First Baptist Church

You have, no doubt, seen the television ads for Geico Insurance. This company is so large that they have been running multiple ad campaigns simultaneously for years! The one I find most interesting, even fascinating is the one which features a caveman. In many ways the ads are funny as the poor caveman always gets picked on and made fun of. The tag line is that “switching to Geico is so easy that even a caveman can do it.” Each time the caveman walks away in disgust saying “unbelievable.” The obvious implication is that cavemen are underdeveloped and just not very smart.

The reason these ads are interesting is that they reveal to us something very interesting about ourselves. We have been trained in the do’s and do not’s of political correctness to the point we generally know what is going to make waves and what will not. Various “risks” are weighed carefully. We know there are certain things which cannot be said about black people, about Jews, about Hispanics, about people of oriental descent, about persons who are handicapped, gay, dwarfed, etc. Most do not make negative comments about anyone who fits these and other categories for fear of the ramifications of doing so. Sadly, it is not that they don’t think certain things; it is just that they don’t say certain things for fear of being labeled as racist or intolerant.

Recently when Helen Thomas was forced to step down from the White House Press Corps at the age of 89 after making derogatory comments about Jews and the Nation of Israel, she was quickly labeled as anti-Semitic. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid raised eyebrows simply for using the word “negro.” Don Imus lost his job for making a clearly over-the-top statement about a women’s basketball team. In the late 1980s Jimmy “the Greek” Schneider lost his job as a football analyst at CBS for commenting that blacks were “better athletes because they were bred to be that way,” infuriating many.

To be labeled as “racist” has now become such a real fear to many that some fear saying anything. Some in the press parse words looking for anything which could possibly be construed as racist, providing they disagree with your political positions, yet their double-standard is readily evident when those who agree with them politically do and say the same things and worse. When their “people” do it then it is just simply something to either laugh off or they claim the comment was taken out of context and was ultimately harmless.

The reason the Geico ads are so fascinating is that they are a subtle dig at our culture for its overreactions and political correctness gone amuck! Also they are fascinating because, in many ways, the Geico executives seem to have found a loophole! They have actually created a race or class of people who does not exist for the express purpose of making fun of them! There are no repercussions because there is no one to complain – that is unless one of the co-stars in Planet of the Apes goes on Oprah or The View to make their voices heard! Only then might it stop! I think there is a cleverness about these ads. I would have been very interested to have been in the board room when this ad campaign was presented to those who had the power “to make it happen.”

The question arises then – if we laugh at these ads and accept these ads what does that say about us? Is it ok just because there are no cavemen? Or is it not ok because the issue is not really “cavemen” but instead about looking down on others not as good or as smart as you, somehow causing you to feel better about yourself? I am not saying I have the ultimate answer, but as far as I know I am the only one who has even asked the question. I think there ought to be some concern on our parts as to whenever sinful human nature wins the battle over the spirit. Someone once commented, rather tongue and cheek, that “it seems like you cannot make fun of anyone anymore.” Well there is some truth in that. The late night comics know what they can and cannot say. Notice how they have handled our black president with asbestos gloves for fear of even getting too close to the line. They are even afraid to make political jokes out of fear. There are already many who consider anyone who disagrees with the president on political matters as racist. My 11 year old son even came home from school recently saying that a boy in his class asked him if he liked John McCain or Barak Obama better, and when my son answered McCain, the boy told him that he was a racist. Obviously reflecting the sentiment he had heard from his parents.

Is this the kind of world we want to live in? One where we are afraid to say anything? Isn’t this the land of free speech? Well, it is free, however there are ramifications for what one says. There is more than one way to punish someone for what they say. Christians should have deep concern, because we are moving toward a day when advocation of Christianity is going to be seen as intolerant and bigoted – in fact it already is in many places! We know what the Bible says, however Satan still hates it and will do everything he can to destroy it. That is his goal; that is his mission. Let us examine our motive a bit more closely and see what hidden tendencies we may have lurking inside of us.

In Christ,

Pastor Allen Raynor