Death or Glory
I've been replaying the lyrics from an old 'The Clash' song in my head for some time now:
"Every gimmick hungry slob digging gold from rock and roll grabs a mic to tell us he'll die before hes sold
but I believe in this and its been tested by research
that he who fucks nuns will later join the church
----
Death or Glory becomes just another story..."
Its all just terribly pessimistic isn't it? Maybe pessimistic is the wrong word, maybe its realistic. One of our cultural images is the iconic rebel without a cause, the James Dean-esq character whose purpose is to run against the grain, be a true independent anti-conformist type. We smile and nod knowingly at this archetype because at one point or another everyone has thought them self a rebel; its almost a necessary part of growing up.
What concerns me, generally speaking, is that line "he who fucks nuns will later join the church". Is it true that rebels eulogize the very cause they hold dear with their act of rebellion? Sometimes probably. I suppose it depends on how rooted the rebellion is in either emotion or reason. People who are angry at god usually find their way back to the faith of their fathers eventually: the reason being that the root cause of their initial dissension was some form of unsatisfaction not with the truth of the belief, but with some other aspect that once satiated reopened the doors to faith.
Or how about people like disgraced evangelist Ted Haggerd? He centered a large part of his ministry upon preaching against the sin of homosexuality and the sanctity of hetero marriage. Yet for all his guster and pious anger he spent a bunch of his free time getting plugged in the butt by some beefcake prostitute named Mike. Death or Glory indeed.
Think of all the people who fought for progressive causes in the 60s only to take a turn for the right once they made a few bucks later in life. Or the reverse, people raised in conservative environments who turned towards hedonism once they had a taste of what they once lived without.
Maybe in the end we'll just have a bunch of causes with no rebels.
"Every gimmick hungry slob digging gold from rock and roll grabs a mic to tell us he'll die before hes sold
but I believe in this and its been tested by research
that he who fucks nuns will later join the church
----
Death or Glory becomes just another story..."
Its all just terribly pessimistic isn't it? Maybe pessimistic is the wrong word, maybe its realistic. One of our cultural images is the iconic rebel without a cause, the James Dean-esq character whose purpose is to run against the grain, be a true independent anti-conformist type. We smile and nod knowingly at this archetype because at one point or another everyone has thought them self a rebel; its almost a necessary part of growing up.
What concerns me, generally speaking, is that line "he who fucks nuns will later join the church". Is it true that rebels eulogize the very cause they hold dear with their act of rebellion? Sometimes probably. I suppose it depends on how rooted the rebellion is in either emotion or reason. People who are angry at god usually find their way back to the faith of their fathers eventually: the reason being that the root cause of their initial dissension was some form of unsatisfaction not with the truth of the belief, but with some other aspect that once satiated reopened the doors to faith.
Or how about people like disgraced evangelist Ted Haggerd? He centered a large part of his ministry upon preaching against the sin of homosexuality and the sanctity of hetero marriage. Yet for all his guster and pious anger he spent a bunch of his free time getting plugged in the butt by some beefcake prostitute named Mike. Death or Glory indeed.
Think of all the people who fought for progressive causes in the 60s only to take a turn for the right once they made a few bucks later in life. Or the reverse, people raised in conservative environments who turned towards hedonism once they had a taste of what they once lived without.
Maybe in the end we'll just have a bunch of causes with no rebels.
Labels: rebellion
posted by doeman at
1:14 PM
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