Sucker

I'm a sucker for websites like this: Badcorp.org. With a tagline like "Stop funding your own oppression" how can I not immediately fall in love? How else will I relieve my middle class guilt if not through bashing the corporations I can't live without? Seriously, this stuff can excite me.

Websites like this along with magazines like Adbusters (by the way, The Dude is a fan of Adbusters campaigns like "buy nothing day" and "slow down week"--check them out.)seem to bring out the cynic in me as well. If you know me, he's in there and he can be found driving The Dude at least a few hours a day. You've probably seen some of his blogs. This is the part of me that hates the Man, the part of me that wants to buy a hybrid, the part of me that found this website.

Many times my initial reaction to the corruption and oppression in the world is along the lines of Fight Club and I think "if what we have created so far is destroying us, then destroying what we have created may be the most meaningful(and useful) act of creation we can participate in." (this is The Dude's personal interpretation of Fight Club). But does that really free us from oppression and corruption? I don't think so.

There must be constructive deconstruction. I think that we must recognize the brokenness in the world, see the systematic injustice we are currently participating in and grieve over it--even become angry over it. But we mustn't stop there, we must begin to look for new ways of doing things--while always realizing that change won't be immediate and until the Kingdom comes we will be a perpetually broken people living in a perpetually broken world. But redemption has to fit in here somewhere. We can't just scrap what we have created and try again--that's not the way God does things at least. That's where I begin to see the flaws with Adbusters and BadCorp--there is no redemption.

So, here is what I am going to do: go to www.badcorp.org and read the corporate shit-list; try to understand what these guys are saying and do my best to discern what is true and false; see how and in what ways am I contributing to systematic injustice in the world; grieve; be angry; embrace the hope that Jesus brings with Kingdom of God; begin to work on the injustices I am causing against those nearest to me; begin to work on the injustices I am causing against those farthest from me; never settle for the way things are; continue to look for new ways of doing things in alignment with the teachings of Jesus and the will of God.

Of course none of this is possible without holding on to grace and hope. Optimism and pessimism will always leave us wanting. So www.badcorp.org, if you're reading this, go read the bible and gain an understanding of redemption. See what Jesus is talking about when he talks about "making all things new." Destruction is not the answer, redemption is.