I have always loved Lindsay, and I respect that she returned to put this video on youtube. I understand why – it is a critical message. We need a spotlight on how the heart and soul of our culture is degrading faster than we realize. Her look into the decline of kids’ media is the meat of it for me. The most terrifying part, though, is about how some evangelical and fundamentalist Christians have now decided that the concept of “empathy” is a tool weaponized by the left, to indoctrinate children into the liberal agenda. Empathy is naive, overly emotional thinking. Christians. CHRISTIANS ARE SAYING THIS. Clown world. Clown world. I can’t even call it mental gymnastics because that would imply some sort of coherent thought process. It is pure…dissonance. Idiocy. Moral bankruptcy. And yes, not all Christians, of course not all Christians.
But this is part of why I know I could never be a practicing Christian, despite that the aesthetics of it call to me on a deep level. The organized religion part of it is too linked to bigotry and narrowmindedness in my mind, yet I am drawn to Jesus’ unique focus in his teachings. I see him as describing something adjacent but different to Buddhism. The Buddhists and Taoist have got the closest to truth, imo, probably because they focus less on ego and social control. What they provide at their core is a blueprint for discovering truth, a way of life, and the received wisdom of thousands of years of dedicated moral philosophers. They do not demand or dictate. That is where Christianity falls apart for me. When I read the Bible, even when Jesus is dropping bars, he always circles back to sounding culty. “Believe that I am the son of God, a direct aspect of God. My word is the word of God, believe and obey.” Sir, the belief in a specific metaphysical entity is not what I care about, and I don’t think it’s necessary to make your moral system compelling. You don’t have to “trust me, bro” if you have ultimate, objective truth from God on your side. The proof is in the pudding. Let me think for myself.
The thing that always pulls me back to Jesus, though, is how he goes beyond acceptance and compassion, into radical forgiveness. Self sacrificing forgiveness, rooted in the belief that all – ALL – humans have the capacity for good. It’s a trust in the act of complete forgiveness as a catalyzing and transformative force, ala Jean Valjean in Les Mis. When given the grace to shed their past and their previous identity, even those who have committed acts of pure evil can be redeemed. This is how I see baptism in a secular sense – in Christianity they would say you are reborn as a child of God, a follower of Christ, and that is now your identity. To me it is being reborn into a person who is first and foremost defined by their moral code. It’s interesting how this intersects with Buddhist ideas – particularly that the self is empty. We create our self concept through our past actions, our thoughts, our inclinations, but all of that is an amalgamation that has no true core. This means we have the freedom to redefine ourselves and make a new narrative at any time, letting our transgressions be a guide towards growth, and not an indication of immutable flaws.
I know I am particularly drawn to this idea because it is how I was raised. American culture is defined by christian values. But where did that indoctrination of empathy start? It was in the media I consumed as a child- the Disney movies, the PBS shows. Media that catered to children’s wellbeing, and the growth of their character. They presented a version of reality where love and kindness and bravery always won over evil in the end. As chronically depressed and black pilled as I often am, the rubber band always snaps back to the idea that humanity’s natural state is Good. That has in a very real sense saved my life multiple times.
I think Lindsay’s video reveals that gen alpha may have missed that vaccine of love and hope. I fear how profoundly we have and still are failing them, in leaving internet content so unregulated. In doing so, we have let the most cynical and money hungry people create the vast majority of the media children consume. In the Memelous video about the Mr. Beast toy, when jack manifold said “how is it that this guy is famous for being rich, to children, like it’s cool that he’s rich?” I had to pause for a second. I hate to imagine a world where child me would see a clip of scrooge mcduck swimming in his room full of money and think that was “cool” and aspirational.
Despite Lindsay’s video being such a downer, it has galvanized my motivation for my comic. When I think about what I want to leave behind, what impact I want to have, art has always felt a bit hollow. I enjoy it, it’s very meaningful to me, but there’s a level of self indulgence and vanity in it. However, a comic that presents an innately good universe – like classic Disney or Ghibli – could serve a higher purpose. With the life I’ve lived, I believe I can create a story and a world that kids who feel othered can find validation in. Though it may be a drop in the bucket, it’s something. I think it may be what I’m meant to do, if I’m indulging my woowoo side.
This is completely unrelated — or maybe related in the sense that I seem to always be redefining myself and my rules 💀 – but I put the videos I privated back to unlisted, and put them in a playlist. Enjoy a KeshaxNedFlames AMV and me ranting about art and spirituality, if you’d like.
>>robyns_ramblings 