{"id":12190,"date":"2017-03-02T21:38:43","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T05:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=12190"},"modified":"2017-03-02T21:38:43","modified_gmt":"2017-03-03T05:38:43","slug":"why-didnt-you-say-that-in-the-first-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/why-didnt-you-say-that-in-the-first-place\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Didn’t You Say That in the First Place?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In their interesting book, The Rebel Sell<\/em>, Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter argue the point that \u201cdecades of countercultural rebellion have failed to change anything because the theory of society on which the countercultural idea rests is false\u2026The culture cannot be jammed because there is no such thing as \u2018the culture\u2019 or \u2018the system.\u2019\u201d[1]<\/a> They make some fair points, but it isn\u2019t until the conclusion that they make the point that finally made some sense to me: \u201cYet it is crucial to realize that criticizing the distribution of wealth or the distribution of other \u2018advantages,\u2019 such as education, is not the same thing as criticizing capitalism.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

Well why didn\u2019t you just say that in the first place?!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Admittedly, throughout the past several decades, capitalism and consumerism have been held up as some sort of universal evil against which economic, sociologic, and ecologic super heroes must pit their \"\"<\/a>powers for good. The problem is that Heath and Potter do what they disdain and lump all who try to live counter-culturally (whatever that means to them) into one big group of punk-rockers, WTO protesters, and others who simply rage against the machine with little or no change to \u201cthe establishment,\u201d instead feeding the machine of capitalism. They assume that everyone who wants to force change sees capitalism as the ultimate enemy. And many do. But many, many more think capitalism is just sometimes broken and we are determined to fix it and make it our own.<\/p>\n

If Heath and Potter had simply argued that, when discussing capitalism and culture we must clarify that capitalism itself isn\u2019t the issue, but rather the flaws and injustices which are allowed to flourish are where we must focus our attention,[3]<\/a> their points about building structures and rules to ensure justice would \"\"<\/a>have been much clearer from the beginning. Instead, it seems like they fell into their own trap of trying to be cool to show how right they are and how wrong (and uncool) those of us who work and live counter-culturally are. Maybe I\u2019m being unfair. Maybe I was insulted by the way they appropriated their brief dabbling in punk-rock culture to make their point, assuming punk was simply anti-capitalism. That\u2019s probably it.<\/p>\n

Mostly, I think I was just annoyed that Heath and Potter make such broad, dismissive statements about countercultural thinking. \u201cThe greatest weakness of countercultural thinking has always been its inability to produce a coherent vision of a free society, much less a practical political program for changing the one that we live in.\u201d[4]<\/a> As far as I can tell, Christians have been trying to live counter-culturally for centuries, offering a beautifully upside-down but coherent vision of a free society. It is fair to say that \u201cnot all Christians\u201d have presented this vision, and that lately many Christians seem to have lost sight of what that free society has to offer capitalism or any other system of government. It is also fair to say that many Christians spend too much time either avoiding politics or falsely embracing a civil religion that fails to offer that vision. On the other hand, Christians who employ women transitioning from sexual \"\"<\/a>slavery to create garments that sell for a pretty penny are living this counter cultural vision right in the heart of capitalism. They are paying fair wages and using sustainable, organic textiles while reveling a bit in the capitalistic system that allows them to charge more because of the message. This goes back to Vincent Miller\u2019s Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/em> in which he makes the point that our faith requires that we always move toward the betterment of humanity and creation when we participate in the cycle of consumerism.<\/p>\n

For all of my complaining, I actually liked the fact that Heath and Potter have put their theory (yes, it\u2019s just a theory) out there for discussion and dissection. I may disagree with them that breaking certain societal rules is not dissent but deviance,[5]<\/a> or that America is more likely to become more Hobbesian than experience the rise of fascism (I guess NO one saw this administration coming, eh?). But I do agree that we must find ways to work within the systems and structures that are in place if at all possible. \"\"<\/a>Unfortunately, I think some systems will never be free of the injustices that were built into them and those may need to be completely eliminated and rebuilt if we are ever to see justice. Change, however, starts with our voices in the street as well as on the phone to our representatives. Dissent and working within systems of capitalism are not mutually exclusive by any means. In fact, I believe that they are perhaps the checks and balances that will keep us from imploding. Maybe.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [1]. Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter, The Rebel Sell: Why the culture can\u2019t be jammed<\/em>, (Toronto: Harper Perennial, 2004), 8.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [2]. Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter, 327.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [3]. Ibid.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [4]. Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter, 253.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [5]. Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter, 323.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In their interesting book, The Rebel Sell, Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter argue the point that \u201cdecades of countercultural rebellion have failed to change anything because the theory of society on which the countercultural idea rests is false\u2026The culture cannot be jammed because there is no such thing as \u2018the culture\u2019 or \u2018the system.\u2019\u201d[1] They […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[388,371,847,610],"class_list":["post-12190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-capitalism","tag-consumerism","tag-heath-and-potter","tag-rebel-sell","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12190\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}