2017-11-30

On subtle whoring and Kierkegaard


A few weeks ago, my wife and I were listening to an 80's station, when they played an awful song from the 80's that I had never heard before. Except, it was not "turn-the-station" awful, but rather "a-trainwreck-you-can't-not-look-at" awful. That song is the immortal "I've never been to me" by the singer Charlene.

In 1977, and then again in 1982, America saw the most “pro-family-values” song that has ever hit the top 40 pop songs (peaking at #3 in 1982). This delightful trainwreck of a song was a drastic reaction to “disco culture”. It embodies everything wrong with early 80’s pop music, and features the glorious phrase “subtle whoring”.

This week, I am teaching the angsty Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard in my philosophy class. I realized that this song epitomizes Kierkegaard's struggle between the "aesthetic life" and the "ethical life", and the need to transcend them both into the "religious life". So, I am using it as a teaching prop to spur discussion.

If you just want to listen to a song that is so serious it is hilarious, click the link. And if you know Kierkegaard's philosophy, its even funnier. Enjoy.

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This is a bunch of incoherent babble to make us think hard about our incredible love affair with the God of the universe, our astounding infidelities against God, and God's incredible grace to heal and restore us through Christ. Everything on this site is copyright © 1996-2023 by Nathan L. Bostian so if you use it, please cite me. You can contact me at natebostian [at] gmail [dot] com