Lent- Day 20: Before Christ, no one is anonymous.

(Source)

Today’s hotest video features Kanye West, but it’s most definitely not Yeezus approved. Before I continue, if you’re sick of me mentioning Mr. West so much during these Lenten posts, my apologies. He keeps popping up here because, dagnabit, these dude is making headlines like Lindsey Lohan circa 2007. It’s kind of hard not to talk about him. Still, if you’ve had enough, come back tomorrow, kay?

As I was saying, today notorious internet group Anonymous released a video ripping into the producer/rapper/”fashion” designer. From The Daily Mail:

The notorious ‘hacktivists’ uploaded a seven-and-a-half minute tirade, claiming the rapper was an annoying, classless spoiled little brat, who stands for nothing of value, and is merely a ‘new slave ‘being used by the entertainment industry.

 

In the clip, a member of the group delivers the venomous message with face obscured by the signature Guy Fawkes mask from V For Vendetta.

 

They accuse the 37-year-old of putting his child North at risk of bullying in school by condoning wife Kim Kardashian’s cashing in on her sex tape and recent nude photos, and claim he would consider showing his own, his baby daughter’s and even his late mother’s ‘greasy bottoms’ in a family ‘break the internet’ portrait to gain more attention and ‘promote his new shoes’.

 

The sinister video opens with a clip of the second of Kanye’s infamous Grammy stage invasions, in which the musician claims Beck should give his album of the Year award to Beyonce.

 

‘Mr West. Good Evening. We are Anonymous. It seems that you just don’t know when it is appropriate to blurt out your opinions. This is consistent with you,’ the robotic voice says.

 

‘You always have to steal the moment from others who work equally as hard for their recognition. And you assume and expect everyone else to be aligned with your personal opinions.

 

‘You smack other artists in the face if they don’t fit your personal definition of an artist. You’re like a spoiled child in a grown man’s body who is ready to set off a boiling temper tantrum the very moment you don’t get all the things you want.’

 

‘I bet your wife is subconsciously fed up with raising a little boy for a husband, and I am sure your mother would have been so proud of your behavior,’ they continue, asking if his late mother would have been comfortable with Kim’s recent nude photos.

 

They then disturbingly ask if he would consider exploiting his whole family in the same way ‘Why not take it further? Why don’t we get a family portrait of all of your greasy bottoms for the whole word to see? That would gain you a ton of attention. You can use it to promote your new shoes. That would be genius. Your mother would have loved it. I’m sure she would have jumped right in the picture for her own close-up.

 

‘There’s nothing wrong with sacrificing your morality for a little bit of extra income and attention. Am I correct? You seem comfortable with your wife as she continues to milk society’s attention with their own controllable obsession with sex,’ they admonish. 

 

‘By approving this irresponsible behavior, you are accepting the reality that one day your daughter will face the repercussions of this photo with classmates in school. You also are condoning this to the young girls who follow Kim on Twitter and witnessed her success as she continuously rises to fame and stardom using her body. ‘What a fantastic moral to spread, right? What’s wrong with teaching teenage girls that society actually rewards you for posing nude?’

To paraphrase Cher from “Clueless”, WAY HARSH. If you’re interested, you can see the whole, unedited video here. Most of the comments I’ve read online are hearty approvals (although a number of people are asking why target an entertainer when there are far bigger fish to fry). There are some who are against this attack, while others are against the very existence of Anonymous.

In the coming days and perhaps even weeks (news cycles do tend to be shorter and shorter all the time, so weeks may be a stretch), there will be much debate. Has Kanye changed for the worse since his “Jesus Walks” days? Is he a hyprocrite? Is he and his wife promoting poor morals of crass materialism and consumerism (well… duh)? 

Anonymous’ video with clips of Kanye’s music and interviews pale in comparison to the accounting that await us all according to Scripture:

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”- II Corinthians 5:10

 

“So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.” Romans 14:12 “You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.”

Reflection for the day: Am I ready to give account of my life before God?