By: Tommy Druen
Guest Columnist
As a college senior, I took a course on the history of popular culture. It was fascinating, as we examined how transitions from agrarian to industrial societies provided people with more leisure time and the myriad of ways that was filled. Whether through literature, music, sports or other pursuits, these cultural developments flourished as the immediate concerns of securing food and shelter waned.
One of the most striking memories from that class was the professor’s assertion that philosophers have not disappeared; rather, they became the lyricists of popular music. While he was likely alluding to the folk singers of his youth in the 1960s, my mind goes more towards the alternative rock musicians of the 1990s. And, in this case, to a band named Rage Against the Machine.
The band’s name itself suggests much of who they are. Even if you have never heard them perform, you immediately, and correctly, assume their music is intense and their lyrics often express deep-seated cultural critiques. Although I don’t always agree with their positions, a quote from their song Freedom on their debut album has always resonated with me: “Anger is a gift.”
This notion runs contrary to much of what we are taught. After all, isn’t wrath, a synonym for anger, listed as one of the Seven Deadly Sins? Yet the Bible contains instances where God himself is angered, and I don’t think Jesus was flipping tables in the temple for his mere amusement. It seems to me that the crucial issue is whether we allow anger to consume us and if it was justified.
As the 2024 Summer Olympics commenced, a wave of anger surfaced before the games even began. My social media feed was inundated with posts accusing the French of mocking Christianity because some believed a scene from the ceremony featured people in drag reenacting Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper.
Firstly, this was a misconception. The scene was depicting a work featuring Dionysus, the Greek god of such as wine, festivity, and theatre. Those seem to align well with a festive ceremony for the modern Olympic Games, which find their roots in the ancient Olympics that took place in Greece every four years for over a millennium. However, even if the critics had been correct, I question the fervor of their outrage.
The Last Supper is a painting, albeit a masterpiece, but it is not Christ himself. For those who believe in the Gospels, Jesus endured mockery without succumbing to outrage. As theologian Dr. Pete Leithart notes about the mockery of Jesus, “Jews and Gentiles, governors and criminals, scribes and commoners, all humanity joined in a single chorus.” Yet, Jesus did not respond with outrage. Is it the very nature of Christianity for its adherents to strive to emulate Christ?
Rage Against the Machine’s assertion that anger is a gift holds true, but like any gift, it must be honed and used judiciously. This involves discerning what truly merits our outrage. Anger has its place. But where is the outrage for the 43,000 Rohingya people killed and the over 100,000 living in refugee camps due to government-sanctioned genocide in Myanmar? In the United States, where is the outrage over the record 50,000 who found themselves hopeless and died by suicide last year? Even closer to home, where is the outrage that nearly 750,000 Kentuckians live in poverty?
Critics of the Olympic ceremony were quick to cite Galatians 6:7: “God is not mocked: for whatever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” For those of us who believe in God, are we not already mocking him daily by allowing such atrocities and countless others to persist without collective outrage?
Famed columnist Carl Rowan once wrote, “It is often easier to become outraged by injustice half a world a way than by oppression and discrimination half a block from home.” Today, it seems even easier to become outraged by what we see on television or social media than by issues we can actually address and bring about positive change.
