Intellectual Defenestration

Sub-sub-sub culture

The sky is clear, the breeze is faint, the smell of Deet is heavy in the air, and the evangelical sub-culture is kicking into full swing at the Jars of Clay performance at the Maryland State Fair (I was grievously misinformed/mistaken about Caedmon's Call).

The crowd of people gathered on the field waiting for Jars of Clay to make their appearance is strangely different from the crowds of people behind the fairgrounds enjoying the 4H displays, cheap thrill rides and persistent hawkers of Sponge Bob/Squarepants dolls in the fair itself. In the field awaiting the concert, dresses and shorts are worn higher and come down lower, midriffs and cleavage are less visible, smokers are fewer, men obviously work out much less, and roughly one of every three t-shirts advertise either a youth group trip or the need to evangelize. "Faith is meant to be given away", "One Holy Passion", and "Acapulco: 2002" (with a fish worked into the design) are some of the slogans I see.

Also present are the high school kids who are obviously attempting to distance themselves from the decidedly unhip collection of white middle-class Republicans gathered. A kid with chains on his jeans and a Homestar Runner shirt walks by. A few rebel females with short, dyed hair can be seen.

In a sense, though, there is a strange affinity between the sub-culture of the field and the larger culture of the fair. The fair is heavily dominated by displays of rural Maryland. Posters advertising the appearance of G. Gordon Liddy and Sean Hannity dot the walkways. The fair itself seems to largely appeal conservative, middle-class, "family values" America. The field is like that same culture, only concentrated, slightly more laid back, less cool, and without as many hip huggers. The field is "family values" taken to "the next level."

I watch all of this from my Target camp chair with feelings of sadness and elitism. I am confident that, given in depth conversations with a significant portion of the people there, I would quickly find either serious, hidden sins (pornography, struggling marriages, promiscuous teenage children, churches falling apart) or highly lamentable beliefs (health and wealth gospel, parsimonious giving, a callous disregard for the needs of the poor, sick, and dying, Open Theism, distrust of all things "intellectual"). I feel slightly smug knowing that I have a better understanding of God's word, I could give a far better defense for the faith, I know more of what is needed from Christians in today's postmodern, pluralistic, multi-cultural milieu. These people are stuck in their homogeneous, inbred subculture.

And then I stop and catch myself. I begin to realize that, whether I like it or not, I am just as much a part of this strange, often unfaithful, unloving, and ungodly culture within a subculture. On a surface level, I am white, middle-class, and conservative. I voted for Dubya last election, and I plan to vote for him again. I prefer FOX over CNN, the Wall Street Journal op-eds over the New York Times.

But, on a much deeper level, I am united with most of these people in a way that is more profound and more humbling. We are all beggars who have found bread, gathering to hear other beggars sing about this bread. All my arrogant elitism simply shows that the beggar is still inside of me, only wearing GAP shorts.

August 26, 2003 08:41 AM