Is it just me, or does there seem to be a large committee of uneducated people who have nothing else to do all day but sit around and get offended by things? From pancake boxes, syrup bottles and rice labels to anything a celebrity says in front of an open microphone, cancel culture stalks us like a wolverine, just waiting to pounce.
Let me preface what I’m about to say by mentioning that I was raised in a Christian home by parents who practically lived at the church. My step-dad is a semi-retired Presbyterian minister and the subversion of modern Christianity by extremists comes up in nearly every phone call or visit home. My parents lead book studies surrounding this issue and have become political activists on behalf of the poor, downtrodden and, frankly, the ever more neglected teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.
Now that we have that out of the way, people claiming the mantle of Christianity are among the worst offenders among the perpetually offended. Take, for example, the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Olympics in Paris. DJ Barbara Butch and a group of drag queens performed an homage to the Greek god Dionysus, whose feast was part of the second-largest celebration on the Athenian calendar for centuries before the calendar flipped over from BC to AD. Evangelical Christians didn’t bother to try and figure out why a Greek tradition – the Olympic Games – which legend tells us were started by the Greek god Heracles in honor of his father, the Greek god Zeus.
Dionysus, but the way, was the Greek god of wine, fruit, fertility, religious madness and, well, basically partying. His festival was basically like Burning Man without the sweltering heat and burning sand. Dionysus was also a song of the god Zeus, and the legend of his life served as an inspiration for the posthumous backstory of the aforementioned Jesus of Nazareth. One of the great ironies here is that the New Testament’s “Last Supper” is very likely a retelling of the events of a previous “Son of God” (there were many) that was adapted to enrich the story of Jesus that Christians celebrate today with Holy Communion.
It’s a little insane, then, that “conservative Christians” decided that one Greek tradition celebrated as part of the opening ceremonies of another Greek tradition was in some way meant to make fun of or disrespect a vastly newer American tradition based on an African legend. No one was more surprised than the group who performed the celebration or the Olympic Committee that selected it as part of the festivities.
“The interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings,” explained a Twitter/X post by the official Olympics account.
“My wish isn’t to be subversive, nor to mock or to shock,” added artistic director Thomas Jolly in an interview with the Associated Press. “Most of all, I wanted to send a message of love, a message of inclusion and not at all to divide.”
Well, too bad, so sad. You can’t possibly outsmart the ever-vigilant armies of the constantly offended. Everything can be turned into something divisive if you just have the right mindset, especially if you aren’t overly familiar with the cultural context of that which you have decided is offensive.
More and more lately it seems I’m looking at the headlines across the internet and wondering ….”and?” Donald Trump lied about XYZ? Well, that’s what he does. He lies. About everything. Always. Disney is opting for another remake that’s been sanitized for today’s sensibilities? Meh. I’ll take the original version, anyway. A group of white women in Florida wants to ban some classic work of literature? Yawn. I guess they don’t know kids can watch porn or read everything under the sun on the devices those same women provided at the age of three.
When did we become so soft? When did our sensibilities become so freaking fragile? I’m not one to talk about making America great “again” but I do know that we were a lot tougher when I grew up in the 80’s. That’s also when Hollywood turned out iconic movies, our parents encouraged us to read anything that caught our fancy (knowledge is power!), the music was original and genuine and we still had food that had not been genetically engineered, had nutritional value and tasted good.
Finally, if we were offended by something we either changed the channel or watched it and considered the point of view being expressed.
It might not have been “great,” but it was better than a lot of what’s happening in our ridiculous culture today.
-B
Ishmael's Legacy 