Is It Okay to Affirm the Good Anymore?

I saw on my newsfeeds last week everyone was talking about a Gillette ad. Quite a few people seemed upset and I kept seeing responses about toxic masculinity. I get it—I’m not a fan of a company that inspires shaving either, but I didn’t know what the big deal was about this ad. I figured the ad was some liberal jargon akin to Irina Dunn’s “women need men like fish need a bicycle.” I didn’t watch it, until a couple days ago.

Because I did not watch it or read articles or see the social media discussions I went into the thing expecting something pretty silly. But I also went into watching it without any partisanship. And I have to say after having watched the thing…What in the world is everyone so upset about?

I understand that this doesn’t portray every man. I also appreciate the commercial which was recently put out by a watch company showing another side to masculinity. And I think Greg Morse is spot on when he reminds us that while machismo is a perversion of biblical masculinity so is being effeminate.

But if this particular video by Gillette stands alone, then I don’t see the big deal. It’s basic message is that real men don’t sexual harass women or bully others. We use our God-given strength to protect and make the world a better place, not to tear it down. I think we as the church ought to give this a heart ‘Amen’. But we can’t. And we can’t because we’re so entrenched in cultural battles that we’re afraid to take up the wrong side. If we’re so entrenched in cultural wars that we cannot affirm the good whenever and wherever we see it or expose evil whenever and wherever we see it, then we’re fighting a battle foreign to the New Testament (Phil 4:8).

There is a particular ill which plagues our society. And I see it plaguing the church—maybe even more so in the church. The ill which plagues us is the inability to address a thing as it is. In our postmodern culture we realize there are many facets to this diamond we call life. Every statement you make can have a “yeah, but”. You cannot say everything in one article or ad. Things are far too beautiful and complex to be exhausted by a blog post or a 2 minute video. But we think in our day that if a facet of a diamond is left off that we’ve got an obligation to be ticked off about our neglect, and that all the world is going to go to hell because of the slippery slope which this awful oversight has created.

You can choose to get upset about all the things this ad from Gillette doesn’t say. You can buckle down and take it as an offense to masculinity. Maybe “boys will be boys” isn’t such a bad philosophy for raising a young man who is chiseling his armor. But maybe, just maybe, there really is some good in this ad that needs affirming. I break up fights about every Wednesday night. And it isn’t because “boys will be boys”. It’s because they don’t actually know what it means to be a man. And maybe we, as the church, ought to affirm the good in this Gillette ad and shave off the rest.

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Photo source: here