Sociologist Tony Campolo has been known, when speaking to Christian audiences, to begin by saying something like this:
“I have three things I’d like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t give a shit. What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact I just said “shit” than you are that 30,000 kids died last night.”
When citing this, I have had people prove his very point by responding something to the effect of, “Yeah, I get it, but I still wish he would make his point some other way…” Ummm, that is his point. His point, in my opinion, isn’t really the children (although it is, obviously); his point is we (Christians) get upset over the wrong things. Our moral sense of outrage is often misdirected. The fact we notice the language, our being offended, before we really register the fact children are dying, tells us all we need to know here. Any focus on a crude term and not his greater point that children are dying of starvation or malnutrition and that we might be complicit proves his very point. If there was a tiny gasp from the crowd at that word or an awkward silence—such reactions were misdirected. These people were upset about the wrong thing.
There is something about the legalistic, simplistic, and shallow world of fundamentalism (and even many aspects of evangelicalism) that breeds some rather odd triggers for what it is we are supposed to get upset about. Here are just a few:
If you become upset when hearing gay marriage is legal or that a transgender person may use the same public restroom as you, but you are less upset regarding the hate, violence, and discrimination directed toward such people, leading often to suicide: You are upset about the wrong things.
If you become upset when people use the greeting “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas,” but you are less upset at the wasteful use of resources during this season, the rampant shallow consumerism, while many live in poverty: You are upset about the wrong things.
If you become upset when the government uses its power to make corporations protect their workers and protect the environment, but you are less upset when those workers are exploited, injured, or the environment critically harmed: You are upset about the wrong things.
If you become upset at the grocery store when you see someone pay for their food with vouchers or food stamps, but you are less upset with the institutional and cultural structures that often create the very need for such help: You are upset about the wrong things.
If you become upset when you see people smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol, but you are less upset when you see people over-eating (gluttony), knowing the health effects of such, or wasting food, knowing people go to bed hungry every night: You are upset about the wrong things.