Where She Was Shocked (But Shouldn't Have Been)

"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter."  ... Isaiah 5:20

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So. Did you see that new Gillette ad, the one which speaks about toxic masculinity? (You might want to check it out now. I'll wait for you.)  シ

Anyway, via Twitter on Monday (having not seen the ad), I read negative comments, ones saying yet again Today's men are being sissified. Men and women declared never again would another Gillette product appear in their homes. Ever.

Oy!

On Tuesday I thought, "Ok, I'm feeling brave. I'm gonna watch and see what Gillette's done now." So I watched--and waited for the huge controversial part to come around. 

It never did. I loved the ad. All of it.

Later Tom arrived home and I waited a whole 2 minutes before I asked, "Did you see that Gillette ad everyone is freaking-out about?" He hadn't, so he watched it while I cooked dinner.

Tom, (my non-toxic masculinity man) said, "That was awesome."

I knew he'd say that.

The commercial addressed (and condemned) bullying and sexual harassment and assault at the workplace, as well as viewing women like objects to be ogled and joked about on tv. Also, while boys fought each other, the saying, "boys will be boys" was said while men stood there, only smirking (and you knew Gillette's stance on that).

Toward the end, the phrase, "Men need to hold other men accountable," was stated. Afterward, men were shown respectfully stopping their friends from, well, acting like jerks.

Again, we appreciated this ad, but oh dear! Zoom over to that Gillette ad Youtube page and as of this moment, there are 229 thousand likes, but 598 thousand dislikes.

Wow. Shaking my head, I read irate, cruel comments (from both women and men) and my jaw dropped down to my desk.  Basically, I'll sum them up--


"Don't tell us what to do."
"Just sell us your product, period. You stay in your little box while I speak wherever and whatever I wish."
"Gillette is far from perfect--why should we listen to them?"
"What about toxic femininity? Where's your ad for that?" (Personally, I, Debra, would love to see one of those.)
"Why attack all men that way?"
"Why strip away men's masculinity?"
"I'll never again buy another product from Gillette."



My thoughts (besides people these days often are set on autopilot to disagree with everything)? ----


"... fools despise wisdom and instruction." ...Proverbs 1:7

" Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you."   ... Proverbs 9:8

"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions."   ... 2 Timothy 4:3


And the thing about Gillette not always being an upright, ethical company? That only perfect people should be listened to and respected? 

It's an excuse. 

An excuse to live accountable to no one, with only our own made-up 'morals', needing to listen to no one who might bring conviction. 

Yet this is true--

"Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins."   Ecclesiastes 7:20


--and thank-goodness, God still speaks through imperfect people. He'll even use a donkey should the situation require that. (See Numbers 22:21-39)

Truth is truth, no matter who shares it. 

The problem comes when, by being offended, we can't hear the truth, we don't want it, we'd rather make up our own. Personally, I wonder, why be offended when you're corrected about something you're not even doing? (Unless, of course, you are doing it?) Or well, yes, pride explains it, too. Pride explains tons of this.

And did the ad say that all masculinity is toxic?

Not even. It was just stated that it's time to leave behind toxicity and treat all people with respect.

There's more, but I'll spare you.

Anyway, the good part? This, again, reminded me of this verse--


"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."   ... Ephesians 6:12


It's time to stop being mad at people. Time to stop being blown away and shocked by human behavior these days from folks who don't even understand why they do what they do, nor the scary places it will lead them.

Instead? It's time to pray and believe that--all of us, actually--will have our eyes opened and will stay awake when we'd rather, some days, sleep it all away. 

"Jesus wasn’t just a nice guy who did good in the world. You don’t crucify nice guys. You crucify threats."

---Tim Keller


"If you're not upsetting someone, you're not changing the status quo."

--- Seth Godin


"People love darkness rather than light." ... John 3:19




I crave hearing tough sermons which challenge me to change. Always since a little girl, those have been my favorites. (And God, Himself, knows that to be true of me.)




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Shared this at Facebook---

May we each sow many wonderful seeds and expect to reap good things this new year!

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Valentine's Day is less than one month away, and well, are you ready?  😲

Yesterday I bought the most adorable Valentines at Amazon. They're so cute, in fact, that I might want to keep them all for myself. Ha!

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Welcome the lessons. Learn from them.
Welcome the tests. Let them humble you.
Grow and grow.
Welcome the new way of seeing and being.
Grow some more.

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"Walk ... with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love." ... Ephesians 4:2