designer theology

Last updated on: June 12, 2008 at 1:56 pm by David Hayward

designer theology 2008-06-12T13:56:55-04:00 David Hayward

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I was watching a documentary show on Much Less Music the other night which dealt with the several musicians who’ve become successful designers such as Gwen Stephani, J-Lo, and P Diddy Combs, etc. The commentator said about P Diddy: “He’s so successful because he knows what people want!” I’d like to finish that thought: “He’s so successful because he knows what people want because he told them what to want!” Who’s the designer here? It wasn’t me! He’s the designer. I’m the consumer. He told me what was cool. He designed it. They made it. They sold it. I bought it! All you need to sell absolutely anything, including an idea (which is basically all we’re ever selling), is a marketer of any skill level, an audience of any intelligence and a product of any value. The product can be the silliest object or the most diabolical idea. The audience doesn’t have to belong to any certain intelligence level. They can be stupid or highly intelligent. We learned that from Hannah Arendt’s important book, The Banality of Evil, where she documents the testing of Nazi war criminals for emotional or psychological illness only to discover that they were perfectly normal, intelligent human beings following simple orders. All the audience has to be is ready. And if they’re not, begin to prepare them. No one swallowed the big pill of the Nazi “Final Solution” until they swallowed smaller pills already. This is actually where the skill level of the salesperson or marketer becomes important. The better they are, the more incredible the sale. Methodological patience is the best virtue.

Which is why we will believe almost anything. Which is why theology, spirituality and religion seems so ridiculous to me lately. Some of the things that are being said and done are unbelievable (literally) but are extremely popular. It’s because we’ve been told what to believe. The theological marketers have created the need and then designed and provided the product. We’ve been sold a bill of goods and are willing to die (or kill!) for such silly notions.

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