Vulture Culture

Is anyone else tired of seeing and hearing about Jon and Kate Gosselin? Boy am I ever. I think we have become a culture of vultures. We can't wait to swarm around some dead or dying thing. We feel like we have to know everything about everything.

This problem has its roots in the Fall. Man wanted to know everything, to be like God, as Satan wanted to be like God. In Eden, man had no concept of evil. They ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and everything went downhill from there. I think one of the primary reasons for the proliferation of so-called "reality" shows is the same root cause of gossip, something the Scripture condemns. It's a "need to know" feeling. It's a sense of entitlement. I have a right to know, and even if I don't, I want to know, so I feel better about me. When we can see the wreckage of another person's life, we can examine ourselves and say: "Whew. At least I'm not THAT guy!"

Jon and Kate Plus 8 was a train wreck waiting to happen. The producers knew it. That's why the cameras started rolling. It makes for "good TV" or more accurately "good ratings." Why would anyone agree to do this to their family? Money and fame. Notoriety. They want people to know them. Here they are, a couple of average looking people (reference tabloid cover pictures of Kate pre-TV makeover) with nothing particularly interesting to offer other than the fact that they had two kids and then went after - and got- sextuplets. It's not a whole lot different than the McCauley family from about ten years ago, except that they didn't get their own show. Don't even get me started on the Octomom, Nadya Suleiman. Here's a woman who says she just wants everyone to leave her alone, but she grabbed her 15 minutes of fame and is hanging on for dear life, reportedly agreeing to appear on her own reality show.


It's like NASCAR or any car racing for that matter. Why do people watch? To see who wins? Maybe. To see a spectacular crash? More likely.

These people do not realize, nor do we as a culture realize that our worth comes not from getting attention to others, but from God and turning our attention to our relationship with Him. I think most of us know evil when we see it - festering, stinking evil - but we like to watch. We circle in for a closer look and we feast on the rotting flesh of the dead carcass when we should be partaking of The Bread of Life.

Vulture culture rears its ugly, wrinkled, featherless head again.