Thought of the Day 04.17.09

One of my favorite things is finding aspects of our modern culture which can be used to share real truth even if the author of the art didn’t intend it that way. I like to think of it as preaching from a secular text. Let me give you one example.

The rock band Nickelback has an extremely popular song in which they sing as if from the perspective of an ordinary person who dreams one day about having all the money, women, pleasure, and fame that typically comes from being a “Rockstar.” In short, the song was about how people want to be Nickelback or how they wanted to become themselves before they were yet.

Although the song is very good, the video is truly brilliant. In it, celebrities, sex symbols, blue-collar workers, and even children all lip-synch this song in praise of rock culture, the point being that all Americans want what MTV is selling. The amazing thing about this video is its honesty. The picture painted is beyond absurd, although I suspect that neither Nickelback nor any of the video’s participants realize this.

But that’s exactly the point. Everyone from the little to the large in our country is so taken by the allure of the song’s empty rewards that they don’t even realize how ridiculous it is to espouse such desires so unashamedly. Thus, precisely because the video is such a frighteningly accurate expression of our current culture, it also winds up being one of its most scathing critiques.