James Meehan - How Should Christians Think About Cancel Culture, WandaVision, and All-Star Weekend
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Vince Parker: What is good, YouTube? Welcome back to "Culture Makers". I'm your host, Vince Parker. And as you know, we have with us the legendary, the extraordinary, the amazing, top-of-the-top, best-of-the-best, the revolutionary one, the amazing Mr. James Meehan. What's good, bro? How you doing?
James Meehan: Glad to be here.
Vince Parker: Okay, real quick man, we got a lot to talk about today. We're gonna be talking about music, NBA All-Star game, cancel culture...
James Meehan: Come on.
Vince Parker: All kinds of things and International Women's Day.
James Meehan: Yeah.
Vince Parker: Right? But real quick, I was gone last week and you tried to replace me, not cool.
James Meehan: No, no, we weren't trying to replace you, we were just trying to bring in a substitute.
Vince Parker: Oh, my bad.
James Meehan: It's totally different.
Vince Parker: My bad, thanks trying to cancel me.
James Meehan: Nope.
Vince Parker: My bad.
James Meehan: Are we talking about that now?
Vince Parker: Let's just go ahead and jump into cancel culture right now. Why not, off the dome? 'Cause we said we haven't done anything that's off-limits yet. And what's crazy is, so here's the craziness.
James Meehan: Are we gonna get canceled for talking about cancel culture?
Vince Parker: Has that happened yet?
James Meehan: Oh, I don't know.
Vince Parker: We'll see. So here's the deal, so Gen Z...
James Meehan: Yep.
Vince Parker: You know they came at skinny jeans and side parts. Right, they're trying to cancel that. I'm not sure why.
James Meehan: And I...
Vince Parker: Are you rocking skinnies?
James Meehan: Dude, I always rock skinnies. It feels like I'm being hugged all day long.
Vince Parker: Okay. Now, I haven't wore skinnies in a minute. But it wasn't because of Gen Z, I just was like, I'm just out.
James Meehan: Yeah.
— I hit that age point at which I can't wear skinnies no more. But now, they're coming after Eminem.
— Okay, yeah.
— Right, and they're like, "Yo, the stuff you did back in the day,"
— Sure.
— Not cool.
— I mean, he definitely did some questionable things.
— He did. And now they want to cancel him, but he fired back.
— Okay.
— In a new song...
— Yeah.
— That you probably should not listen to.
— Yeah, I did not listen to this one because you told me not to.
— Right. I feel like I'm the guy who takes all the hits to let you guys know what not to listen to. But, how do you feel about cancel culture in general?
— So, what's interesting is, it was actually just the other day, I heard this quote where somebody said that our culture is begging for atonement but we're allergic to forgiveness. So basically, we are begging for people to be held accountable for the wrongs that have been done, but we're allergic to actually offering forgiveness when those people do repent. And so, I think when it comes to cancel culture the reality is is that as individuals I think we all get to choose what we do and don't watch, who we do and don't support. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I think the problem becomes when we inflict somebody's past mistakes on their present in such a way where we're basically cutting off their hope for a future. Because I know about how dumb I was 10 years ago before I was following Jesus, and I'm so thankful that the grace of God has separated my sins as far as the East is from the West. And because I don't want people to define me by what I've done wrong in the past, man, I don't want to define others by the things they've done wrong in the past. And so because of that, I try as hard as I can to offer grace for people today. Now again, this does not mean that we don't hold people accountable for the wrongs that they've done. Of course we have to do that. I think part of the reality of cancel culture came about because there were so many people who because of their influence, their wealth, their privilege, their whatever, they were not being held accountable for the wrongs they had done. And so, I think that there were a lot of people who said, "Well, if justice isn't going to happen, we've got to take it into our own hands". Now here's the thing, like I said, accountability is a good thing. Justice must come. But at the end of the day, if we're not willing to offer forgiveness for people when they do make a change, when they do repent, then I think cancel culture becomes something really unhealthy and something really dangerous.
— Okay, I like that. I agree with that. And I think that's awesome. Let's hop into something that seems a little bit more exciting we're talking about. Now, we're filming on Monday.
— Come on.
— March 8th.
— Yep, Monday fun day.
— Now this, I believe drops like maybe on March 9th, and you may watch it whenever. But, International Women's Day, let me tell you what it's all about. I wrote this down because I did not want to mess this up. Okay?
— Probably not.
— International Women's Day is a global day celebrating this social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.
— Come on.
— The day also marks a call to action to accelerate gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women's achievements or rally around women's equality.
— Come on.
— Is that not amazing?
— I think it's fantastic.
— So, I celebrate all the amazing women out there. We probably should have a woman on the show one day.
— Dang bro, maybe next week?
— You think?
— Hey, if y'all want to see that happen, put it in the comments. I think it's a great idea.
— Put it in the comments.
— Well, you know what I love about this is it's just this really great reminder that even though throughout history there've been so many times where women have less rights, less equality, less whatever...
— Right.
— The reality is that every single human being, whether male or female, is made in the image of God. And the truth is, if you ever read the Bible, what you're going to see is you're going to see woman after woman in prominent position of leadership being used by God, in significant ways. As a matter of fact, the first witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus were women, right? So, women played a vital role in the Bible. And because of that, dude, celebrate it all day long. And then ever since then, and obviously before then as well, women have played an incredible role all throughout history and they deserve to be celebrated.
— So, Happy International Women's day to you. Love it, excited to all the amazing women out there, man, thank you for all that you do. So, move on to the next subject, one of my favorite things to talk about here James, music.
— Mine too.
— Okay.
— I'm a music aficionados.
— Oh, okay.
— No, I'm just kidding.
— Did that happen in like the last month?
— Well, yeah, y'all kept getting on to me because I wasn't listening to the music songs.
— Okay, so did you listen to the choices this week?
— I did. I listened to them!
— Okay, we got Chance the Rapper and Justin Bieber. Which was your favorite?
— I'm probably going to have to go back and relisten to both of them a whole bunch of times. So, I would probably say the Justin Bieber one was my favorite. But I just, I kind of like the way that that whole song played out, and the music video. And what's it called? Is it "Hold On"?
— "Hold On".
— "Hold On", yeah.
— Good job, good memory.
— The music video, plus the lyrics and the story they told, like, I am a sucker for good storytelling in a song. And my goodness, go watch it, super heart-wrenching, but also really, really powerful.
— Good, good. Now, what'd you think about Chance?
— Dude, some of those lyrics, like I want to go back and re-listen to them over and over again because my goodness, the things that he was saying and the way that he was flowing was just really, really impressive.
— Could you preach a message off of Chance's new song, "The Heart & The Tongue"? Could you preach a message off that song?
— 100%, I would love to preach a message...
— I feel like I want to challenge you to do that.
— Done, it'll happen this summer, stay tuned, preaching a message. It will be like way less relevant then. But we're in the middle of our series, "Who Is Jesus"? right now, so it's like, I'm not about to quit this series.
— No, no, you don't have to quit, just one day, you know.
— Done.
— You can take those bars and make a message out of it.
— Yeah, I'll write the entire message as a rap, so I'll wrap the whole thing.
— Can you rap?
— No, not at all.
— Okay, man. Let's talk about sports. This weekend was the NBA All-Star Weekend. A lot of great things happened. They kind of changed it up. It was supposed to be in Indianapolis. They moved it to Atlanta.
— Yep.
— And here's the cool thing behind that. The big winner, and I'll tell you who won everything else, was HBCUs, historical black colleges and universities, because the NBA donated over $3 million and helped raise $3 million to donate to historical black colleges and university, and made it really, really prominently known. So, all the halftime shows, all those things, were about historical black universities or people who attend a historically black university. So, that's the big winner. But, who won all, like, the slam dunk contest? Did you watch?
— Nope, didn't watch it.
— All right James, I wrote it down because you know my memory. Here we go.
— Yeah, this is all you.
— Here we go, Steph Curry, three point.
— Yeah, no surprise.
— You should've known that, right, right, right, right? Anthony Simmons won the slam dunk contest.
— Okay.
— You know. They're not what they used to be like back in the day with Jordan and Dominique Wilkins. They're not there yet.
— Sure.
— But, I think hopefully we'll get back there one day. Of course, Team LeBron won the game.
— Yep, makes sense.
— Right? I mean...
— When you weren't here last week, we definitely were bashing LeBron a little bit.
— You were LeBron-bashing?
— Well, here's the thing. We weren't LeBron bashing. I mean, I definitely bashed his performance in "Space Jam 2" but...
— Did you get an early cut of "Space Jam 2"?
— Oh, is it not out yet? Oh, I just heard about it.
— No, it's not out yet, man. I thought you may have an early cut, so. I thought maybe you had early access. I'm like, you holding back from me.
— Well, last week I lied 'cause I thought I've seen it. So, you know what's funny is I actually used to make the argument that LeBron James was the greatest of all time, until I saw "Space Jam 2". 'Cause the first "Space Jam"...
— You're kidding me.
— Incredible, "Space Jam 2" more like Space Jam Poo.
— It ain't even out yet, bro.
— I don't even know what I'm talking about then.
— Domantas Sabonis won the skills challenge. And like I said, the big winner HBCUs, historical wins. So, here's the deal. Let's move on to something I know you've seen.
— Hey.
— Go ahead. You got something else?
— I need to offer a formal apology to LeBron James. I guess I haven't seen "Space Jam 2", so the fact that I was bashing it, I hope that you'll forgive me. All right.
— Hey and again, LeBron, thanks for watching this. And if you don't mind, if you'll tweet about it.
— Yeah, that'd be great.
— Post a story about us on IG. Bro, I got nothing but love for you, appreciate you. If you can send me a few pair of shoes, that would be great. Let's move on to something I know you have watched. But here's the deal.
— Come on, Vince. I know where you're going.
— We're claiming, right now, we're gonna do this with no spoilers. Okay, now here's the deal. We ask students what you guys wanna talk about, so that's where these topics come from.
— Oh yeah.
— They come from students.
— Yeah.
— Right? So, they're not just us, there's students asking the question.
— They asked about this specifically?
— They were like...
— I thought you snuck this in.
— No, no. I mean yes, I watched it, but state youth, Gen Z, students want to talk about "WandaVision".
— Yes!
— Ready, set, go!
— Here's the thing, I would be a 100% okay if Marvel never made another movie again and just did series from now on. I have been blown away by "WandaVision". First of all, the way that they combine that little bit of mystery, that classic sitcom feel that you'll see in the first couple of episodes, no spoilers here. The amount of character development and storytelling that's able to take place over a nine-episode season is so much more than a single two-and-a-half-hour movie. And so because of that, I just love every little bit of it. My wife and I, not only did we watch all of "WandaVision", we then went and watched all the YouTube videos where they unpack every single Easter egg and reference in every video. Dude, like we have been nerding out and it has been fantastic.
— I loved it. I thought it was great. I thought it was amazing. I tell you what.
— Tell me, come on.
— I agree with you. They could not never make a another Marvel movie and just keep doing this.
— Come on.
— But, I really do need a Marvel movie. Listen, the president of Disney, president of Marvel watches this too, just like LeBron.
— Obviously, clearly.
— Go ahead and drop "Black Widow" on Disney+. I will pay you 50 bucks to watch it. Like, I'll do 50. I won't go higher than 50. I'll wait until it's...
— You can come to my house.
— Oh, deal. Yeah, yeah, do that. Vince will pay 50.
— Yeah, you and Mandy, Quatro, come on over.
— Now again, what I'm not saying is I don't want them to make movies, 'cause I love the movies. I would just be okay if all they did were series.
— I think they're awesome 'cause we know. What's coming up next, though? We're about two weeks away. Like, "Falcon and Winter Soldier" coming up next, right?
— Come on, bro.
— But the bar is like super...
— Right?
— Like, it's up there.
— Right, for sure.
— Right?
— 'Cause like with "WandaVision", they didn't come out playing it safe. Like, they came out swinging. And the thing is though, like, my favorite throughout all of Marvel has always been Captain America. I think his movies are the best. They're directed by the Russo brothers, "Winter Soldier", "Civil War". Russo brothers are the guys who directed "Infinity War" and "End Game". And so, I think they're the best directors in Marvel and so I think they've made the best movies. And so, the character development of the Falcon and Winter Soldier that we've already gotten, and to see what's going to happen when they're doing their own stuff, like the trailers for this look incredible.
— So, we started off talking about cancel culture.
— Okay.
— Okay?
— Yep.
— But, there's something going on that's being canceled which I actually think is pretty awesome.
— Okay, yeah.
— #CancelPorn.
— Come on dude, yes.
— Now, let's talk about that. Because I mean, it's still canceled, but...
— Yep.
— Tell me about it. Let's go.
— So the thing is is right now on TikTok #CancelPorn is trending. I believe that hashtag has gotten close to 175 million views at this point. And it originated with this idea of, "Hey, how do we help people be aware of the harmful effects that pornography have on people's brains, but then also the harmful effects that are done to the actual people involved in the porn industry"? And so, they're bringing a lot of awareness and education. And because of that, people are crying out saying like, "Hey, this this is probably a really bad thing". Now, that's the kind of canceling that I'm very much for because of all of the harmful effects that come from pornography.
— Right.
— Here's the deal, like the reason why this is something that I know I'm so passionate about is because I have seen so many people get caught up in this addiction to porn that causes them to see other people not as people to be loved but as objects to be used. And that is so antithetical to what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Because for those of us who are Christians, we are called by God to love other people the same way that God through Christ has loved us. And the unfortunate reality is that there are so many young people, young people like you, who get exposed to porn at a young age. And because of that, creates these harmful loops in your brain that keep you going back for more, and more, and more. Before I was a Christian, I was addicted to porn for like 10 years. And the actual process of overcoming that addiction, getting accountability, putting restrictions on my phone and on my computer was absolutely life-changing for me because it helped me become the kind of person that doesn't see others as objects but as people made in the image of God. And so, the fact that there are so many people on TikTok who are bringing awareness to the harmful effects of pornography, I think is so, so powerful.
— So, let me hear what, this is what I hear you saying, James, let's cancel the things that hurt people but not cancel the people who are hurt.
— I think you need to say that again 'cause that was really good.
— Let's cancel the things that hurt people not cancel the people who have been hurt.
— Come on, dude. That's so good.
— Man, we want to thank y'all for listening to "Culture Makers". We appreciate y'all know what to do. Like, subscribe, share, tell your friends. James, you've had a good time today.
— Fantastic.
— Man, I've had a great time today. We can't wait to see you guys next week.