I've Been Thinking

Several years, during Lent, I preached a sermon that referenced Amos 2:6, which includes: ” Because they sell the righteous for silver, And the needy for a pair of shoes…” I decided to take a social justice angle on this passage, which is entirely appropriate. You see, the passage is about justice, about the exploitation and oppression of the poor and the needy, which has, apparently, been going on since time immemorial. At least this exploitation has been going since inequality made its way into human society. The Buddha referred to the greed of humankind as “beginningless,” with us since time immemorial.

During the sermon, which can be seen here, I observed that at this time, in these United States we, all of us, are no longer valued as persons. Our intrinsic worth in our society is that we are consumers.

While scrolling through Instagram reels one day, I found the following video. the speaker is Ahmed Paul Keeler. You can find out more about him here. His comments are line with what I had been thinking.

Much earlier, I had watched the video “The Corporation.” The clip below comes from this video. Her remarks below left me stunned, particularly her unwillingness to reflect on the ethical dimensions of her actions.

She seems to confirm what Ahmed Keeler observed, as well as my own observations…that our worth, our significance to the culture in these United States is to consume, to be a consumer.