The Beauty of Mundania

    This week I chose Mortified Nation from a Netflix suggestion and I was pleasantly surprised.
    This is possibly one of the most inane documentaries that Hannah and I have watched so far. It details a current fad of everyday people getting up on stage and reading extremely embarrassing (and hilarious)  portions of their diaries and journals from decades before. I posted a video of this from YouTube below the trailer.  This movement has become popular in several cities including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin and several others.
    My favorite thing about this documentary is that it showed a great perspective of the big picture of life. Through the experiences of these teenagers the audience vicariously relives the emotional turmoil that comes with adolescence and we can all see how temporary even seemingly insurmountable problems can be.  I was left wondering what things in my life now seem like a really big deal but will turn out to be completely inconsequential. It also left me with a feeling of appreciation for the now, an appreciation of the beauty of the mundane.
     Those who journal regularly will tell you that this is the joy that is found in keeping a journal.  Many of us, myself included, are simply trying to get through life and on to the next big thing. The next paycheck. The next holiday. The next new purchase. The next orgasm. In the end we end up missing much of the beauty in life. We miss the beauty in the daily alarm clock, the routine breakfast, the traffic on the way to work, the regular lunch, and forced relationships with coworkers.  Without these things our lives would be void and meaningless. As much as we would like to deny it, we are going to be remembered by the mundane and banal things we do, at least by those closest to us. In my own life I need to remember that my life will not finally "start" when I get a better job. It won't begin when I get married or pay off my school loans. My life is now and I need to live it now and appreciate it for what it is now.
     Hannah and I enjoyed this film so much that we immediately went online and got tickets for the next show. This is definitely a film y'all should check out. I must warn you however, that while this documentary may seem like it is perfect to show your teenagers, it is actually extremely explicit. You were warned.



                                             
                     


     

Jesus Camp Revisited

 

      Hannah chose Jesus Camp (2006) for us this week. I first saw this film when it came out. I didn't like it much then, and I like it even less now. The film is made in such a way as to be very hypocritical about the things we teach our children and left me with the question, why is this considered so wrong?
    This film, for those who have not seen it, documents children and families from Missouri, visiting a weekend summer camp in North Dakota. The weekend is for children and is mostly taught by a woman named Becky Fischer, an outspoken, pro-life, conservative Christian. The film showed several things that were controversial including children moved to tears "by the Spirit", speaking in tongues, and praying for the former President George Bush. This film was, and to some extent still is, extremely controversial. People felt that the children shown were being "indoctrinated" and otherwise brainwashed by the pastors and parents involved. One quote at the end of the film claimed that the camp was creating a "child army for the republican party".

    To be fair, many of these claims, though exaggerated, are true. One man's "teaching" is another man's "indoctrination" which then a social worker might claim is "brainwashing". It is true that the things taught were certainly on the edges of what is considered "evangelical Christian" and many prominent evangelical christians feel that  the theology practiced by the people in this film is poor at best.  Ted Haggard, the infamous former evangelical pastor, who eventually admitted having sex with, and buying methamphetamine from, a male prostitute, is featured in the film, though his exploits are not mentioned in the film. He actually had nothing to do with the Jesus Camp or any of those involved in the film so I am not sure why they chose to include him.
    After seeing this film, I was left with one significant question. So what? Why should we be so upset about this? Why is this controversial? Children everywhere are taught things by their parents. In fact, they quite literally cannot avoid learning things from their parents. These children are taught a religious system that actively promotes the idea of a higher power and that we will be responsible to that higher power when we leave this earth. They are taught that prayer has power and that those in power will need prayer to make wise decisions. The children of "hippies" on the other hand are taught equally controversial things. They are taught or otherwise learn a disrespect for government and authority in general. They are taught that certain kinds of drug use is ok, and that there is no way to know that anything is actually morally wrong. They are taught veganism as the only ethical way to eat and that terminating a pregnancy is sometimes a necessity. I could go on about the things that are taught in public schools, but I won't because my point is not to disagree with these teachings but to rather point out that these things are largely lifestyle choices and opinions that are taught. These things are all opinions, and choices about the way people decide to live their lives. Furthermore these opinions and lifestyle are innately political. You cannot live your life as a vegan without making a political statement about how you view society, equally you cannot homeschool your children or be a Christian without making a political statement. All of these actions say things about you and your beliefs and like it or not people will notice and will evaluate you accordingly. Liberals teach their children one way and conservatives teach their children another and both groups are equally shocked and offended about the how and the what.

     This would be a completely different discussion if the children were being harmed. As a society we need to step in 100% of the time that there is abuse involved in these situations. In reality, these children grow up and when they are mature enough they make their own decisions about what they believe. As it turns out these kids have ended up being just fine. Levi O'Brien is now 20 and is still a Christian.

Check out his Facebook page. He also has many other videos available on YouTube. Rachael Elhardt was more difficult to find but you can see her Facebook page here. Tory Binger apparently does not have a Facebook profile but here is a followup blog from when she was 16. So with abuse as the line in the sand, I want to know why Jesus Camp brought on a wave of negative reactions, to the point that they closed the camp while Sons of Perdition goes on without almost any reaction at all. In fact it is mainly these same Christians who do the most to help the Sons. Let's Think Critically.

   

Burn (2012) or The Fate of the Twentieth Century Motor Company

    This week we saw Burn,  a fascinating documentary about the Detroit Fire Department and the almost fantastical obstacles with which they must struggle on a daily basis. This film is an excellent snapshot of the consequences of our current system of American politics, and is something that everyone should see.
     This film brings to the surface one particular issue; What can and  must be done about the city of Detroit and similar cities such as Chicago Il., Honolulu, Hi., and Cincinnati, Oh., that are also on the edge of bankruptcy?  One of my favorite things about this documentary is that the filmmakers follow people on both sides of the issue, allowing the audience to understand the viewpoints of all sides, to sympathize with the struggles of all, and most importantly to make an informed decision for themselves. According to the documentary, in the city of Detroit, with a population of 713,000 there were 30,000 fire calls in the year 2011. That's almost 100 a day. To put this in perspective, all of Los Angeles County,  with a population of almost 10 million, had 7,549 fire calls in 2011. The reason there were so many fires is because of arson. The citizens of Detroit are literally burning down their own city. There were approximately 5100 fires that were intentionally set in the city of Detroit in 2011. That is almost 9 times the national average. To make matters worse the number of firefighters has halved. In 1954 there were 1900 firefighters in the city, in 2010 there were 919, meanwhile fires per capita has risen 300%.
     The firefighters in this film seem to have a sense of defeat before they even get the call. Their trucks don't run, their safety equipment is shoddy at best and every year they are laying off more employees and closing more stations.
 
These closures are correlated with the population decline of the city. In 1950, Detroit had a population of 1.8 million. In 2010, the population is down to 713,000. This exodus is leaving over 50,000 abandoned homes in the city, homes which quickly become fuel for arson and other kinds of crime.

Things have become so bad that the Fire Commissioner, Donald Austin (who is featured in the documentary but afterwards resigned in 2013 due to "changes in City administration") created a very controversial policy that said that abandoned homes that posed no threat to nearby structures would be monitored by the FD but would be otherwise allowed to burn. This policy was put in place to prevent firefighter injury or death battling conflagrations in unwanted structures.

     A thinking person would ask, why nothing is being done to help these departments. On the surface the answer turns out to be very simple. The city of Detroit needs to budget more money for the Fire Department. The answer becomes much more complicated when we see that Detroit and many other American cities for that matter, are dying, both financially and spiritually. The American people are losing a confidence in their own nation.

   It used to be that people took pride in their work and created products that were valuable when compared to those created by competitors, as a result Americans were paid well for their hard work. Americans bought American products. The world strove to equal our economic prowess. Since that time, in which Detroit had its highest population and was thriving economically (That's probably a coincidence right?)  we, the American people, quite literally you and I, have become complacent with what we are and what we have and as a result are no longer leaders in the world. We are no longer satisfied with well paying jobs like plumbing, or roofing and are instead doing anything to get rich quick by any means necessary. As a millennial, I must unfortunately admit that this is most true of my generation.  As a result our work ethic has become almost non-existent, the quality of our products has become terrible and our wages have decreased and our whole economy has declined. We have become the laughing stock of the world and ourselves to the point that we quite literally burn down our own cities.
    Now, that is a very dim picture of the United States, but it is not the whole picture. The truth is that many people have begun to see the problem and are trying to become part of the solution. Specifically the Technology sector, the hated and reviled, Silicon Valley, is still trying to create the best products and are largely succeeding. People are again taking pride in their work and are reaping the massive financial benefits. As a result Silicon Valley is one of the most economically thriving areas of the United States, and it's success is slowly beginning to expand to other areas. Everyone wants to work for those companies but very few people are willing to do the hard work required to get the jobs that are desperate to be filled.
    Only when Americans again have a pride in their own work, in the fruits of their own labor, in their own communities, in America and American products will Detroit and other cities like it  be able to survive.