Christian Books Pimping Culture

Last week I was drawn in to a conversation surrounding Zondervan's recent release of "Deadly Viper: Character Assassins" a book written by Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite about leadership and integrity.

Although the book has some helpful content in the area of leadership the book has crossed the line with its extremely casual use of Asian culture.

Professor Soong-Chan Rah has raised some serious questions about the book and in particular its "packaging"; from its cover to its promotional videos (one video feature a mock kung-fu movie where a cast of white guys were dressed as Asian martial artists with fake-Asian-accents). The book also uses various Asian characters (it actually mixes both Japanese and Chinese letters) in a non-sensical fashion to create a certain "feel" in order to help sell their product. This book and its promotion are a perfect example of some one's culture getting pimped out to sell a product.

I won't re-hash the other many areas that this book (and Zondervan) crossed the line (read Soong-Chan Rah's blog posts) but am bringing this up because how we view race and culture is important (particularly as followers of Jesus that seek to bring hope to all nations). Reading through the discussion in the blog world has shown me how just how oblivious I am to the privilege I hold simply because I am a white male.

My area of privilege comes because the Western world is constructed around "my" world-view (in other words; the normative is destined around the majority...which is white male) and everything else is viewed as "other" (see Rah's video on Orientalism and "What is Normative?").

Some may say that Rah's (and the many others that were offended by the presentation of the book) were an over-reaction and just another example of how "PC" this world has gotten. However, who gets to decide what is "PC" and was is offensive? Should we not listen to the perspective of others (particularly those of different backgrounds and cultures)?

Thankfully the authors are listening (read more of the conversation here) and the dialogue continues to move along in a hopeful and restorative manner (by the co-author's own admission nothing intentionally malicious or racist was done; nor was anyone accusing them of doing this intentionally). As for Zondervan, they have yet to make a statement on how they will respond to the concerns and issues raised.

How have you seen/experienced racial insensitivity (whether intentional or unintentional)? What can we do as individuals do grow deeper in our understanding of issues of race and privilege? What can we do as communities to give a common voice to peoples of all nations and cultures?