Turning People Into A Commodity

Have you noticed how everything has become commercialized? How we can’t do anything without immediately turning into a ‘business’? I was glancing at a video my family was watching, and couldn’t believe what I saw. There was a lady doing a basic gardening video, and she looked like she was preparing for a magazine photo shoot. In my mind I was wondering, is this really necessary? Is this where we have come as a society?

A while back I read a book by Don Miller, ‘Scary Close’. As Don was going through all of the ridiculous things he did to get attention, I laughed a little, but was also struck at how I did the same stupid things. It was both endearing and convicting as Miller always is. When I reached the end I found myself wondering about all the times I had put on act, or tried to make myself look different than what I really was

“Sometimes the story we’re telling the world isn’t half as endearing as the one that lives inside us.” – Don Miller, Scary Close

For a big portion of my life, I’ve been trying to do whatever I thought was popular or would make me successful. Without realizing it, or meaning to, I had turned my life into a commodity. If you think about it, everywhere we look, this is what’s happened. Social media is both a glorious thing and a plague on us all, at the same time. The good news is that thanks to social media, we can now connect with communities all over the world. Unfortunately, now a few success stories have created a quasi-gold rush to become the next social media star. I can’t tell you how many videos I’ve seen where I wondered why people did these things. Not that I have any space to judge.

Slavery Reincarnated

Have you ever sat and thought about the fact that we were created? I’m not talking about the whole creation/evolution debate. Have you ever really sat down and thought about how we were created by the same God who created mountain ranges, oceans and jungles? Isn’t it demeaning the way we try to turn His creation, into just another commodity? Just another face to garner clicks and likes? I don’t care what your theological persuasion is, surely we were made for more.

I’ve worked on a number of projects that never got off the ground. I’ve read more productivity and motivational books than most. Idiotically thinking I would somehow find the magic formula to success. Then it hit me. If I believe that God has given me gifts, if I was made with His unique signature, then why on earth am I trying to distort that? Why are any of us? Why am I trying to sell out the gifts God has given me?

As I re-examined the creation account, I found that there were quite a few things missing in the Garden of Eden. I noice there were any corporations or even any businesses. There were no salesmen trying to sell Adam and Eve into anything. When God created Adam and Eve, He never created them as commodities. In the perfect world, no one was trying to sell themselves. Later this would be called slavery. And there were strong condemnations for those who tried to own God’s children.

Really think about something; when we turn a person into a commodity, isn’t this just slavery? Aren’t corporations and tech giants just enslaving the minds and souls of people? Granted there are no iron chains or whips, but on the other hand, think about recent problems like social media anxiety. There have been cases where individuals have committed suicide over social media. To say nothing of the fact that virtually every social media company imitated casino in an attempt to make us all addicted to their platforms. Am I being hyperbolic to call this slavery reincarnated?

We Were Made For More

All of which leads me to a very important question. I truly believe that God has endowed us each with unique gifts. And that it’s insulting and demeaning when we have to get in front of a camera and pretend to be something else. I know full well that the established church has done a terrible job of getting this message out. There are people gifted mathematically, capable of designing and engineering incredible buildings, bridges and cities. There are people gifted artistically, whether through words or painting, can remind us all there is more to this life than the here and now. I believe that God has created us as diverse as the natural world. With more talents and gifts than we could imagine. I believe that the noise we make, the things we create, are all to be used for a purpose. The natural things God has endowed us all with is no accident. There is a reason God instilled that love of engineering, teaching, painting or poetry. And I also believe that it grieves Him when we reject all of this, and turn ourselves into a commodity.