My cultural artifact is the Men's Health magazine. The magazine basically consists of everything a man loves according to research. Whether it is lifting weights, new diets, living a healthy lifestyle, cologne, sex, cars, and more. However, Men's Health does a good job teaching different exercises and they bring forth the scams and lies that you have heard about your whole life.
This magazine shapes the human purpose into consumerism and trying to live a healthy lifestyle. Which, is not a bad thing. They want you to buy their special cologne, or fancy watch, or waterproof jacket. Thats the consumerism part. But, they do a good job with telling the evils like smoking, and how it is awful for your health, or drinking to much can damage your liver. Then they shows you ways of redemption, like how to get your life back on track with working out, how to cure your stress levels, and how to have a healthier body all year.
Men’s Health I believe portrays good qualities of the kingdom of God. God does not enjoy it when we smoke or get drunk, God want us to live a healthy and happy life. Men’s Health does a good job with this. Like I said, its focus is to get your life back on track. In one of the issues of Men’s Health, they teach you new ways to cure your fears and anxieties, new ways to fight depression, new ways to to be a better dad to your offspring, and finally new ways to gain self confidence and boost up your self esteem.
- Why is it that when we open a magazine and his some ads in it, we are so quick to say this oh this gonna be stupid the whole thing is ads?
- Do you believe that living a healthier lifestyle can rub off on your friends so they healthy lifestyle too?
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Gus. I'm curious why you believe that "shaping the human purpose into consumerism" is "not a bad thing." You rightly point out that a magazine like Men's Health encourages healthy living that honors our bodies as part of God's creation (male or female)--it's good to recognize such elements of redemption. Ads in and of themselves are not a bad thing, they're a form of communication. The question is what story they're telling. What are they suggesting about what it takes to be a "real" man? Likewise with consuming--not a bad thing in itself. It's simply a means of exchange for the things we need that we can't make ourselves. But what's the difference between buying things we need and placing our entire identity in being a consumer?
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