Political {Creation} Scientist

When I first heard this song, it was not what I was expecting from Ryan Adams.  My exposure to his work was pretty limited. I hadn't heard much beyond Whiskeytown's officially released albums, and none of his solo work outside of the singles up to that point, and what many considered a career outlier at that point Rocknroll.  I love waltzes, as I'm sure I've attested before, I also love stark piano chords sustained for full bars, then overlain with arpeggios. I also like songs that start bare and atmospheric and swell to epic proportions before breaking down into full-out games.  So yeah, this is a winner all around as far as I'm concerned.  You could say he out played Coldplay at the time, back when they were still a melancholy midtempo adult alternative band.  There is something else I want to express that this title is a simple segue towards...

Faith and Economics is an area where I have very strong convictions.  As a result my politics reflect these convictions.  The most important things I learned about Social Science, Communications Arts, and Theology coalesce.  Instead of delineating every value and opinion I hold I'm just going to do a little ramble using moral/ ethical concepts of a theological nature, and the intellectual applications of those concepts in relation to the aforementioned fields of study.

Greed, Gluttony Lust - a corrupting force towards evil - a motivational factor in economic success.  We are taught that competition is the key to our economic system flourishing.  Ambition fuels the competitive spirit, and the ambition is fuel by either a desire to assert one's self over the competition, or to acquire some reward.   The notion of putting limits on attainment, personally or systematically, is viewed negatively in our culture.  As a result the notion of unfettered attainment is promoted as a function of our system, but why else would someone want more than they could possibly ever have use for other than greed or gluttony?  Particular to lust, it's one of the more effective tools in persuasion theory, on which advertising and marketing is based.  As the saying goes, "Sex sells."  Whether it be advertising or the actual intellectual content of what you find on TV, lust is a pervasive tool to get and keep people's attention.  Why do they want people's attention?  To draw in an audience so they can sell time to advertisers, who will in turn create ads to sell you products. Why would you buy those products?

Vanity, Envy, Pride - each a corrupting force towards evil -  in persuasion theory, appeals to a person's insecurity about themselves, or themselves in relation to other are especially effective. Products and services are marketed and sold to make us feel better about ourselves and our prospects in life by either fixing what we've been told is inferior about us, or propping up what we've been told is good about us.

Looking at it what way, win prices for things go up, it makes sense than people experience some degree of Wrath.  Most people would feel threatened if there was something getting between them and the attainment of their basic material needs: food, clothing, shelter.  The catch is, our commercial enterprises have positioned themselves to present their products and services (and our wants) as needs.  Entitlement has been sold to us, and feeling rejection has become an intolerable pain for anyone to suffer, thus being denied is grounds for enmity between the rejected and those denying them.  Wrath is also a corrupting force towards evil.

All that said, if we are to judge a tree by its fruit, I have and will always, view our commercial culture as amoral and destructive.

As a wise king once said:

¹⁶There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him:
¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil,
¹⁹a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

~Proverbs 6:16-19  New International Version (NIV)

 If you don't believe in God, or Love, or Absolute Truth in some fashion, I understand that what I've rendered above only has merit based on your own whims.  To each their own.  This is mine.