Why it Resonates

Within hours, “Rich Men North of Richmond,” became the top song on iTunes, and according to one chart-watcher on X (Twitter), it was the most listened-to song in the world at one point over last weekend. Oliver Anthony is a musician and former factory worker who recorded and posted a song that immediately resonated with more than just a few people. It was interesting to watch the small firestorm on X unfold. One promoter promised to pay for the professional production of his record. A producer offered his services for free, a music studio offered their space, a professional media company offered to handle his promotion for free, and more than one media personality promised to promote the record on their platforms.

A lot of people spread the word, and once you watch and listen, you will probably know why. The song is an unflinching, even brutal, recitation of what every normal person knows has gone wrong with the world. From the perspective of living in the “new world” as an “old soul,” to lamenting the welfare state and male suicide rates, he lays it all out on the table. He even references the open secret of pedophilia among our ruling elites. He tells no lies and says what many want said.

The sudden popularity of the song highlights several things about our culture right now, not the least of which are: people are longing for true justice, men are being brutalized, and the power of refusing to live by lies.

True Justice

People long for wrongs to be made right in the very core of their souls. One of the banes of human existence is watching the “wicked prosper” and “good” people suffer. While people languish under that strain, rulers and elites pervert justice too often to be trusted. We latch onto leaders who promise to bring justice, and the ones that come closer than others become benchmarks, sometimes for centuries.

The two-tiered justice system in our culture is obvious to anyone who wants to pay attention. The closer someone is to power and money, the more they can get away with. Examples of this in just the past few months in American culture are legion and heart-breaking to recount. And all this does is add to a growing irritation, like an infection just below the skin, for normal people.

Justice is hardwired into the human heart. God, who is holy and perfectly just, has put it in the heart of every human to desire justice. But not just any sense of justice – the kind that can only eventually come from the character and power of God. And if a heart has not already been hardened by its own self-deception or political loyalties, it feels the discomfort of injustice.

Isaiah 41:1-3 says, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.” This is an image of the promise of the Messiah, of the final and complete work of Jesus Christ.

Humans, however, tend to have a different effect on justice. Isaiah 59:14-15 says “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.” Notice how truth and justice are twin virtues in this passage. Those who survive on lies also, by necessity, pervert justice.

Part of the song goes:

Lord, it’s a damn shame what the world’s gotten to

For people like me and people like you

Wish I could just wake up and it not be true

But it is, oh, it is.

That is the sound of a man longing for justice in a culture where it is fleeing away from the public square.

Men Are Beaten Down

This truth is gathering steam. For a long time, men have been demeaned and trodden upon for the various causes of the last several “waves” of feminism. This campaign to reduce men to some version of inherent and unsolvable “toxicity” or other vice has done the work of a forest fire. All the relevant numbers having to do with the well-being of men are bad. Some of them, really bad. Suicide rates for men have been on the rise for years. The real unemployment rate of working age men has reached Depression era levels. Men have few to no friends anymore. When was the last time you saw a father or uncle portrayed well in a TV show? How many boys and teenagers are so confused by their culture and their sex that they suddenly want to become women? (Another term we can suddenly not define.)

If you were asked to define masculinity, could you do it in a way that gives genuine value to a man without making the mistakes of turning them into a shadow of a woman or some kind of cave man?

And on it goes. Several good works have recently documented these depressing statistics and some of them are offering thoughtful ways out. But any attempt to help men right now is met with criticism and knee-jerk epithets. If you help a young man become a man, you must be trying to create a patriarchal monster who plans on oppressing minorities and beating his wife and kids. It is ridiculous. And this criticism comes from some people who should know better.

Nancy Pearcey, who has been in the philosophy and apologetics arena for many years, just published a book on this topic. The Toxic War on Masculinity is a well-researched and important book for our time. Pearcey also says it is the most controversial book she has ever written. If someone who has been defending the truth of Christianity, and who’s last book was on human sexuality, says this book has received the most resistance, then you know this issue touches an open nerve.

It is popular to beat men down now, and woe to the person who tries to life them up.

Part of the song laments,

Young men are puttin’ themselves six feet in the ground

‘Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin’ them down.

Do Not Live By Lies

There are a lot of reasons this song has resonated. The primary one, in my opinion, is one that most people may not know how to verbalize, but they are all thinking it: “Finally, somebody said it!” So much is so wrong, and it feels like there is so little that people can do about it. The tide of moral evil seems so overwhelming that when a factory worker sings a song with a steel guitar, people from all walks of life from around the world watch it over and over.

Most of our world’s power structures are built on bald-faced lies. They know they are lying, and they are daring you to tell them they are liars. They have propaganda on their side, making it feel like they are the majority. They have a lot of people on social media going along with “saying all the right things” and avoiding cancellation. They have successfully severed the bonds of friendship and family over their fascistic values. And for what? Their power and their money. Certainly not yours.

The brave soul right now refuses to live by lies. I have nothing to gain of any real value if I live by their lies. They have everything to gain by convincing me (or frightening me) to live according to their lies.

Don’t do it. There’s an Appalachian musician who has shown you that you are not alone.

The brave soul right now refuses to live by lies. I have nothing to gain of any real value if I live by their lies. They have everything to gain by convincing me (or frightening me) to live according to their lies.

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