THE STORY BEHIND THE CRAZE

Any craze that gets its start from a You Tube video posted by Filthy Frank should be questioned, especially if our children are taking part in the latest dance craze, the “Harlem Shake.” The dance has gone viral on the internet and even Christian groups and organizations are getting in on the silliness.

“Should we think a little deeper before jumping into the latest dance craze?” asks Kate Shellnutt in an article featured in the February issue of Christianity Today. The article, titled, “The Problem With Christians Doing the 'Harlem Shake'” argues that our lives as Christians are all about the story of the Gospel and we don't want our traditions distanced from that story.

“Christians, whose faith relies on the context of its own teachings and symbols, generally need to take interest in where cultural phenomena come from and what they mean,” said Shellnut.

There's a story behind The Harlem Shake, but instead of educating ourselves about it, we thoughtlessly disconnect ourselves from the meaning behind the dance and the music. We click and share the latest internet sensation without considering where it originally gained meaning and without knowing anything about the musician who created it.

We assume that because other Christian groups are taking part in the latest dance craze then it must be okay. We don't need to understand this underground genre of music called “trap.” And since The Harlem Shake lyrics are in Spanish, it's easy to ignore that translated to English, the lyrics actually mean “We are the terrorists” or “We are with the terrorists.”

What is the Harlem Shake?

Harlem Shake videos from around the world have racked up millions of You Tube views. People, young and old, from every walk of life are posting their own versions of the latest viral dance craze. Shake videos last about 30 seconds and begin with one person wearing a helmet or mask thrusting his or her pelvis for about 15 seconds. At first, people near the dancer pay no attention. Then the beat changes and the video cuts to a crowd doing crazy dance moves or acting crazy for the next 15 seconds. They are often shaking strange objects or props, wearing outrageous costumes or dancing in their underwear.

And the song behind the craze?

Shouldn't we question the motives of this dance craze based on the lyrics? Why would any American, especially a Christian, want to dance to a tune that proclaims, “We're with the terrorists”? In this country today, we have kindergarten children being treated as criminals for bringing nail clippers to school or for shaping Play Doh into toy guns. We have TSA thugs groping us or radiating our bodies in airports for the sake of catching a terrorist. We have returning veterans, Christians and pro-life groups being labeled by law enforcement and Homeland Security as “potential terrorists.” And yet we have no problem with our kids dancing to the Harlem Shake, a song that promotes terrorism. To me this is nothing short of insanity.

Perhaps the best way to know a craze as good or bad is by the outcome that falls upon those who participate. A little research is all it takes to see that the Harlem Shake has much more bad than good attached to it. The Shake has carved a path of trouble and shame in only two months since its release.

When attempting to create the largest “Shake” video on his campus, University of Alabama freshman, Nojan Radfar initially faced possible expulsion. Closer to home, Eleven Susquehanna University, PA athletes including football players were kicked off their teams when their version of the Harlem Shake went viral. 

“Officials at the Division III school said little publicly about the incident, but must not have appreciated the artistic dry humping and mock sex acts depicted in the school's weight room,” said Anne Reeves in a March 3 commentary for The Patriot News. 

In her commentary titled, “Harlem Shake Could Get Shakers Into Trouble” Reeves points out that athletes on three sports teams have suffered severe backlash for their homemade Harlem Shake videos. 

“Maybe it sounded like a great idea at the time, but simulating sex and dancing half-naked to the latest hot little ditty proved an epic fail for several student athletes,” said Reeves. 

Also in hot water for posting Harlem Shake videos on You Tube are teens from Brownsville Area High School in Pennsylvania and Nyack and Tappan Zee High Schools in New Jersey. Brownsville School Board President Ray Brasher called the video “very graphic and very vulgar,”according to the Tribune Review. Their raunchy antics also made headlines in the New York Daily News.  Almost all the students participating were suspended and the Nyack Tappan Zee hockey team had to forfeit a playoff match when several players were suspended, leaving the New Jersey team with too few players to compete. 

It's not surprising that a demon-inspired dance would have so much trash littering its path. Stories like the ones above will most likely continue to make headlines. What is surprising is the way Christian groups and organizations have embraced the Harlem Shake, siding with the enemy and making a mockery of the church.

“The Harlem Shake comes from drug-using, heavy drinking, fornication-glorifying rappers whose garbage has no place in the Church of Jesus Christ,” proclaims an article titled “Harlem Shake Brings Spirit of Antichrist to America's Christian Churches.” The article was recently featured on the Christian blog Now The End Begins www.nowtheendbegins.com
 

In closing, the story behind the Harlem Shake is the collective research you'll gather as you take advantage of the easy access you have to information today. I spent hours researching this topic and didn't find a single piece of information that suggests the Harlem Shake is something Jesus would do. 

So if you make decisions based on “What would Jesus do?”, you might want to sit this one out. And next time you're tempted to share the latest thing that everyone is tweeting about, Google it. Find out where it came from. Learn what it means especially if it's in another language. Think about the motive behind the craze. Not everything can be swept clean and branded harmless in the name of fun.

There's nothing wrong with dancing in itself. King David danced as he worshiped the Lord. But nothing about the Harlem Shake glorifies God. It glorifies Satan. And that's what makes it bad.