{"id":363,"date":"2024-01-27T22:03:05","date_gmt":"2024-01-28T06:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thesweatpantsessions\/?p=363"},"modified":"2024-01-27T22:03:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-28T06:03:05","slug":"i-am-what-i-am-a-punk-apologetic-deconstruction-of-popeye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thesweatpantsessions\/2024\/01\/i-am-what-i-am-a-punk-apologetic-deconstruction-of-popeye\/","title":{"rendered":"I am what I am? A punk apologetic deconstruction of Popeye"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

What did he say?<\/h1>\n Popeye the Sailorman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n It\u2019s true, today, Wednesday, January 17, 2024, is National Popeye the Sailorman Day.\u00a0 Seriously, it\u2019s a fact.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the proof!<\/a><\/p>\n Now, given this unexpected day, we have some choices to make.\u00a0 We can all light a candle in a can of spinach.\u00a0 We could go to a dock and sing the \u201cPopeye the Sailorman theme song<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 Or, we can spend money and time to get an anchor tattoo on our overly defined forearms.\u00a0 Let\u2019s \u2013 for argument\u2019s sake \u2013 consider that none of those will take place.\u00a0 Okay, maybe the song is not such a hard thing to do, in honor of the 95th birthday of that pop culture cartoon icon.<\/p>\n What stands to note is the tagline that has brought Popeye into the limelight, \u201cI am what I am.\u201d\u00a0 So, here\u2019s the twist.\u00a0 There\u2019s a bible quote<\/a> that relates to this pop culture signifying vernacular.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the quote in full from the NKJ version,<\/p>\n I Corinthians 15:10\u00a0NKJV<\/a><\/h4>\n** ** But by the grace of God I am what I am<\/strong>, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.<\/em><\/p>\n ** **So, on this unexpected day with a faith-based twist, let\u2019s deconstruct this reference along the lines of an apologetic punk deconstruction vernacular.\u00a0 Oh, what fun!<\/p>\n Is it a word?\u00a0 Is it a phrase?\u00a0 Is it even necessary?<\/h2>\n \n \n If Popeye continued to repeat the phrase that became his moniker, \u201cI Am What I Am,\u201d then he draws upon a self-determined position of identity.\u00a0 Popeye falls back upon one of the core values of Punk ideology, Do It Yourself (DIY).\u00a0 Since the birth of the punk genre c. 1970s in Britain, the DIY status has remained central to those who are not even versed in punk philosophy.\u00a0 However, I read DIY a bit differently.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n DIY, as an apologetic deconstructionist, is not localized on doing things by yourself.\u00a0 That attitude is the road toward selfishness and contributes to the ego and pride.\u00a0 The pop culture signifier that DIY is a magnum opus of how one can state their singular representation, identity, and value \u2013 for me \u2013 misses the mark, entirely.<\/div>\n <\/div>\n DIY is about doing \u201cthings\u201d by yourself.\u00a0 However, it\u2019s the \u201cthings\u201d that are important.\u00a0 In working through one\u2019s days (read: D \u2013 doing), you set yourself in an active context.\u00a0 The matter at hand (read: I \u2013 it) is what occupies your state for that particular moment.\u00a0 Trying to handle these matters on your own (read: Y \u2013 yourself) neglects the importance of seeking assistance, guidance, input, and support from a community \u2013 even a single individual.\u00a0 My point is that doing what is necessary is not the question.\u00a0 The issue of attempting to wrestle through a matter or forcing your desired outcome upon an interaction is where the lack of faith\/belief becomes central.<\/div>\n <\/div>\n Taking matters into your own hands and avoiding any opportunity to gain insight, assistance, and clarity from your faith\/belief system narrates the \u201cY\u201d as being ego-driven.\u00a0 I argue that the \u201cY\u201d is important to retain, but is not to be assimilated or essentialized in a dead zone of pride.\u00a0 Rather, the \u201cY\u201d \u2013 yourself \u2013 I argue, should be inverted to see how you can be assisted through faith\/belief and in cooperation with others to better enhance what has drawn your attention.\u00a0 Do-It-Yourself (in faith and with belief) is how I read the DIY philosophy.<\/div>\nApologetic Deconstructive Lingusitc Gymnastics<\/h3>\n**** Getting back to Popeye\u2019s use of \u201cI Am What I Am.\u201d\u00a0 This sociolinguist phrase is perfectly used by Popeye. He uses this repeated phrase in self-reference to how he, and he alone, can resolve complications.\u00a0 \u00a0This answers why the Popeye character was so popular with youth in the West (read: America).\u00a0 Popeye phrased that being individually focused, ego-driven, and prideful is the American way (read: the only way) to resolve a disturbance.\u00a0 Popeye\u2019s phrase disturbed generations into believing that there was no need, value, or necessity to acquire help at troubled times.\u00a0 This thought process leads to a self-centered belief structure and a disregard for faith.\u00a0 Though the Popeye character may appear to be an innocent character sharing the importance of being self-reliant.\u00a0 In truth, Popeye was fortifying an ideology of domination and machismo that strayed away -far, far away \u2013 from a central faith\/belief system.<\/div>\n <\/div>\n Troubling as it may seem, this ideology has become institutionalized in the 20th\/21st American\/Western socio-political agenda.\u00a0 This magnifies the reductive attention on faith\/belief systems.\u00a0 \u201cI Am What I Am\u201d; a subtextual standard for Western cultures.\u00a0 The more that the centrist \u201cI\u201d is active, the farther away faith\/belief comes to assist the \u201cYou\u201d in the self.<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n Popeye the Sailorman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n An apologetic viewpoint would read that the \u201cYou\u201d can be understood as the corpus of the community; a collected identity of faith.\u00a0 The Self is the community\u2019s viewpoint in reflection upon its own identity.\u00a0 The support of the community is the larger Self, poised with faith\/belief.\u00a0 To redirect Popeye\u2019s phrase \u2013 \u201cI Am What I Am\u201d \u2013 the \u201cI\u201d is reframed within a larger faith\/belief community.\u00a0 It is within this locus that the \u201cI\u201d becomes valuable to the corpus \u201cYou.\u201d\u00a0 The logical conclusion, then, is that there becomes an active faith\/belief system of \u201cWe.\u201d<\/div>\nWhat does he still have to say?<\/h3>\n \n \n \n \n \n In the encounter at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14<\/b><\/a>) Moses asks what he is to say to the Israelites when they ask what God (\u2018Elohiym) has sent him. God (YHWH) replies, \u201cI Am who I Am\u201d,\u00a0 adding, \u201cSay this to the people of Israel, \u2018I Am [He who] has sent me to you.'\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n After all of this,\u00a0 A Tribe Called Quest<\/strong><\/a> reminds us that it\u2019s important to check the rhyme<\/span><\/strong><\/a> of how we talk.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just the singular words that are important.\u00a0 It\u2019s the connection, the directive, the sociolinguistic economy of the words that generate their power.\u00a0 In faith, with belief, it\u2019s important to know the history of the words being used and shared.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n A Tribe Called Quest<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n Words come and words go, or so we would like to believe.\u00a0 Words have power.\u00a0 Faith\/belief is fundamental to our lives.\u00a0 If we allow our words to script our interactions and responses to complications, we neglect to check the rhyme on how our actions-meaning-content\/context is or is not aligned with our core faith\/belief system.\u00a0 Popeye should have listened to more Hip Hop, in particular A Tribe Called Quest<\/a>.\u00a0 Had he done so (if that were even existentially possible!) he may have learned to check the rhyme<\/strong><\/span><\/a>of his catchphrase.\u00a0 If that were the case, Popeye may have resolved to say, \u201cI Am What We Say I Am\u201d in faith and belief.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"********* ** *********What did he say? It\u2019s true, today, Wednesday, January 17, 2024, is National Popeye the Sailorman Day.\u00a0 Seriously, it\u2019s a fact.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the proof! Now, given this unexpected day, we have some choices to make.\u00a0 We can all light a candle in a can of spinach.\u00a0 We could go to a dock and sing the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5420,"featured_media":378,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture-criticism"],"yoast_head":"\nI am what I am? A punk apologetic deconstruction of Popeye<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What did he say? It's true, today, Wednesday, January 17, 2024, is National Popeye the Sailorman Day.\u00a0 Seriously, it's a fact.\u00a0 Here's the proof! 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