A student told me yesterday, “Do you want to see my ‘Harlem Shake’ video?”
“No, no, I don’t. This is class.”
“But it’s so good!” was the student’s protest.
I was told that it’s the next big dance craze, similar to “Gangnum Style.”
What I chose to watch was a video that was on my Youtube homepage that was called, “Harlem’s Response to the Harlem Shakedown.” They were not pleased. They said that it was not the “Harlem Shake.” I’m not familiar with the history of it, but it seems from everyone interviewed in Harlem, there is an official dance style referred to as the “Harlem Shake.” Their response was that what they were seeing in the videos was just people dry humping each other or having sex with the air. Oh great, I thought. So that’s the big thing now, for a room of people to start mocking orgies? The people from Harlem then demonstrated what they considered to be the “Harlem Shake.” It reminded me of James Brown moves. One of the old guys from Harlem said the real “Harlem Shake” came from 1916 and started to sing a song about Harlem.
I then watched a best of the “Harlem Shake” video and the videos were absurdly stupid in my opinion, and yes, it was a bunch of people for the most part humping the air.
So why is this so popular and what involvement, if any, should Christians have in partaking in making such videos? I got duped into watching a men’s bible study video that actually was a bunch of men making a “Harlem Shake” video. Why? Why, label the video a “Men’s Bible Study Video” when it’s a “Harlem Shake” video? Non-sense!
Anyways, here’s an article on this topic from Christianity Today. You need to read it before making your own “Harlem Shake” video or sharing “Harlem Shake” videos on-line or “liking” “Harlem Shake” videos. Take the time to do so please.
“The Problem of Christians Doing the Harlem Shake”
http://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2013/february/problem-with-christians-doing-harlem-shake.html?paging=off
Andy Wrasman 