I can’t stand country music. There – I said it. I don’t need to harp on it, because now you know. While I can appreciate the talent behind some of the musicians, it just isn’t my style. Particularly, although this happens in most genres of music, I do not care for music that takes a political agenda – and country and rap seem, at least to me, to do that more than any other.
However, a country music singer named Jason Aldean recently released a video for a new song called “Try That In A Small Town.” This is likely not a surprise to you, because it lit a fire in the entertainment industry – WHICH IT ABSOLUTELY SHOULD HAVE. Unfortunately, the fire it lit serves to glorify the problem being called out by the song rather than address it, and this is really concerning.
The video is simply of the band playing the song, while scenes of actual aired news footage from 2020 play in the background. It plays scenes from big-city riots, police response to disorderly conduct, and people fighting against law enforcement. Everything in the video was aired on network television. The lyrics of the song talk about the actions of the people – calling out specific things like punching an old lady on the sidewalk, carjacking, pulling a gun on a liquor store owner, spitting in the face of a policeman, or burning the American flag. Aldean says that if you do this in a small town, then you’ll get a different reaction than we saw in the big cities.
That is what the song says – it focuses entirely on specific actions that happened on the news in front of the world in 2020. Yet, now he is being called out on almost every media outlet there is, and CMT refuses to play the video because of its “racist lynch-mob mentality.” There is no mention of race, and all races are represented equally in the video footage. The whole point of the video was to make a political statement, and the whole point of the backlash was to make another one, and it is clear that no two people are even talking about the same thing anymore, which actually is par for the course in these sorts of matters.
Me? I am not going to take a political position on this at all, because I can become just as irrational and fanatical as the next guy. What I am hoping is that we will look at this from the perspective of what it means to be a believer in Christ. We already know we are in a fallen world – there are no surprises there. Yet the battle about evil has seemingly become more important than the battle against evil in society, and we carry a lot of the blame for that as Christians.
Honestly, this hurts my heart, and it makes me tired. And honestly, it makes me more tired of the battle itself than what it really represents. It isn’t worth it anymore – someone picks a fight, an irrational response comes, and everyone is more angry and hateful than when we started. Jason Aldean is calling out a loss of moral fiber and basic human decency in our society, and it is immediately turned into a racial hate-mongering attempt to pit one group against another. Seriously people – enough already!
The song and video were designed to make a stir – and they did, it is no surprise. Aldean was poking the bear by calling out a legitimate problem. Yet in doing so, could anyone have expected a response other than backlash and more hatred? We are no longer a rational place or a rational people. There is no discussion about anything anymore, because there is no right or wrong in our country anymore – there is only whether or not I can justify finding something offensive and whether or not you are infringing upon my or someone else’s freedom to live as we want.
As Christians, we know God calls us to live lives as holy and righteous. To be righteous means to strive to behave as Jesus did when He was here – action rooted in humility, love, and service. To be holy means to be set apart for a purpose. That means that regardless of what society has decided is or isn’t acceptable today, we are called to live as Jesus did and not live in sin whether it is legal or acceptable or celebrated.
Our response should be to fight as Jesus would have. He fought on His knees. He fought by healing and serving. When evil was infringing upon the temple – the house of God – he drove it out, but his battle plan was one of compassion and service. Is that our plan? or are we having too much fun poking the bear to see who it growls at the loudest?
Our actions must show exactly what it is we stand for – who we stand for. Most everyone in this world is well aware of what Christians stand against – we love to point out the sins of others. And while I hesitate to tell people not to call out evil, we seem to be at a time where everyone is calling out everything for both evil and good – and the voices are getting us nowhere, whether we are pastors, musicians, church members, or everyday people trying to survive. Right now our actions as believers are far more important than what we say or repost on social media. Remember the song – “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”
Evil is evil, and it is here in the world in any form you want to find it. Let’s not be a part of it – let’s be set apart and striving to live in humility, love, and service. Instead of poking the bear we should be continually pointing it – and those poking it – toward God.
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel recorded 7 O’Clock News/Silent Night on their album entitled Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme album back in the late ’60’s/early ’70’s. It’s a reading of the news while they’re singing Silent Night. Very effective.
Well said. Living in India, my colleagues & trainees, while some are Christians & Catholics, many are also Hindu & Muslim. As a communications trainer, I strive to be a human being first & foremost who is a very flawed representation of Jesus. Rather than cramming my beliefs down anyone’s throat, I try to act as Jesus would with my words. No matter what beliefs we have, most of us are simply trying to make a living & get by in this world while relying on our faiths. Being loud about my beliefs will not bring anyone to Jesus. I have to live it too.