Sitting in Intro to Argumentation class on Monday, I realized something.
There are some universal tenets of accepted belief at school. And I hadn't stopped yet to give them a moment's reflection. Here are a few:
- America is evil.
- Bush is a moron.
- Men are evil.
- Men are morons (and we feel really bad for them, poor guys; well, except not for Bush, because he's just evil-er).
- Women need more rights (nobody says what kind or what they need them for).
- Global warming is caused by wasting paper products, not recycling, and pollution caused mostly by Americans.
- Homosexuality is a run-of-the-mill lifestyle.
- The government could fix most of our problems if it just got its act together.
- War is bad. Always.
- Education is good. Always.
- Conforming to "social norms" is weakness.
- Disagreeing with any of the above means that you are evil/a moron.
- There is no conflict between the above two points.
Curiously, I haven't heard any attacks on Christians, whom I think are generally considered a primarily harmless class (well, except for the right-wing activist Christians like Ann Coulter).
So it was with some amusement that today in Intro to Argument class I watched Pink Floyd's "We Don't Need No Education" (it's "argument in music videos week").
The music video made me think about a lot of things (like why I plan to homeschool). Mostly it made me grateful for the beauty of the way that God made us in His image but with our own unique potential to display His glory in our personalities and giftings.
So the dilemma that Pink Floyd poses -- between mindless conformity and anarchistic chaos -- does have a solution for those who recognize the freedom that comes from submission to an all-wise Creator.
To follow God's law is not to become another brick in the wall, but to be able to fulfill one's full potential as an image-bearer of an all-beautiful all-glorious ever-creative God.
Now, for a way to communicate this on campus . . .
6 comments:
http://www.dannemann.org.uk/images/morans.jpg
:P
Hurray for Pink Floyd (and rock of most shapes and sizes): over-representing false dichotomies of social structure since 1967!
(For what it's worth, that album is a work of art. Not quite as masterful as Wish You Were Here, but still top-notch as far as Prog Rock goes.)
Don't forget over-population! :)
Actually, talk about overpopulation is usually counterbalanced with the triumph of education (i.e., birth control and abortion) in decreasing birth rates in the developed countries. So, although it's still a problem in Africa/India/some parts of the Middle East, the world is confident that with a little bit more education, we'll all be A-OK.
Yikes. Do they have the whole "education is the best contraceptive" schtick down in California, too?
Oh well. At least they're not eating each other to "save natural resources." (Not yet, anyway... Wait, are people organic?)
[Daniel dons +5 tinfoil hat of paranoia]
Well, that's a little morbidly optimistic!
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