Because I can
Beautiful Lamb of God
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The takeaway for tomorrow's lesson on God's care for the marginalized
The sound you hear, I suspect, is toes being stepped on. Mine first. Ouch.
I would hate for us to leave church EVERY Sunday feeling comfortable, satisfied, happy, content, and thinking about lunch. I would HATE it if we were that church. The answers to the questions of poverty and brokenness are NOT easy. So I hope when you leave today, you won’t leave satisfied that you’re in the right place because our church is doing right by the poor. Neither do I hope you leave outraged that we do so little. Instead of leaving today beating yourself up about how you treated the beggar on the side of the road, or with a conviction to turn over a new leaf that haunts you ceaselessly till you wake up from your Sunday afternoon nap. I hope instead that you leave today with God’s concern for the marginalized, the hurt, the addict, the mentally ill, the poor, the lonely, the loser. I pray that this concern will haunt you as an earbug, an itch, a gnat, a stone in your shoe. Instead of beating yourself up or congratulating yourself or the church, embrace the difficulty of living in a broken world and make the resolution that you will take the concern for the broken to your heart. So when the Holy Spirit goads you to action on their behalf, you will be ready to follow His lead and join the Lord in his work. That willingness to be used by God is at the heart of Christian charity, and its roots are in God’s holiness. Be HOLY, the LORD says, because I am holy.
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Mommy Bloggers take offense quickly and with gusto. #NikonHatesBabies #BlogHer09
Background: Nikon refuses to allow babies to enter a party they hosted after yesterday's sessions of the BlogHer Convention. This was outside the norms of the convention, where children are welcomed. Twitter lights up with outrage and the hashtag #NikonHatesBabies.
Does Nikon hate babies, or did some public relations person make a silly mistake, screwing up the goodwill they hoped to generate at the BlogHer Conference yesterday? We all know it's the latter. There was some reason that seemed reasonable at the time, which, in retrospect, doesn't make a lot of sense at a MommyBlogger Convention.
I'm not writing to get into a disagreement over the role and place of children in adult society. Rather, I'm concerned that we take offense too easily. One of the unfortunate consequences of social media that comes part and parcel with its utility is the mile-wide, inch deep current of outrage and social action it engenders. It's easy to get offended, to talk about how stupid something is, to pat ourselves on the back for "getting the word out," but this kind of outrage inhibits meaningful communication. It replaces dialogue with group-think. It doesn't really move us forward.
I don't know the answer - but I know that the hashtag #NikonHatesBabies doesn't help. Also, we have a responsibility to move these kinds of dialogues to longer form communication, like blogs, instead of mindlessly posting rejoinders and retweets on Twitter. (Note: Katie Allison Granju has done so already, focusing on social media strategy, her bailiwick.) In short, we already have plenty of outrage in our media choices - that's 90% of cable news and talk radio. Social media has got to move us forward into a more discursive mode. Less outrage - more conversation.
Finally, mommy bloggers should also think of their own reputation as a community. I don't encounter the most active ones a lot, but when they pop up, it seems it's because some vocal portion of them has become outraged at some slight. (The last one was the Motrin incident.) Are Mommy bloggers especiallly sensitive? I doubt it, but that's the impression I get from 30,000 feet. Of course, I welcome your views and if I have caused offense, please excuse me. That was not my intention. I suspect one or more of the feminist bloggers or academics has an excellent analysis of why this particular incident resonates - I can't wait to hear it.
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