Summer Reflections

"The earth is the Lord's and everything in it."
Psalm 24:1

Counterculture Fraud

While in Ottawa this weekend, I picked up and read a copy of The Rebel Sell:Why the Culture Can't Be Jammed by Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter (called by a different title in the U.S.- Nation of Rebels: Why Counterculture Became Consumer Culture). It is a very thought provoking book that made me rethink some of my cultural/societal assumptions. They effectively argue that being countercultural can actually increase consumerism and consumption. As a child of the 60's and 70's, I began to realize how many assumptions I had been making about how the world really works and how much I had bought into countercultural explanations. I agree with the authors: "...concern for social justice became redirected and absorbed into an increasingly narcissistic preoccupation with personal spiritual growth and well-being." (page 57). While the authors do not appear to be Christians, their critique clearly shows the empty promise of mankind ever achieving utopia due to the reality of evil as coming from within man. They also recognize that "unrestricted freedom does not promote peace, love, and understanding." (page 304) While they advocate more rules, not less and plugging the loopholes in our economic system, they do not give solutions or get into the motivation for living a virtuous life - where is the coherent worldview (for example that Christianity offers) that helps the individual to rise above self interest and act in ways that demonstrate love to neighbor borne out of a higher calling?