Today is Good Friday. Like every year I always expect some folks to point out that Easter is actually a pagan holiday hijacked and Christianized, it’s kinda exactly like Christmas in that regard. I am fully aware that Easter wasn’t originally anything to do with Christianity and I am aware that folks prefer to call it Passover weekend etc etc. However knowing all of this does not mean I can’t use this day to remember the day Jesus died. Having dealt with that, I wanna look at something that I noticed when examining the events as laid out in the gospels that led up to his dying on the cross, it might be things you’ve not noticed before.

One of the things that struck me one time is how much the religious rulers of the day perceived Jesus as a threat. This is someone who never harmed anyone but only did good. He only spoke the truth and showed compassion to those who were more or less at the bottom of society. He taught with power and authority unlike the scribes. I think the main thing is he exposed the religious rulers of that day as people who didn’t really care about the people or even God’s law. They seemed to be more about maintaining their power over the people and their privilege as people with status in Israel that was occupied by the Romans at the time. Jesus went hard against them for being hypocrites. In fact it’s the main times we see Jesus angry in the gospels. Read the following verses, they’re from John when they began plotting Christ’s death:

“What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.”
And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” (John 11:47-50)

These were words uttered in a meeting of the Pharisees after Jesus had performed the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. It’s like Christ had become such a threat to them that they decided to find a way to put him to death.

You see it’s hard for us to understand how things were at that time but you have to remember that Israel was under the rule of the Romans and for Israel that was almost like them being a defeated people considering the fact that they have had an amazing history with the reign of Kings like David and Solomon as high points. So when their prophets had prophesied that a Messiah would come, what they expected was a military type King like David who would come and deliver Israel from the Roman rule. They pinned all their hopes on this one who would emerge and restore Israel to its former glory.

So Jesus bursts on to the scene preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God, undermining the religious rulers who were weak and corrupt and allowed a little power by the Romans who firmly had Israel under control. They were scared that because of Jesus the “Romans would come and take their place and nation” meaning they would no more be the ruling elite over the people. Of course felt they had to silence and put Jesus to death so that it would be “business as usual”

Ok this next verse is one that when I read it, I was like wow I have never seen this before but peep this, this was after Jesus had faced Pontus Pilate and he turned it over to the people to decide if they wanted Barabbas to be released or Jesus

‘Now at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested. And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion. Then the multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do just as he had always done for them. but Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” For he knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy’. (Mark 15:6 – 10)

I had never noticed the line about envy before. WOW! So the religious rulers envied Jesus because of who deep down they knew he was and what he was able to do. It kind of reminds me of how Joseph’s brothers envied him for being the favoured son of Jacob and the one who dreamed dreams of being the Ruler over his brothers.

Ok this last bit is something to do with “groupthink” its kind of the “message” that a certain Erykah Badu was trying to pass across in her “window seat” video. If you don’t know what “groupthink” is, the following verses describe EXACTLY what it is.

But the chief priests stirred up the crowd, so that he should rather release Barabbas to them. Pilate answered and said to them again, “What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?”
So they cried out again, “Crucify Him!”
Then Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?”
But they cried out all the more, “Crucify Him!” So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified. (Mark 15:11-15)

Groupthink is simply mob action with no thinking, the same kind of mob action that can have over twenty 15 year olds murder another 15 year old in broad daylight during rush hour in one of the most crowded stations in London (Victoria) It’s when your conform without any question and it is what gives people like false religious leaders their power. It is what fattens their pockets at the expense of the flock who are simply sheeple. It is what gives cults their power; it is what enables folks to follow something blindly without finding out if what they are following is true and worth following.

These were just a few things that popped out to me about the death of Jesus. Thankfully we can call it a “good” Friday, only because “what was intended for evil, God worked for good” for we believe that in that death is our redemption and because resurrection occurred 3 days later, such an evil thing worked for our benefit. It is the ultimate display of God’s love and grace towards mankind, it is because of this sacrifice we can find forgiveness and hope beyond the grave.

Erykah Badu says the following words in her “window seat” video but why oh why when I read them do I think of Jesus and how he was crucified so much? I am not saying she was saying them about Christ or anything like that but when I read them, it makes me remember him! Why? You tell me:

"They who play it safe are quick to assassinate what they do not understand. They move in packs, ingesting more and more fear with every act of hate on one another. They feel most comfortable in groups. Less guilt to swallow. They are us. This is what we have become. Afraid to respect an individual. A single person or event or circumstance can move one to change, to love ourselves, to evolve."

By now you must’ve heard about or seen the Erykah Badu video for window seat, if you haven’t then you probably have been under a rock or something. When I 1st viewed it, I was quite surprised and knew it was going to be a problem. I wasn’t offended; in fact I was quite amused because I got the point, I read in a book “How to make friends and influence people” that to get your point across you have to sometimes “dramatise your ideas”

The video appealed to the non-conformist and anarchist in me. I know I am one that is into breaking boundaries and using art to convey a message. That's my thing.

Apart from the video trying to send a "message", it was a perfect promotional tool for her album which was dropping 3 days latter, in this day and age in the music world it seems your promotional game has to be stepped up a few notches in order to be noticed. Most rappers use women and their barely clad bodies to promote their videos and work and now Erykah is doing it too though not in the same way because she tied it with conveying an idea of her “stripping away outer layers to reveal her true self” and make you think about the concept of “groupthink” besides she was calling the shots. I don’t think the aim was to titillate folks or turn you on as much as provoke thought (and promote the alBUM oops I said BUM hehehehe just joking)

It’s not like she was the 1st to do something like this, folks are going on about how it was so “original” hehehe come on now LOL! She even mentions in the beginning of the video that it was “inspired by Matt and Kim” I think what made hers different was because she was a black lady and she tied the theme of J.F.K’s assassination into her execution of the whole “stripping in public” thing. (The car she pulled up in beginning is the same kind J.F.K was in when he got shot, the path she took when walking was the same one J.F.K took and where she fell as if shot was the same place J.F.K was shot, in fact X marks the spot in the video) She also tied the concept of “groupthink” into it too. (The blue blood that spills out of her spells “groupthink” check it on Wikipedia if you are familiar with that it is)

I find it quite amusing that even though you might get this message, the outcome of the exercise seems to be that due to hero-worship by Erykah Badu’s fans, they exhibit the same kind of groupthink too and I say this because if anyone questions the video and doesn’t seem to show total support towards it, they probably would be attacked with the same kind of groupthink/mob action that “assassinates” Erykah in her video.

I have questions for Erykah like “is stripping in public the best way you can show you’re evolving as a person?” or “is the freedom you seek within yourself from fear found in breaking societal norms of decency?” or “do you realise that as a celebrity, many of your fans exhibit hero worship more than critical thinking towards your work and are therefore just hoping on your bandwagon exhibiting groupthink?” or “do you realise making yourself the subject in your art and actual metaphor might come off as you being quite self-absorbed, attention seeking and martyr-like in a video tackling a topic like this?”

As much as I get the point, I don’t think the execution of Erykah stripping in public was the best way to go about it but then having said that maybe she wouldn’t have gotten people talking if she had done it in another way. People have gone on about how the kids who saw her on the street naked would be “traumatised” I think that’s over the top. How about all the violence they see as entertainment all the time? I know religious folk will react to this video negatively, especially very religious men because it will stir the lust in their loins and they don’t like feeling those urges or remembering that they still have them and have to deal with them.

So was it worth it? I guess it was worth the buzz and the discussion not to talk of the album promotion which will add to sales (if only I could get a CNN mention when I drop a project, maybe I should strip in London? Hmmm Oxford St maybe? LOL) but let’s face it, most will miss the point or not even care about it because the big booty is in the way. Hehehehe. I kid! I kid! Or do I?

I know this article may have a slight skeptical tone but I am one who appreciates Erykah's music. So please don't throw the word hater my way because I am a lover hehehe.

(This is just part one of my thoughts on this. Tomorrow, I am gonna blog about groupthink for real in a whole other way)