Listening to contemporary hiphop, the image that strikes me most poignantly is the void in the lives of a lot of young men where a father should be. There is a generation growing up with no concept of what manhood is, and so culture has stepped in to fill the gap. Naturally, someone with a blank slate is going to gravitate to that which seems most externally appealing, since there's no internal substance to function as a guide. So "manhood" becomes being feared, being considered dangerous, getting away with things that other are arrested for, making money, the ability to have sex whenever you want with anyone you want, being envied, desired, intimidating, having a lot of - naturally - external status indicators. Because when you are informed by only that which you can observe, observation becomes a necessary element. It's really sad.
Ancient cultures with their temple prostitutes and child sacrifice to Baal were so backward. Now lets go to the club to have an experience, hook up with some girl there I've never met before, have a one-nighter, and if she gets pregnant we can abort it because otherwise that would cost a lot of money.
It's kind of frightening how contemporary the bible is.
- J
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