By now you’re down with the most important elements of the Book of Controversy. Maybe you’ve already implemented and had some success with what we’ve learned in Chapters 1-3. So it’s time to cover a couple of advanced rules. Here is the Chapter 4: Stay Current. Think about society and how it changes and evolves, especially in the modern age where things seem to move at the speed of light.
Can you imagine if Marilyn Manson had brought his music out in the 1950s? It was a different era and I’d wager he would have been tried and imprisoned after his first album. Flash forward to the 1990s, when that album was actually released. It was shocking, the sentiments extreme, the videos creepy. People protested against his shows and his music and him in general. But the 90s were different to the 50s in major fundamental ways. He wasn’t arrested for profane language, his video clips were played on television, his face was plastered over mainstream magazines.
Flash forward to today. If a similar album is released, it barely makes a ripple. Oh, you said something about the bible? You cussed and talked about Jesus in the same song? Yawn. No one cares. We’ve seen it all before.
Keep this in mind when you choose your controversy. We’ve already discussed that you need to attack ideas, but you need to be smart about what ideas you choose. Taking a stance against the big banks? Cool. Only about four kabillion people have done that in the past and it’s not like there’s been Oscar-winning documentaries about the same thing (or has there?). Find something new, something fresh. Look to your industry, your niche, find something that hasn’t been attacked before, or at least hasn’t been attacked well.
Stay current, stay on top of what’s changing in your industry and what’s acceptable. These things change fast and you always want to be ahead of the curve.