Hollywood, Hypocrisy and Pink Hats

“Jenny was hosting Junior League parties
And having dinner at the country club
Everyone thought they were Ken and Barbie
But Ken was always getting way too drunk
Saturday night, after a few too many
He came home ready to fight
And all his money could never save Jenny
From the devil living in his eyes”

Carrie Underwood in Church Bells

  Carrie Underwood’s new hit song, Church Bells, is a powerful account about the epidemic of domestic violence. It tells the story of a young girl who marries a rich man. But after their wedding, this young wife finds herself trapped in a violent marriage with an abusive alcoholic husband.

  Domestic violence is everywhere; rich, poor, ethnic, Caucasian, religious, non-religious. Statistics indicate it occurs more often in cohabitation relationships than married ones. That’s one more reason, besides the fact that marriage is God’s plan and His best, why we in the Church must be strong advocates of marriage. We’re naïve though to believe abuse doesn’t happen in Christian homes. Sadly, it does and it’s far too common.  

  Like you, I was nauseated when the recording of the lewd remarks of then presidential candidate Trump was released. It was deplorable. Though it was crude “talk,” what concerned me the most was that talk, as in the case of former President Bill Clinton, often results in abusive behavior.

  By now we’ve all seen the ubiquitous pink hats. Hollywood is behind much of their popularity. What I find repugnant is the blatant hypocrisy by the Hollywood elite. Recently, author Sady Doyle, wrote in Elle (02-27-17) that men in entertainment can seemingly get away with anything. Mel Gibson threatened to kill and rape his ex-girlfriend, yet he sat in the front row racking up awards at the recent Academy Awards for Hacksaw Ridge. Casey Affleck took home the prize for Best Actor, yet he’s been accused of sexually terrorizing female colleagues on the set of his 2010 mockumentary, I’m Still Here, referring to women as “cows,” insisting that one female employee share his hotel room, then deluged her with abusive text messages after she refused. Another says she woke up in a hotel room to find Affleck in her bed with her. (The rest is too repulsive to share.) After she managed to get him out of her room, he rallied crew members to bully her until she quit. All that didn’t keep him from winning an Oscar this year. Though Roman Polanski raped a 13-year-old girl (a 13-year-old!) which he’s admitted, still no one in the Academy felt it should pose an obstacle to his filmmaking career. When he won the Oscar for Best Director in 2003 for The Pianist, he received a standing ovation, including Meryl Streep. A beaming Harrison Ford accepted the award for him. Polanski couldn’t attend because if he comes back, he’ll be arrested. Woody Allen is still a Hollywood darling despite the fact that his adult daughter, Dylan Farrow, published an open letter in The New York Times, repeating her 1992 allegation that Allen raped her when she was as young as 7. She specifically cited the fact that “actors praised [Allen] at awards shows” as a source of extreme trauma. Eminem’s musical career includes emotionally abusing and threatening his wife won an Oscar for 8 Mile. Allegations of domestic violence trail other nominees like Michael Fassbender and Johnny Depp and two-time Best Actor winner, Sean Penn.

  Ever since it became mainstream, as far back as the 1980s, hip-hop artists and rappers have continually objectified, demeaned and promoted violence and sexual abuse against women in their music. Where’s the outrage! What about professional athletes? According to a recent article, over 40 NFL players currently playing, have been accused of sexual or physical assault. Players like Jameis Winston, Ben Roethlisberger, Brandon Marshall…to name just a few. Add other professional athletes from other sports to the list of rich, famous and powerful who abuse women and it’s a pandemic.  

  Men who abuse women should be pariah, much like Bill Cosby has become. With abusers like Mel Gibson, Casey Affleck and Woody Allen being honored, instead of designer dresses, the most prominent feature on the red carpet should be pink hats. Each time he runs out of the tunnel, Ben Roethlisberger, should face a sea of them.

  But don’t hold your breath. These same Hollywood elitists and others who rightfully bewail the perversity of President Trump rationalize away the debauchery of Bill Clinton and were willing to once again give him unlimited access to our nation’s daughters. The condoning of physical and sexual abuse reveal these evil behaviors, at least for Hollywood elites, aren’t the issue. Apparently, if you’re ideology leans left, you get a pass, even awards and adulation. Crimes against women whether by someone in the White House, a star of the stage or athletic field cannot be tolerated! It’s evil! It’s criminal and should be punished to the full extent of the law.  

  The Church of Jesus Christ must be the safest place for women and children. We’re accountable to King Jesus, not fickle social mores. We must hold people, even pastors, accountable. Success does not give one a free pass. We must speak out against abuse, be willing to intervene and protect the innocent. We need a new generation of John the Baptists to rise up, willing to pay the price as he did when he called out King Herod for perversity. We don’t need pink hats. We need godly men and women with courage and character, protecting those who cannot protect themselves! 

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.

Danny Devito and the "Art" of the Label

“Observe which side resorts to the most vociferous name-calling and you are likely to have identified the side with the weakest argument, and they know it.”  Charles R. Anderson

My son, Ben, and I enjoy seeing superhero movies together. Of course, since we’re both    frugal, we look for the best deal. A few months back we decided to go see Ant-Man. It was finally at the Budget so we ran a couple of errands and headed to the show. As many theaters do, they were showing it in two different theaters – one for earlier shows, then they’d switch theaters for the later shows. Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying careful attention when the ticket salesperson directed us to our theater. We both saw the marquee said Ant-Man and headed into the darkened theater.  We quickly discovered Ant-Man wasn’t exactly what we were expecting. The movie opened with a drug house in a ghetto neighborhood. The air was glowing blue with obscenities…and it wasn’t improving. Ben was the first to figure out we were in the wrong movie. They’d switched theaters and instead of watching Ant-Man, we were watching Straight Outta Compton. Ben double-checked to make certain he was correct, we were able to rush over to Ant-Man without missing too much.

  Perhaps, Straight Outta Compton has some artistic merit…personally, I don’t think so. Five minutes of it were too much for me. It’s described as a movie about a “crime-ridden inner-city community in southern Los Angeles County that had developed a reputation for having the meanest streets anywhere in the United States. The birthplace of notorious gangs such as the Crips and the Bloods. Compton also became the cradle of gangsta rap, courtesy of five young men whose rocket-like rise to fame as the group N.W.A. just as quickly broke apart in the thin stratosphere of riches, notoriety and rage.” The bottom line (according to the reviews) is that it’s 147 minutes of some 600 profanities/obscenities, nudity and gratuitous violence. It may be a “slice of life,” but so is a dumpster. Yet, this garbage was still nominated for an Academy Award. 

  This year the Academy Awards are being boycotted by several notable African-American    movie stars because there are not enough nominations of African-Americans or their movies this year. Usually, I find the movies which are nominated aren’t ones that I actually want to see…with a few exceptions (i.e. The Revenant, Room). For me, if I were an actor or filmmaker not being nominated for an Oscar, might be a compliment.

  Yet, what grows exceedingly tedious with all of this brouhaha is the constant and pervasive charge of racism or other slanderous labeling. There have been some great African-American movies and there are some great African-American actors. There have been some terrible  African-American movies and there are some terrible African-American actors. It’s the same with Caucasian, Hispanic or Asian movies and actors…or any other group. It’s not a matter of bigotry, it’s merely common sense about taste and quality. Thinking and civil people truly don’t care what race you are.

  Personally, I find my intelligence is insulted when elitists such as Danny DeVito, adding his two cents to the current fray, makes outlandish, broad sweeping charges like, “It's unfortunate that the entire country is a racist country…” What an ignorant statement! What’s worse, it’s cultural manipulation. Rather than having an intelligent, well-thought out dialogue on areas of difference and disagreement, those who disagree grab the club of “label” to beat opponents into silence. Therein lies the very fallacy of their argument. It demonstrates the weakness of someone’s argument and lack of ability to express their position or do logical thinking in that they must succumb to labeling or name-calling rather than being able to coherently communicate or defend their position.

  For example, while I disagree with many of President Obama’s positions, it has nothing to do with his race. (It doesn’t bother me in the least the President is half Caucasian.) I also disagreed with President George W. Bush on many of his policies. Does that make me an anti-Texas bigot? So because I disagreed with President Clinton, am I then a “Bubba Bigot?”

  If you’re like me, as you’ve sought to defend yourself from the verbal terrorist attack of a “label,” you find you’re playing into the hands of your accuser. The issue is sidetracked by the “label.” It’s hard, if not impossible to return to the issue and any intelligent dialogue. The field of reason has now been contaminated by a “label” which rarely has anything to do with anything other than being utilized as some toxic verbal smokescreen to distort or    completely blind everyone from the real issue.

  Sadly, Christians throw out labels too, rather than doing honest thinking or debating. “Liberal” is a favorite verbal spear we hurl when we disagree with someone, yet haven’t thought through the issue. It’s just dishonest.

  Too often we’re played because we honestly believe we’ve been misunderstood. Yet, the fact is we’re just being played. Then, we too often are sucked into the foolishness of feeling we must vindicate ourselves, or worse, have the last word. There’s a wonderful proverb from the sagacious pen of wise King Solomon most of us need to heed more. “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself” (Proverbs 26:4). 

  Someone who uses labels or name calling to annihilate their opponent has tipped their hand. They are what Solomon insightfully concluded, a “fool.” When we react to labels or charges which are ludicrous, we’ve chosen to allow them to ensnare us with their foolishness. Instead of becoming emotional or worse, angry, we’d be wise to ignore the labelling and do the best we can to continue to respond to real issues and not be sidetracked by smokescreens. If need be, sometimes we must just walk away. It will require wisdom and self-control. Yet, it’s the wisest approach because when someone is slinging mud and you sling mud back, in the end, you only end up getting dirty.

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