Since When Is The Word "Pimp" Respectable?

Theodore Dalrymple is the author of the book "Our Culture, What's Left of It". The book is an analysis and critique of cultural decline in countries such as England and the United States, particularly in relation to the connection between barbarous behavior and socialism. (That makes the book "must reading" for anyone stupid enough to think that Barack Obama, who has ushered in a new era of socialism in the United States, is the new messiah.)

I'm reminded of Dalrymple's book when I contemplate the manner in which the word "pimp" (which has always referred to a male person who exploits prostitutes for profit, and which has often been used, as well, to refer to a despicable person) is now being used as if the word is a positive thing --- as in the television show "Pimp My Ride". Apparently, the "positive" use of the word is a derivation of "hip-hop culture" (which is an oxymoron if ever I heard one).

People who think that being a pimp is a good thing are undoubtedly the same morons who think that it's appropriate to regularly and casually use words which rhyme with the phrase "brother trucker" and which refer to people who commit incest with their maternal parents. But who knows? Maybe where they come from, incest is an accepted part of normal everyday life, and people who exploit and abuse prostitutes are deemed worthy of their respect. That is certainly the conclusion a rational person would draw, based on the way that such people talk.

For people who think that the aforementioned comments are "racist," I would point out that there are numerous respectable African-Americans (e.g., Thomas Sowell, Alan Keyes, Bill Cosby, etc.) who have rejected the thug mentality which seems to dominate large sectors of the black community today (and which has slowly seeped, like pungently raw sewage, into the vocabularies of people from other sectors of society as well). I thank the Lord for that! But I fear that our "nonjudgmental" attitude towards people with no class and no morals is leading to a situation in which people such as Sowell, Keyes and Cosby will soon be viewed as irrelevant anachronisms in mainstream society, or in what passes for society.

The Perversion of The Cross of Christ

Historically, the cross has been the most prominent symbol of Christianity ever since Jesus died on the original "old rugged cross" on Golgotha. But over time, symbols can become transmutated, until the people who use them forget what they're really all about.

There is something strange indeed about seeing a fan of hip hop music (or a hip hop "artist"), draped in absurd amounts of ostentatious jewelry (also known as "bling"), particularly when that jewelry includes a big and gaudy gilded cross pendant. It's especially strange when you consider that such a person is likely to endorse or play "music" which is laced with profanity, misogyny and lyrics which endorse recreational drugs, gang violence and other aspects of the "thug" life. None of those things are even remotely congruent with Christian discipleship.

Of course, it isn't just African-American thugs from the hood who are clueless when it comes to the cross. Some wealthy white folks are equally clueless. Last night I was at Barnes & Noble, and I was browsing through The New Yorker magazine. On page 93 of the 7/17/2007 issue, there was an ad for Shrubsole. The ad featured a cross pendant, decorated with "Montana sapphire and diamond". The price tag? $14,500!

Wow. Imagine how many hungry children one could feed for that kind of money. One could probably even build a nice home for a person living in a third world country, using that kind of money.

For that matter, that kind of money would go a long way in helping the poor right here in the United States. I've gone years when I didn't make any more than $14,500, and that was when I wasn't unemployed.

What kind of idiot thinks that spending nearly 15 grand on a cross pendant is a good way to express one's faith in Christ? And what kind of idiot wears a cross for reasons which are unrelated to a desire to express faith in the One who died on the cross more than 2,000 years ago?