Amazon is the Anti-Christ
I woke up this morning with a word. Well, actually, a complete sentence and an unsettled feeling. Maybe it’s because I’ve been reading about rams, canals,goats and horns, that I woke up with my heart racing, my blood pumping and a word: Amazon is the Anti-Christ.
Crazy, huh?
Now for you scientific folks who look to Stephen Hawking for the definitive word on God, you might want to hang tight. I’m not a linear thinker. I’m the sort that has to go around my elbow to get to my mouth but, eventually, I get there.
Like a lot of you, I’ve been thinking a lot about this notion that somehow or another after all that bloodshed, we’ve brought freedom to Iraq. Media has such a nifty way of tying everything up and bundling it off. We say things like “War Over” or “Troops Come Home” and the bulk of Americans go hop-skipping along, off to do their part for freedom’s sake — shopping.
Remember way back when, back when Destre, Carson and Grant’s daddy was an Army Ranger and not a tombstone in Arlington, when we were told the best thing we could do on behalf of our country was to get back to our normal routine of shopping?
We walked away, confused, with a shake of our heads and muttering “numbskull” and “dip-sh*t” and for about six weeks we collectively grieved.
But then oh-what’s his face came out with that patriotic Red, White and Blue song of his about putting a “boot up you arse” and everybody started making trash heaps out of all their Dixie Chick CDs, stomping on them with boots and running over them with John Deere tractors.
Nobody ever hears from the Dixie Chicks anymore. We taught those girls not to mess with the good ole U.S. of A, didn’t we?
We like the mythology of war — this notion that America represents the collective conscience of the world and that anytime we do something in the name of Democracy it’s for your own good, even when that something means blood runs in your streets and shopping for a loaf of bread is a matter of life and death.
We really hate thinking about the reality of war. Nothing is more unsettling to us than to be out in public, say like at the shopping mall over Labor Day weekend and seeing a young man with a titantium rod for a leg. If it weren’t for that distant look in his eyes, you might think he’d injured it in a car wreck. But that looking-off-over-yonder gaze, well, everybody knows what that means — Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. P.T.S.D.
There’s a bunch of Americans who don’t believe in P.T.S.D. They think it’s just one more way to bilk the American taxpayer because, yeah, that’s the first thing on the mind of a boy or girl who has just seen their buddies blown to Kingdom Come– How can I spend the rest of my life living on the public dole?
Exhale.
I have to do that a lot, otherwise, my heart starts racing again like it was when I woke with a start this morning thinking that Amazon is the Anti-Christ.
I did a brief little poll yesterday. I asked people if they read or cared about the book reviews on Amazon. Collectively everybody said that yeah, they read them and yeah, they mattered. One fellow even said when he didn’t pay attention to the reviews and bought the book anyway, he was usually sorry he had.
Now I know when I asked that question folks were probably thinking that the reason I asked it is because I care about who is reading my reviews over at Amazon and if the reviews are hurting or helping the sales of my books.
But I wasn’t thinking that at all.
I was thinking about freedom and what it means when we as a nation go put our boot up the arse of another nation in order that they, too, can have a democracy like us, so that everyone in their country can be reading Jonathan Franzen’s latest epic. Because it seems to me, in my convoluted way of thinking about these matters, that freedom has nothing to do with the individual or his or her pursuit of happiness. It’s all about product placement.
It’s all about Wall Street.
We tell ourseleves that we are a free nation but then we folo our peeps to see what the next hot item is so that we can all collectively run out enmasse to buy it. We wouldn’t want to be left out. That would be weird. To not own one of what everybody else owns.
Because shopping is the one true thing that binds us together. Not God. But Amazon.
Men and women have fought and died on battlefields all over the world so that you and I can can have freedom. (It occurs to me that the people who actually practice freedom are those who volunteer to protect it, given that only one-half of one percent of the nation’s population serves in the military. The cost of bearing the burden of democracy – government by majority rule – falls on the shoulders of a minority.)
These few suffer and die for the collective good of us all, for freedom’s sake.
Freedom to read what everyone tells us to read. Freedom to listen to the same damn Lady Gaga song that everyone else in the nation is listening to. Freedom to wear the same Nikes and North Face that everyone else is wearing. Freedom to live in the gated community where everybody else we want to emulate lives. Freedom to attend the same church that all the other people just like us attends. Freedom to watch Eat, Pray and Love, because, Lord knows, watching somebody else do it is so much easier than praciticing it ourselves.
I was just thinking that freedom ain’t what it used to be, back before Wall Street figured out that technology is a great way to manipulate the masses without us even being aware of it.
See?
Amazon really is the Anti-Christ.
Lots of thoughts on this one, but this is the first — a quote from one of my favorite songs:
“Freedom is seldom found by beating someone to the ground” (Amos Lee)
Karen: I don’t suppose you will ever give away a clue about the “message in that book”. We’ll have to read the book, of course. That said, I’ll spill my guts here and just say that I wish the world paid even 1% of the attention to the Magnificat that it gives to the Apocalypse to John. Fact is, I’d settle for even a much smaller fraction than that.
Thanks for your potent words, Voni. As an American who has lived outside the US for 25 years (Africa, Europe, Canada–though Canada almost doesn’t qualify as “foreign”), you have spoken graciously and truthfully. Thank you.
Yes, America is filled with Christians who love to send money to evangelize those backward, needy, “fill in the blank” foreigners who need to become good America-style Christians. What they don’t do is demonstrate and declare – show and tell – the good news of God’s Kingdom and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus as the inaugural event. That’s why they hire “professionals” to DO the ministry that they come on Sunday to consume.
There are – at present hundreds, if not thousands, of missionaries sent from their countries to the US as missionaries.
Karen, I don’t know if this would be interesting to you?
My husband, Joe, wrote and has taught an informal commentary on Revelation. Very simple. Interesting reading, and they are his thoughts.
http://manualoflife.com Revelation is one of the tabs at the top.
And I’m very interested in the book you are writing on Revelation!
Blessings and hugs!
I hear you about that collectively, en masse concept here in the good ol’ U. S. of A.
I first noticed it many moons ago about the entertainment industry, TV to be specific. My take on some of the sitcoms was that they had their catch phrases like “Dy-no-mite!” and “Dingbat” and “Meathead” (I could go on ad infinitum here) and once a catch phrase became popular, they ought to produce the same script over and over and just run different groups of audience through the studio. It would save a lot of money in paying screenwriters alone.
Not quite the same thing as Amazon being the Anti-Christ, but still. I’m still holding out for McDonald’s or Play Station/Wii being the Anti-Christ.
Ben: I have read the book of Revelation, and, in fact, the message in that book is the topic of my next book.
Wow, Vonni, sad. A loss of a friendship is always a thing to be grieved.
Voni: Look forward to hearing more of the story. And, yes, of course, you are right but we are so easily distracted by shiny things.
Karen, I would love to tell you, but tonight it is late. It’s a long story. I will work on a short condensed version and find a way to get it to you.
Today we all know that the US needs missionaries. But aren’t there hundreds of thousands of Christians living there, and each one is a missionary with a mission to share God’s Good News in the mess that is happening? Or am I only dreaming?
Roger, thank you for what you wrote.I was thrilled to see you’d lived with the people!!!! you made yourselves vulnerable. So few people do!
I still remember just a few days after the US invaded Iraq, we were leaving a shopping mall in Rio de Janeiro (and Karen commented on shopping ehehe). While waiting outside for our friends to pick us up, we were conversing in English. A man in front of us turned around. He was angry, not at us but at the states, and Pres. Bush. He demanded to know WHY the USA was invading Iraq, why did they think they had the right to do it? WHAT was the matter with them? We had no answers.
In the 70′s and 80′s Brazilians liked the United States. In the days following 9/11 I was amazed as Brazilian friends called to make sure we’d had no friends who’d died, and they mourned with us.
Now, Brazilian people no longer consider the US as a friend and there is a quiet and underlying resentment towards Americans because they are still in Iraq and also in Afghanistan. I agree with what you said about choices. And pray that each of us, personally, can make the right ones!
It’s funny you should say anti-Christ. Have you been reading the book of Revelation?
Besides a book that tells us how our story ends, Revelation also exposes the system of fear and enslavement that we are all trapped in.
Just like you have.
So yeah, Amazon is the anti-Christ. Sort of.
Voni: Having lived and served USAF duty in a Muslim country in the 70′s (we lived in a mid-sized town among the people, not on the base or in a gated American compound), I resonate with all you said about a very different place, Brazil. I saw the US reaction to 9/11 as being almost entirely wrong, and I do think it was a reaction, not a response. That prompted me to write a long essay titled “35 Things to do in Response to War”. I wish we had responded very differently.
As a grown-up, I moved away from my juvenile view of God as master puppeteer who makes everything happen. That would pretty much make God responsbile for our sin and our bad choices as well as our good ones. Instead, I think God gives us opportunity after opportunity to live our faith, to learn and grow and be strengthened by testing our faith through the exercise of it.
We had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity after 9/11, especially on March 19,2003, to choose the way of Christ, not the way of war. We chose war, and it is bankrupting us, not only financially but imaginatively, I think. We chose fear, not faith. What have we learned?
Each day is filled with opportunity after opportunity. May God grant us grace to see them and to respond in faith.
Voni:
Blown away by your stories. Thanks for sharing what’s on your heart, and for sending us a real-life look at ministry in another country.
It reminds of the evangelist who said one day they are going to have to start sending missionaries TO America.
Can you tell us how it is you ended up in Brazil in the work you are in?
Karen, I thoroughly enjoyed reading these comments.. Interesting – some very thought provoking. But most of all, I appreciated yours.
I’m possibly going to say some things that others will not appreciate.
I’m an American, and I used to be very proud of the fact. Of the past 43 years of my life, I’ve lived 30 of those years in Brazil – and am living here now.
The first time I wondered about my pride of the US was shortly after Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King were killed. People on the streets of Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil when hearing my Portuguese with an American accent would ask me: “Why do Americans shoot their own leaders???” I had no answer.
Another time I wondered when my future son-in-law who is Brazilian was working for an American international company in Belo Horizonte. I won’t give the name, for as far as I know, they all have this policy.
The top boss of the company in Belo was American. He spoke some Portuguese, but was really dependent upon Brazilians who spoke both languages. He did not understand the Brazilian culture. A nice enough person, earning a high salary, living in a privileged neighborhood, totally dependent upon others to help him run the company. He had a good crew of men who helped, but they were unable to protect him from his own blunders, and he did not respect them in the same way he did other Americans, even when the Americans gave him wrong advice. He couldn’t understand the language well, believed that the states was much better than Brasil, was paid a hardship wage because he lived in Brazil and his life style was that of the most wealthy. Yet, many of the Brazilians working in the company were poorly paid. And I was sad. So much waste and needless confusion.
I could also write a long list of how Americans look down upon other cultures. It is inherent within us. But I question the validity of this attitude.
We were living in the states when the whole thing about Iraq started. What you said Karen hit that one on the head.
“We like the mythology of war — this notion that America represents the collective conscience of the world and that anytime we do something in the name of Democracy it’s for your own good, even when that something means blood runs in your streets and shopping for a loaf of bread is a matter of life and death.”
Who ever said that other countries WANT the US form of democracy??? The US for the first time in history attacked a sovereign nation with no one asking for help. We crossed over a line when we did that. Why?
Did you know that Brazilians (and many other countries)visit the US primarily to shop????
You’ve probably never sat for hours listening to horror stories of people with valid passports and visas stopped as they are entering the states, insulted and mistreated, families separated, turned back.
I don’t think that Amazon.com is the anti-christ. The anti-Christ right now is our own selfishness, anger, not respecting others. It is things being more important than people. And now the foundations we took for granted are no longer stable. There is a shaking going on. The United States of America is showing cracks in the veneer. And those cracks are increasing. Most people want to ignore them.
At this point I I want to clarify: I do NOT think Brazil is better than the states. God knows we have some very serious problems here. NOR do I believe the US is better than the states, or any other country. I do believe that any nation that chooses to ignore God and His principles is in hot water. And the kettle of water in the states is getting pretty hot, even as too many enjoy the comfort of that warmth… Problem? it’s going to keep getting hotter.
Karen, you said: “I’m not a linear thinker. I’m the sort that has to go around my elbow to get to my mouth but, eventually, I get there.” I really became good at this here in Brazil as it is not the custom to give a direct yes or no. I drive my husband crazy with this (he is very American and very linear thinking.)
I don’t think I’ve been very logical right now. I do know my heart is greived as I see the nation I love walking away from God and suffering the consequences.
I believe it is His grace that is allowing us to learn we need Him and to depend upon Him and follow Him, as we reach out to help others.
We’d better start learning how to do this. One day the shopping malls and Amazon.com may not be here. What we consider the normal life style may not longer exist. But God IS and we can depend upon Him. It’s time to start practicing now.
Karen, thanks for being you. Keep on with the “convoluted” way of thinking. I like it!
I can just hear all those boys, John.So you won’t be at the beach? Tell the boys to come find me. Or tell me where the house is so I can find them.
Again off topic – but I am on a roll. My favorite site for old free books.
http://www.gutenberg.org
My favorite book.
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext03/2ybrm10b.txt
Karen,
I am stepping away from my computer now. Move on – nothing to see here.
R
J
Don’t need no ‘plaining. I may be dumb but I ain’t stupid. I get what you are trying to say. Sorry if I find some things funny. I am not as deep as you. There is an old Arab proverb. I am a mile wide but only an inch deep.
Jack, Jake and possibly Ben will be there. They don’t need the old man butting in. I have honey-do’s and I am going after the elusive fish on Monday. I will include one of my illiterate nights with the boy’s on Weds night.
I heard some bumping around after midnight so I went downstairs for a midnight snack and my early morning pee (I am getting old).
Ben, Jack, Jake and Mike were downstairs BS’ing. The subject got around to leaving for school.
Jake “My parents have started to deconstruct my bedroom”
Jack to me “Dad you better leave my room alone.”
Mike “I am going to move into your room”
Me “I am bringing a bulldozer and three large dump trucks”
Ben to Jake and Jack “You think you guys have problems – My sisters have taken over my room already and I have been traded in for a Toy Poodle!”
Funny stuff!! We all had a good laugh!!!
You are always welcome sailing but it tends to get colder and wetter from here on out. We are sailing from Portland to St Helens and back next weekend with a small party (Ha Ha) in St Helens on Saturday night. Last year my last day sailing was around Dec 15th although I always tell Sandy that it is my last race after every one after August. She never believes me. I wonder why?
Regards,
John
Of course you are right, it’s not just Amazon. it’s our whole way of life. Isn’t it odd that a people who will lfight so vigilantly and loudly against religious indoctrination will passively accept and even preach the Religion of Consumerism and grant marketers free access to children without a passing thought?
It’s not just Amazon, it’s consumerism and the whole way we do business. I’ve been reading a book written 200+ years ago by an English author called John Ruskin. It’s called “Unto this last” and – based on the parable of the workers in the vineyard – explores the whole concept of economics, wealth, trade, etc. and seeks to bring the concepts of justice and righteousness to them. For example, one of Ruskin’s statements is that – in most cases – high profits can only exist if people are deliberately kept ignorant as to the “true” value of what they are buying. How can such an action – deceiving (as with the unfair measures the prophets speak of) be Christian and just? There is a lot we need to think about in these regards.
I have to admit, when I saw your question on twitter I assumed you were just marketing / spamming or something… sorry – I should have given you a bit more credit and will next time. I’ll make sure I come back to your blog and pay a bit more attention to what you are tweeting.
God bless
Joe: Thank you for reading it, however, you read it. Seems like there should be a Dr. Seuss verse for this:
A book is a book, no matter how small. A story is a story, after all.
Karen,
Amazon may be the Anti-Christ, but I still read your book on my Kindle. =)
You keep loving my lines. Maybe I should write…
(emoticon of your choosing here____)
Oh God, yes. Since earliest childhood.
love that surrogates for freedom line, Roger.
John;
Is there rehab for Amazon addicts? Maybe we could get a couples rate.
You can go for loving them too much and I can go for disdaining (hate is too strong a word) too much.
That said, I don’t actually think this blog post is about Amazon, and its merits or lack thereof.
I actually thought I was talking about democracy and mutant consumers. But there I go, ‘plaing myself again.
Congrads on the win. That’s awesome. Missed the whole sailing season didn’t I? Shame on me.
Off to Rockaway for the weekend. Y’all gonna be there?
Karen & All,
Everyone but Karen skip to paragraph 7 please.
You know me – I don’t like to pick a fight publically but you have to give up your hate of Amazon. To compare Amazon to Anti-Christ is like comparing sailboats to canned peas. I hate canned peas but I don’t go around worrying about the people (like my father) who think that they are the greatest thing since cheezewiz.
I don’t like Twitter or Facebook but I could care less if other people do.
I like online stores because I don’t like brick and mortar stores. I shop for food at 4:30 am because not many people are in the store at that time and I can get in and out. Shopping or being in a bookstore without knowing exactly what you want is loitering and should be prosecuted to the full extent. I think brick and mortar stores should issue a fine if you leave and don’t buy anything. It would keep the loiterers away and save on toilet paper.
Let it go. Be one with the Universe.
To start your road to recovery I am going to do this for you.
To all of you that have read Karen’s books – even if you don’t have an account yet – please write a review on Amazon. I just did. If for no other reason – just to piss Karen off just a wee bit. She has told me of her affinity for Amazon for years. LOL
I hope she puts this on the front page.
Regards,
John
PS We got another pickle dish last night after 5 weeks and 9 races. I will send you a picture of the 3 Stooges while celebrating at the bar.
My war was the Cold One, and our mission was to help keep it from becoming hot. The nukes were real and frighteningly numerous. But freedom and the exercise of it is drastically diminished if we define it only as protection against threats from without. Freedom, sadly, has too often been thought of only as freedom from ________ (fill in the blank). Freedom in its fuller sense is the exercise of the freedom TO educate ourselves, inform ourselves, work ourselves and debate/discuss amongst ourselves about what is moral, right, just and necessary for us to do. It is the freedom to be honest, not corrupt. In Dr. Mary Pipher’s definition of morality, it has to do with “the use of power, time and money” in support of “purposeful action for the common good.”
2K years ago, Apostle Paul wrote “for freedom Christ has set us free”. The prison door has been opened, but that is all for nought if we refuse to step through it. Pipher also observed 20 years ago that the one thing we almost never fail at is turning new human beings into consumers. If we could teach human beings to read and think critically at the same rate we teach them to consume, what kind of world could this be?
When consumption or war have become our surrogates for freedom, we have exchanged the truth for a lie. And that concept predates the USA by a couple of millennia, I think.
I’m sure there were. I was exaggerating. I felt awfully alone.
James: There were others on record..
You don’t think it’s how we are indoctrinated, J?
It’s how we’re wired, Karen.
A few of us might try to make a separate peace here and there but odds are that we are the ones who are really fooling ourselves.
Karen, I was on record as being the only conservative Christian in the entire country who was against the war on Day One. Sure, a lot of people followed suit later, but the overall mood at the time was very pro-war, probably because the previous one against Iraq went so well and was fresh in our minds. But I was telling a lot of deaf ears that this wasn’t the right thing to do.
Having said that, I have to disagree with you about one thing. I mean, people have been disagreeing with you all week, so why break that streak?
But the line about Dixie Chicks, while not a major part of this piece you wrote, is what I disagree with. People didn’t have a problem with them because they were anti-war, but because they disrespected the president personally. Said they were ashamed to be from the same place he is from. I don’t think there’s ever a place for that kind of talk, whether it’s about a president I voted for or not. Natalie was way out of line with that comment, and it had nothing to do with the war.