, I can't stand his music, nor can I stand his image. Both of these attributes make me sick because I am certain that they are manufactured, and not genuine expressions of who this young man really is.
Being immersed in the classical sphere of music since I was 4 years old and focusing my compositional skills towards the liturgy, I am first to declare that I am almost completely ignorant regarding the inner workings of the pop music industry. I am not ignorant, however, of the results.
At lunch, blogger #2 mentioned the two unforgivable sins in Judaism: Murder, and ruining someones good name. I believe that ruining someones name is a form of murder. I once heard the Rector say that in some cases, it can be worse than murder. Pop culture cheapens and ruins the images of individuals made in the image and likeness of God.
The culture of death is not limited to abortion and assisted suicide. There are other ways of killing a human being without having to kill their body. Our society is has become an arena and we sit on the sidelines, cheering and clapping as fellow human beings are being destroyed, and we worship the victorious until eventually they disappoint us by revealing that they have weaknesses like the others. Then it's on to the next person. Very disturbing indeed.
What I see the pop culture doing is turning human beings into products. Nay... it's more complicated than that. Pop culture turns the humanity of a person into a product. When we love a celebrity's body, hair, clothes, music: that is when the human being becomes a product. We we absorb ourselves into the personal lives of the celebrities; their failing romances, their lifestyles, their mistakes: that is when the humanity becomes a product. Every human being rises and falls... succeeds, and fails. When the rising and falling of a human being becomes the very source of our entertainment, as opposed to the rising and falling of the product that this public figure wishes to sell to us, then that is a sign that we have become truly depraved.
Unfortunately, people often link the value of a product to the value of the human being. Stew on that for a while.
Now, people might think that Justin Bieber has become arrogant in his fame and thus needs to be brought down once in a while. This may be true. But two things remain: We do not know his heart, and we must leave it up to God to bring down those who are proud, for the very nature of pride is to bring one to fall. Must we become instruments of the sin of pride? Let God give a soul what it needs. Let God be the judge of what a soul needs.
