This is a long post so only watch the videos if you have 20 odd minutes to spare (and like 1970's Rock music). If you're in a hurry just read the lyrics. If you are already familiar with 2112 by Rush, please proceed directly to the next paragraph.
OK, so this is a reflection on the current economic circumstances we find ourselves in. I just like the theme of the underdog, the little guy with the right answer, and can't help thinking, with a bit of help from Let us Be Human, that the values of the Kingdom of God are like unto the guitar found by the man in the story/song.
In spite of the opening line, I don't think this is the intended meaning of the song, it just appeals to me as a metaphor for those who are trying to say (and live a life that says) "Enough growth already!"
There was a quotation in the paper the other day - can't find reference aargh - along the lines of "if stimulating the economy means lending people money they don't want to borrow to buy things they neither want nor need, then what's the point?"
I once preached on 2112 on Maundy Thursday, reflecting that "We have assumed control, we have assumed control" is what appears to be happening when Jesus is arrested tried and crucified. 2112 ends with the Priests being ousted and replaced by an alien culture, with the anonymous protester in despair. Of course, through Good Friday and Holy Saturday, that's where we are, until the resurrection changes everything.
I'm mixing metaphors a bit really. There's just a big niggle in my gut that the G20, the politicians/economists who are saying "we've got it covered" are like the Priests of the Temple. Both insist their way is the only way to do it, and reject any attempt to do something more human, more beautiful, more just or more ecological. 2112 ends with a hostile takeover of a whole system.
If we don't do something to stop the juggernaut of greed, is that where we'll end up?
I'm more into music than economics, so you can probably pick holes in this, but that's what it's here for.
Who's this then?
- Tim Goodbody
- Chelmsford, Essex, United Kingdom
- The occasional blog of an Anglican priest in rural Essex
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