The In-Betweens
I saw a Tweet the other day from a well known…. well…. Tweeter that said, “I get to work with the poorest of the poor and the richest of the rich. The contrast is mind boggling.” Now, nothing against that Tweet specifically or it’s Tweeter, but it really hit me reading it that this is exactly how our culture lives. Whatever gets us the most attention. That’s where we swerve, right?
There’s a psychological theory called “Basking In Reflected Glory” or “Birging” and the basic idea is this:
Basking In Reflected Glory (BIRGing) is a self-serving cognition whereby an individual associates themself with successful others such that another’s success becomes their own.
We love to be associated with what’s “in” don’t we? We see it in sports teams – “We finally won a championship!”. We see it on bumper stickers – “My child is an Honor Student.” and now we are seeing it in charity. Anyone getting noticed for doing something is immediately elevated in our minds.
Now here’s the tricky part, because I am by no means saying that there’s anything wrong with helping the poor, the orphan or the widow. Let’s read that sentence again. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH HELPING THE POOR, THE ORPHAN OR THE WIDOW. In fact I wholeheartedly agree with it, but I do think there’s a danger in refusing to also focus on “the in-betweens”.
If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. – 1 Corinthians 13:3
Here’s the interesting thing. I’ve come in contact with some of the most “charitable” folks in Nashville. Folks being praised all over the Internet because of the work they have done in Haiti and Africa and even in downtown Nashville to feed the homeless. These people are constantly announcing how much they are doing to raise funds for this or that, being interviewed for different things, and all that’s great… until they refuse to look their neighbors in the eye because they are now somehow “celebritized” because of their charity efforts. They can’t be bothered by ‘the in-betweens’. They are too busy helping someone else, or pursuing their own renown.
Now, I know I’m not going to win any popularity points with this post and honestly, this is something that I’m currently struggling with because it seems a little backwards, but I think there is one current theme throughout the Bible and that is LOVE. Not just for the starving across an ocean, but for the checker at the grocery store as well. Not just for what will get you a write-up on CNN.com, but for also for the person that works for airport security who’s tired of people hating them.
What would your day look like if you started to focus on ‘The In-Betweens’?
If You Can’t Beat Em…
I don’t know how legit this is, but Matt Maher tweeted an interesting article today stating that Apple might be planning to create a software that disables your phone’s camera when you try to video live events like concerts. Really Apple? The company that created the serving-size record? Now you want to crack down on ‘sharing’?
Here’s the thing. The Music Industry can continue pointing fingers at technology for the loss of their revenue or they can simply embrace that this is a different age and there’s nothing they can do about it. People are going to share music. There’s no way around it. People are going to record your concerts with their phones. It can’t be stopped. And if I were an artist, instead of focussing on what needs to stop, I’d spend a little time making sure that my show was the absolute best experience that it could be so when folks see a crappy phone video version of it online, they’ll do anything they can to be at the show the next time I’m in town.
The folks that built horse carriages were probably pretty upset about things when the car came along, but at some point they needed to realize that technology had passed them up and if they were going to keep things going, they needed to adapt. This is no different. Apple won’t save the music industry (that they helped alter) because their camera’s magically stop working at shows.
My advice to artists? Put on a better show. Blow people’s minds and let them share how awesome you are and see what happens.
