Britney from a Christian Perspective: Be the “Edit Button”

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Today bloggers everywhere are writing about putting an end to abuse in any form.

As a foundation, I present two short clips of Craig Ferguson, host of The Late Late Show on CBS. On Monday, February 19, 2007, Ferguson’s monologue was unique. Those of us watching that night who were already fans gained new admiration and respect for him. He also earned a lot of new fans. Consider his remarks:

Ferguson received a lot of attention as a result of his remarks and, shortly after, was interviewed about his motivations:

Ferguson was appalled by the coverage surrounding Ana Nicole Smith’s death and amazed by the manner in which Britney Spears has been ridiculed.

I don’t know about you, but I find his attitude, comments and determination not to contribute to the media cacophany about Britney Spears and her problems not just refreshing, but admirable and appropriate.

Frankly, I am sick to death of hearing about any aspect of Spears’ life, especially when it comes to her two innocent children.

I am not and have never been a Spears fan or follower, but have heard snippets, of course, of some of the ridiculous tunes she has recorded over the years and seen excerpts of her videos. Let’s face it: Unless you live on Pluto (and maybe even Plutonians have cable television and watch MTV, for all we know), you have heard about Spears’ troubles, including the big “comeback” that many are now referring to as the day her career as a pop singer irrevocably ended.

How should we, as Christians, react to the images and commentary on our television screens, and unavoidable headlines in our newspapers and magazines?

Like Ferguson, I have no idea if Spears is an alcoholic, but, as he points out, there are a couple of alcoholics in my life. They are not easy to deal with. They are frequently not easy to love. The temptation to be an enabler is sometimes difficult to resist because enabling through inaction and silence is easier than risking a confrontation and, perhaps, being shut out of their lives altogether, resulting in their further isolation and alienation from people who care about them.

The last thing that anyone battling substance abuse or addiction needs is to be ridiculed. And to engage in that kind of behavior, idle speculation or gossip is at odds with an appropriate Christian response:

A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.

This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!

James 3:5-10

(The Message)

When the morning headlines decried Spears’ MTV Awards performance, I thought to myself, “Well, what did people expect?” She is, in the first place, only marginally talented, with most of her success having been achieved not because of her artistic pursuits but because she fostered a particular style of dress (or, as many parents of preteen girls who longed to emulate her bemoaned, undress) and movement, in addition to a brilliant marketing strategy.

Sadly, anyone with any knowledge of the arts could predict that she would be ill-prepared for her appearance if even a minuscule portion of the news reports about her exploits were accurate.

But when I consider the spectacle that her life has become, I find the obsessive fascination with her every movement disturbing, unsettling, and needlessly cruel. Immediately following the MTV Awards debacle, one notorious gossip site stated that she was as “big as a house” and many media outlets, including some purportedly “legitimate” newspapers, could not resist the cliched “fat lady sang” line.

Christian scholars have been writing for decades about the potentially destructive influence of popular culture upon our society, especially impressionable children and teenagers. It’s not a new subject.

It seems to me, however, that what is new is the mean-spirited glee with which the media has pounced upon a very troubled young woman’s public humiliations. Ferguson is right: Whether or not she is actually an alcoholic or addict, the fact that she is deeply troubled — for whatever reasons — is obvious.

Ferguson is also right not to absolve her from a failure to take responsibility for her own actions. After all, she is a mother of two babies and their welfare must come before anything else. If she is incapable of effectively mothering her children, the court has an obligation to place them into the custody of a responsible adult who can care for them until she is able to follow through with treatment and heal herself.

When I see the headlines, the news clips of her leaving nightclubs, the paparazzi surrounding her, part of me says, “Well, you brought it all on yourself when you sought out fame and fortune, and abused the privileges you were given.” Yet my heart breaks for her, too, because she is clearly a lost soul, floundering in the glare of worldwide publicity. And when I see her on television shaving her head, wielding an umbrella as a weapon, or sleep-walking through a song and dance routine, my instinct is to cry out, “Is there no one in this woman’s life who can and will stand up to, help and guide her?” I wonder if she is surrounded by nothing but enablers or if she is simply so out of control that she will not listen to anyone. Considering that her attorney and management team both disassociated themselves from her recently, the latter may be the case.

As Christians, how should we respond?

We should definitely heed James’ warning, declining to throw more mud on the reputation of Spears or any other person who is experiencing personal crises. Ferguson aptly observes that our celebrity-driven culture and the media that thrives on the public’s desire to know every detail about the lives of celebrities is lacking an “edit button” and declares that he wants to distribute a television show he can be proud of. I have no idea whether Ferguson is a follower of Christ or not. But in this regard, even if he is not, we should follow his lead and live our lives in accordance with the Gospels.

Ferguson says that he has refrained from making jokes about Spears’ circumstances for himself only and no one else.

As Christians, we need to exercise restraint for a different reason — not for ourselves, but in order to bring honor and glory to the one who gave His very life for us. Like him, we are called to demonstrate compassion, bestow grace, and, ultimately, forgive those persons in our lives who are dealing with any form of abuse at the hands of others or abusing themselves or others through their own behavior and/or misuse of substances. We must stand ready to help them when and if they are finally able to accept our help. In the interim, our most powerful weapon is, of course, prayer on their behalf, as well as for our wisdom, patience, and discernment.

As Christians, we have an obligation to model Christ-like behavior by being the cultural “edit button” when those around us refuse to be.