In November 2019, Coldplay released their eighth album, “Everyday Life.” In twenty years of professional music, it was the first time that any of Coldplay’s records came with the famous “Parental Advisory” sticker. A squeaky-clean lyrical history was interrupted, but not in a spectacular way. The whole of the album’s profanity came from three seemingly random “f-bombs:” one which is almost indecipherable given the ambient noise around it, another in a throwaway line on a song about gun control, and another which is a recording of a police encounter with a poor black man.
Vice may appear more authentic in today's time, it's also considered less boring. My guess is that most people who don't swear, don't experiment with drugs - the liest goes on - and just live an ordinary faithful life are just boring to most people. This dynamic also comes into play when picking a partner. Not few feel attracted to the “bad guy” or the “bad girl” while the “nice guy“ seems dull and uninspiring.
While we can bemoan this, a constructive thing we can do is being both virtuous and adventurous at the same time. In a way, Christians can indeed be a bit “soulless” if they just work, go to church and are polite. We should invite people over & feast together, love people outside our family actively, be active in sports, music etc., be witty and quick to laugh, learn to tell exciting stories, travel, get involved in important causes, etc. If all we have to offer is a Flanders-style Christianity, people won't be curious about Christianity.
I can't understand why Taylor Swift would feel the need to do *anything* to sell more records or gain a larger audience. I mean, how much bigger or more successful can she get?
I feel like Christians tried this with Mark Driscoll and it didn’t work. It will be interesting (and sad) to see some of this performative authenticity work its way through mega churches.
I think with TS it's possibly a sign of her fans getting older, and thus the wholesome, clean persona feeling too young now.
I don't get it with Coldplay, though. Their fanbase was teenagers 20 years ago. They're quite a bit older now. Why chase the cool image after all this time?
Great article. [Typo: What I am saying is the barriers that used to ***existence*** between mainstream access and public vulgarity made it more likely that people would see profanity as something real, but not necessarily normal.]
Proverbs 15:4 and Philippians 4:8 are not exhaustive on this but cover it somewhat.
It's hard to find a space where caustic speech is abnormal. Three letter abbreviations and asterisks don't reduce its effect, or even disguise its intent.
Vice may appear more authentic in today's time, it's also considered less boring. My guess is that most people who don't swear, don't experiment with drugs - the liest goes on - and just live an ordinary faithful life are just boring to most people. This dynamic also comes into play when picking a partner. Not few feel attracted to the “bad guy” or the “bad girl” while the “nice guy“ seems dull and uninspiring.
While we can bemoan this, a constructive thing we can do is being both virtuous and adventurous at the same time. In a way, Christians can indeed be a bit “soulless” if they just work, go to church and are polite. We should invite people over & feast together, love people outside our family actively, be active in sports, music etc., be witty and quick to laugh, learn to tell exciting stories, travel, get involved in important causes, etc. If all we have to offer is a Flanders-style Christianity, people won't be curious about Christianity.
I can't understand why Taylor Swift would feel the need to do *anything* to sell more records or gain a larger audience. I mean, how much bigger or more successful can she get?
Really good insights!
I feel like Christians tried this with Mark Driscoll and it didn’t work. It will be interesting (and sad) to see some of this performative authenticity work its way through mega churches.
I think with TS it's possibly a sign of her fans getting older, and thus the wholesome, clean persona feeling too young now.
I don't get it with Coldplay, though. Their fanbase was teenagers 20 years ago. They're quite a bit older now. Why chase the cool image after all this time?
Great article. [Typo: What I am saying is the barriers that used to ***existence*** between mainstream access and public vulgarity made it more likely that people would see profanity as something real, but not necessarily normal.]
Proverbs 15:4 and Philippians 4:8 are not exhaustive on this but cover it somewhat.
It's hard to find a space where caustic speech is abnormal. Three letter abbreviations and asterisks don't reduce its effect, or even disguise its intent.
Thanks for the well-written piece Samuel.
This is exactly it.
Amen - thank you for your Biblical common sense!