Social Commentary 2: Jessica Simpson

I saw about 45 seconds of an interview with Jessica Simpson on GMA (or some morning show) the other morning.  It was 45 seconds too long, I know.

She's vacuous and completely lacks media savvy and even couth.  The gem:  "I keep giving him dates [to get married] but he keeps knocking me up."  Wow.

I turned to the Queen and said, "Why in the world would I care what JS has to say about anything?"

The Queen:  "It's a slow news day honey, calm down."

My issue isn't really with Jessica Simpson.  There's a shallowness, a superficial nature to our society and culture that brings the Simpson's, Kardashian's, and Paris Hilton's of the world into the spotlight just because they're willing to do something stupid, raunchy, or pathetic.  I point you to Jersey Shore.

Why do we wallow in such superficiality?  Because it helps keep us distracted and disassociated from the pain of the real world, including our real world - the one where it's our marriage, our kids, our wounds, our fears, our insecurities, our hauntings.

That's where the reality-soaked story of Christianity runs counter to our culture.  Rather than run from the ugly darkness of the evil in the world, Jesus stepped right down into it.  The Incarnation remains the antithesis to our cultural and personal bents toward superficiality.  He didn't numb Himself to it - He got life-deep in it and worked to redeem it.  To redeem me.

And that's what He calls us to do too.

But that's just me thinking thoughts...