So Much Anger!

I've been working on starting a band lately. It's a Christian rock band called the skywire project (http://skywireproject.com if you're interested) and I've been advertising for musicians on a variety of Internet bulletin boards.

Apparently this upsets some people. I noticed on one board that a guy specified "no Jesus freaks" in his ads. I don't know if this is in response to my ads on the same board, but his earlier posting made no such stipulation, this latest requirement only appeared after I had posted a couple of rounds of ads.

But the real kicker was a guy who put a fake posting on a board right after I put one out. Here's what he wrote, offensive language and all:

looking for a satanic rock guitarist for a satanic rock band. satan rules, satan
is your friend, satan loves you, & satan will walk you through life holding
your hand all the way. let us praise satan for all that he has done for us &
all that he is. satan is the only true way to live. if you haven't accepted
satan as your lord & savior you are lost, & you will die an unpleasant
death in the clouds where they play yanni & kenny-g music all day &
night. oh yeah, & life will really suck.free will fuckers. how stupid does
all of this sound? ok, now put "jesus" in place of the word "satan.? has
anything really changed? No. as you see, nothing has changed except the accepted
meaning. now can you see how stupid this all is? fuck all religion &
religious beliefs (because that's all it is, "a belief"), & it's all
bullshit.

I have to wonder - why does he feel the need to respond like this? If he's not interested in being in a Christian band, couldn't he just ignore my posting and move on? Maybe if he took the time and energy he put into this posting and directed it toward practicing his instrument, he wouldn't need to be trolling the "musician wanted" boards looking for a band...

But my real question is "how should I respond?" Part of me says that this guy is so angry, so full of hatred, that responding would be a waste of my time and energy, so I should just add him to my prayer list and move on.

Another part of me wants to email him directly, maybe ask him why he hates religion so much (I suspect Catholic school, or death of a loved one), and see if I can open up a little bit of a dialogue.

The third option would be respond to his posting publicly, maybe with a lighthearted retort like "so does this mean you don't want to be in my band?" It might make me look like a reasonable guy, but I'm pretty sure it would probably set this guy off, and I really don't want a flame war on the bulletin board.

Your opinions are welcome, I'm a little lost on this one.

Why Do We Care?

I am completely fascinated with our fascination with famous people. Why do we care what Tom Cruise thinks? Why does anybody pay even the slightest attention to Barbra Streisand's political opinions? Why do we put so much energy into keeping up with this famous person's marriage and that famous person's divorce and the other famous person's alleged affair?

These people play make-believe for a living! Most of them don't have a single original thought or contribution to art - they regurgitate someone else's words while acting per someone else's direction, or sing a song written by someone else. How does this qualify them as being worthy of our undying attention and unwavering loyalty, especially with regards to opinions and behaviors that have absolutely nothing to do with their area of "expertise"?

I could see being interested in what a knowledgeable and experienced person has to say on subjects pertaining to his/her area of knowledge and experience. I can definitely see admiring a great humanitarian, or peacemaker, or medical researcher, or leader - you know, someone who has made a real and positive contribution to society, someone who has helped mankind move forward in some way.

But an actor? A musician? An athlete? Why are we even the least bit interested in these people's personal lives? I can see admiring talent - "That actor really portrayed that character well" or "That vocalist has amazing range" or "That guy can really run." But there's nothing about being famous that automatically makes a person intelligent or qualifies a person as a social commentator, much less a societal leader.

Are we so uninterested in our own lives that we feel the need to live vicariously through people whose sole contribution to society is to entertain? Maybe if we took the time and effort that we put into watching "Entertainment Tonight" and reading "The National Enquirer" into something crazy like pursuing a hobby - in other words, if we got a life - we wouldn't care so much what people in the entertainment industry are doing in their private lives.

Maybe if we enjoyed a musician's music, but instead of reading gossip rags about him/her we took guitar or voice lessons and developed a little talent of our own... Maybe if we enjoyed an actor's latest movie, but instead of spending hours reading about his viewpoints on mental health we volunteered at the local food bank... Maybe if we enjoyed an athlete's performance on a Sunday afternoon, but instead of pretty much worshiping him in an autograph line we volunteered to work at a Little League concession stand...