We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. . . . Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. —General Omar Bradley
.. the Pax Romana creates a false peace by sacrificing others. But the peace Jesus speaks of—Pax Christi, the peace of Christ—waits and works for true peace by sacrificing the false self of power, prestige, and possessions. Such peacemaking will never be popular. The follower of Jesus is doomed to minority status.
Jesus next warns us that we will be hated from all sides (see also John 15:18-16:2 and Matthew 10:22). When you’re working outside the system, when you work for peace, you will not be admired inside the system. In fact, you will look dangerous, subversive, and unpatriotic. One thing you cannot call Jesus was a patriot. He was serving a far bigger realm.
.. If you are truly a peacemaker, your very means have to be nonviolent and you have to be consistently pro-life—from womb to tomb. One of the most distressing qualities of many Christians today is that they retain the right to decide when, where, and with whom they will be pro-life peacemakers. If the other can be determined to be wrong, guilty, unworthy, or sinful, the death penalty is somehow supposed to serve justice. That entirely misses the ethical point Jesus makes: We are never the sole arbiters of life or death, because life is created by God and carries the divine image. It is a spiritual seeing, far beyond any ideology of left or right.
.. [We are called to] speak out against every aspect of violence—poverty, war, racism, police brutality, gun violence, nuclear weapons, and environmental destruction—and at the same time call for a new culture of peace. .
Katy Perry – Chained To The Rhythm (Official) ft. Skip Marley
A surprisingly substantively subversive song from Katy Perry:
LYRICS:
Are we crazy
Living our lives through a lens
Trapped in our white picket fence
Like ornamentsSo comfortable, we’re living in a bubble, bubble
So comfortable, we cannot see the trouble, troubleAren’t you lonely
Up there in utopia
Where nothing will ever be enough
Happily numbSo comfortable, we’re living
in a bubble, bubble
So comfortable, we cannot
see the trouble, troubleSo put your rose-colored glasses on
And party onTurn it up, it’s your favorite song
Dance, dance, dance to the distortion
Turn it up, keep it on repeat
Stumbling around like a wasted zombie
Yeah, we think we’re free
Drink, this one’s on me
We’re all chained to the rhythm
To the rhythm
To the rhythmTurn it up, it’s your favorite song
Dance, dance, dance to the distortion
Turn it up, keep it on repeat
Stumbling around like a wasted zombie
Yeah, we think we’re free
Drink, this one’s on me
We’re all chained to the rhythm
To the rhythm
To the rhythmAre we tone deaf
Keep sweeping it under the mat
Thought we could do better than that
I hope we canSo comfortable, we’re living in a bubble, bubble
So comfortable, we cannot see the trouble, troubleSo put your rose-colored glasses on
And party onTurn it up, it’s your favorite song
Dance, dance, dance to the distortion
Turn it up, keep it on repeat
Stumbling around like a wasted zombie
Yeah, we think we’re free
Drink, this one’s on me
We’re all chained to the rhythm
To the rhythm
To the rhythmTurn it up, it’s your favorite song
Dance, dance, dance to the distortion
Turn it up, keep it on repeat
Stumbling around like a wasted zombie
Yeah, we think we’re free
Drink, this one’s on me
We’re all chained to the rhythm
To the rhythm
To the rhythmIt is my desire
Break down the walls to connect, inspire
Up in your high place, liars
Time is ticking for the empire
The truth they feed is feeble
As so many times before
They greed over the people
They stumbling and fumbling
And we about to riot
They woke up, they woke up
the lionsTurn it up, it’s your favorite song
Dance, dance, dance to the distortion
Turn it up, keep it on repeat
Stumbling around like a wasted zombie
Yeah, we think we’re free
Drink, this one’s on me
We’re all chained to the rhythm
To the rhythm
To the rhythmdid some research online to find out the hidden messages behind the video…
0:22 — Comments on everyone’s obsession with social media
0:30 — Cotton candy shaped like atomic bombs
0:42 — Katy pricks her finger, showing that even if everything appears perfect, it isn’t what it seems
0:48 — Roller coaster separated by gender, enforcing a heteronormative lifestyle
1:07 — An amusement park rides depicts houses falling, referring to the housing market crash
1:20 — Everyone’s obsession with social media gratification
1:30 – The sign says 1984, a possible tie to the novel 1984 which depicts a dystopian society where people are constantly monitored
1:37 — Katy’s male counterpart gets a much higher validation score for doing the same thing as she, a woman, does
1:46 — ‘There’s No Place Like Home’ ride throws people back over a fence – an obvious allusion to Trump’s immigration ban/wall
1:50 — The ‘Bombs Away’ ride shows a flurry of falling bombs
2:15 — ‘Inferno H20’ seems to comment on the world’s dependence on oil and its impact on not only the environment but also our own bodies
2:39 — A hamster wheel that a white man seems to successfully navigate proves incredibly difficult for a black man and an Asian woman who both fail
2:50 — Katy is the only one able to see passed the ‘Nuclear Family’ video being played to see the darker truth behind it
3:46 — Katy successfully beats the hamster wheel; hope for the future?
To view video, click “Read More” and Enable Closed Captioning