The Scapegoating of Joel Osteen

Ok, I admit it…I love social media.  I’m a bit of a Facebook and YouTube junkie, I flirt with Twitter, and am now trying to do the Instagram thing.  It’s a fantastic way for me to keep up with family and friends, share my podcast and blog, and express an occasional opinion at times on Life, The Universe, and Everything.

Yeah, I have a pretty good working relationship with social media

BUT…

There is one thing I can’t stand, a thing that turns my stomach whenever I see it, a thing that has been a bane to humanity since the beginning…

That thing is a mob!

And social media can fuel a mob like nothing else.

Hurricane Harvey

About 3 days ago Hurricane Harvey hurled itself Houston Texas causing massive devastation.  It’s at these times when people are scared, afraid, and hurting that they look for something that has brought relief and comfort to mankind for generations.

They look for a scapegoat…

Whether the virgin tossed in a volcano, the Jew in Hitler’s Germany, or “the Mexicans” we need to build a wall against, we look for a victim to pile the fears, anxieties, and pain we experience on.

And it works!

That’s why we do it.  For a time the “scapegoat” brings catharsis, a feeling of relief, to the community.

In words of that immortal philosopher Homer Simpson, “Sometimes the only way to feel better about yourself is to make fun of someone else.”

I’ve been studying this idea of scapegoating for the last few years to the point that when something “bad” happens, I begin to wonder “who will the public choose the scapegoat to be this time”?  I would never have guessed during the devastation of Hurricane Harvey that the scapegoat the nation destined to place its collective grief on would be Pastor Joel Osteen.

When I saw the first Facebook article come up on my feed featuring a picture of Osteen with his face posed in a most ridiculous way I realised the “mob” had found its victim.

Social Media Lesson- If you see a post with a public figure’s picture made to look silly or undignified and you “share” it, well congratulations, you just joined a mob.

Apparently the rumor is that Osteen refused to open the doors of the church to victims of the hurricane seeking shelter.  Even actor Ron Perlman grabbed a pitchfork and torch by tweeting:

 

Now, anyone that knows me would realise that the way Joel Osteen expresses his faith in Christ is a fair bit different than the way I express mine.  Safe to say we are in much different places on a Sunday morning…however

(and there is always a however)

…my first thought as my newsfeed began to light up with the crucifixion of Joel Osteen was to extend grace to the man.  He doesn’t strike me as someone who would order the church closed because mud might get tracked on the carpet.  I honestly think he and his church would offer whatever help they could.  He’s a “good” guy!

But that is thinking reasonably, logically, and with a default position towards grace.

…and the mob doesn’t act logically, reasonably, or with grace; that’s why its called a mob!

To the mob, Joel Osteen with his perfect teeth, perfect physique, perfect wife, tailored suits, and sitting on a big pile of money telling us how we all should live seemed like the perfect victim to cast our collective angst at.

Of course, like most scapegoats, the victim is innocent.  Lakewood Church was flooded as Osteen claimed but despite that the church is taking in people and using its resources to offer emergency provisions.

Friends, we MUST get smarter and more discerning with this social media thing or the power it has to fuel a mob and destroy lives is going to tear our cultures apart.

This may have been a small step for Houston, but it was another giant leap backward for mankind!

Peace,

Steve