Conservative values evoke one-sided materialism, Tim Tebow’s theological trickery

by Frank W. Strauch

Many people often make the mistake of asserting that Man is created in the image of God, but, in fact, it works the other way around.  Since the supersensual world of the Idea is nothing more than the reflection and externalization of the sensual world of Matter, then why does Tim Tebow insist on alienating his talents into the ether of the Spirit, thereby giving God a strong passing game when it was, in fact, Tebow himself who threw the ball?  Would it not make more sense to alienate that which is most horrid in ourselves?  At least Westboro Baptist Church has figured this much out.

The Entäußerung of the quarterback for the Denver Broncos, indeed, demonstrates one of the primary contradictions of the peculiar American style of capitalism, the one most heavily steeped in fire and brimstone.  Only somebody like Tebow could possibly accept the absurd premise that the root of American capitalism lay in the devout Protestantism of Benjamin Franklin.  Contrary to popular belief, capitalism is nothing more than a mode of production premised on the alienation of Man’s labor-power from himself.  Many people, Protestant and otherwise, make the mistake of believing that their labor-power passes into the hands of some mystical power external to the world of human social relations.  On the contrary, this alien power has nothing mystical about it at all: It is nothing more than your employer, somebody whom you can touch, and see, and kill.

On Tim Tebow’s website, one will find a promotional video which features the song “Chicken Fried” by the Zac Brown Band.  The lyrics celebrate the simple joy of:

“Cold beer on a Friday night”

and

“A pair of jeans that fit just right”

Have our lives become so debased under capitalism that the most we can hope for is the chance to drink a beer every now and then?  Is God’s divine grace not prepared to offer anything more than the possibility that our clothes might fit properly?

It is good that the Zac Brown Band chooses to focus on these material, sensuous, practical objects rather than the fleeting world of mystery, magic, and sorcery that Tim Tebow prefers.  Materialism, however, should always place as much emphasis as possible on revolutionary workers throwing off their chains and abolishing social relations based on the exploitation of man by man.