I’ve just been violated
Last night I was in the middle of watching the Survivor Season 22 Finale and witnessed a commercial that totally left me without words. And that doesn’t happen very often. The commercial in question looked like it was a Google Chrome commercial that somehow morphed itself into a promotion of something called the “It Gets Better Project” that seemed to be endorsing the gay and lesbian lifestyle. At least that was what I came away with in the 90 seconds. You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7skPnJOZYdA
“What did I just see,” I thought to myself? Was this a full-throttle promotion of the gay and lesbian lifestyle I wondered? My mind was perplexed as I sat there for the next few minutes completely aghast at the thought of the mighty Google promoting something so completely against my moral compass. I actually began to feel like I had just been “violated” by this ad. How could they so boldly throw this into my face and all within the comforts of my own room? My next thoughts were of anger as my brain started to process it all. I soon became so incensed that I was ready to remove everything from my computer and BlackBerry having any association to Google.
Next the rational part of my brain kicked in and I had to get on the web and to try and piece together the whole story. I wasn’t going to jump to conclusions too fast. Of course, I googled the term and what I found was a link on YouTube to the 90 second video that I had just seen but also a link to a YouTube channel called the, “itgetsbetterproject.” There is a lengthy video (7 minutes) going into what the project is about. The link to it is here (http://www.youtube.com/user/itgetsbetterproject) although I must say that I am not endorsing the content. I was able figure out that this project was created by a number of Google employees compassionate to the plight of young gay people trying to grow up in an anti-gay world (likely gay themselves too).
The video is certainly heart-warming and the mission to inspire teenagers is admirable. No Christ-follower would ever want a young person to take their own life or even consider it. But as a fully devoted Christian, I would certainly approach the problem differently. The simple truth is that we are all born into this world with a sin problem and we all need Jesus. That may be the subject of another blog.
But I’m still sitting there wondering, “why has Google associated itself with this cause?” And you know what? I still don’t have a clue. My mind has settled down a little bit, and it’s now the following day and I’m wondering what’s next? Stay tuned.
Strange song in my head
OK, I know I’m a little weird, but I’m hoping this same thing happens to you too. Do you ever get up in the morning and some obscure song from your distant past comes to mind and you just can’t get it out of there? Such was the case this morning and it was driving me nuts.
Way back in my early teens, like in the early seventies, I remember this crazy little song about pollution. It wasn’t performed by anyone mainstream, it was a political satire to increase people’s awareness of the purported mess that we were making of the environment. (Most of you know that I’m not an environmentalist whack-o, so please don’t misinterpret my motive here.)
Until I googled it a little earlier, I couldn’t remember who sang it, but it had very catchy lyrics, obviously, since they have stayed with me to this day. Isn’t it freaky how things you try to remember escape you and other things come to mind that you’re not trying to remember? Anyway, once I sorted through the different Google search results to get the artist’s name, I then looked him up on YouTube and sure enough, a number of people have uploaded videos of the song being performed on TV somewhere.
The artist, Tom Lehrer, was a pretty accomplished composer and had written many parodies of society in the 1960′s and 1970′s. Strangely he was a professor of mathematics at the same time and eventually returned to full-time teaching after he retired from performing.
He performs the song wearing the classic black suit, white shirt with a skinny black tie that beckons memories of the Beatles, and other musicians from that era. And after watching the video I was reminded at how those times seemed so complicated to me back then. It’s amazing how your perspective of the world and events changes.
So anyway now that I’ve got you all juiced up for this thing, I present it here only for nostalgia and entertainment value. I don’t necessarily agree with the message.
Do any of you remember it?
