Ok, so a little background. Jerry Jones (owner of the Dallas Cowboys) was apparently caught on amateur video ripping on former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells, as well as Tim Tebow. This made the rounds on the sports blogs, etc. I don't really give a crap about the story, but Dale Hansen's comments about the state of journalism are wonderful. I remember watching this guy as a kid growing up in Dallas and never have I respected him more than I do now.
Spot on, Dale.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Yes, Yes, a Thousand Times Yes!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Religion and Media
I've seen a few things over the past couple of weeks that have had me thinking about the dynamics of religion and media these days. As much as religion has been in the news, especially over the past 3 years (Prop 8, jihadists, Warren Jeffs, etc.) I guess it's only inevitable that mainstream media outlets would start dealing with religious themes moreso than in times past.
That said, I don't like it. Our media is saturated with opinions, some of which we agree with and some of which we don't. The problem is that, at some point long ago, consumers began relying on things like television, movies, and music not only for entertainment purposes, but for informational purposes as well. How many times have you heard someone say they like a movie because of the "message" that it sends? Or how many of our favorite singers or bands are our favorites because we agree with their politics or social agendas? When more people got their Congressional voting results from the last major elections from the Daily Show than any other news source, I think that says something.
The consequence of relying on media to shape our belief system is that it gives immense (although unintended) power to the unknown writer sitting in the corner at some Hollywood Starbucks writing a script. It also gives a lot of social and cultural capital to the producers who pull the strings. In a very real sense they become the secular version of priests and prophets. But who are these people to tell us what to think or believe? Are they any more enlightened than we are? Of course not, and most of them don't pretend to be. Our favorite musicians often make no bones about drug addiction or various social or emotional disturbances in their lives. I don't see anything from Hollywood's A-list that makes me think "wow, I should listen to them, they clearly know more about life than I do." Nevertheless, a disturbing number of consumers give credence to the views and opinions expressed in their favorite shows and movies because they are packaged in an entertaining medium that captures our attention. And if it's entertaining, it must be good, right?
I can tolerate this fallacious reasoning when it comes to societal issues, because mob mentality rarely makes sense--it is what it is. Gay marriage, health care, jobs, the environment, all that stuff. In the end, we're all human beings trying to figure out the best way to co-exist with problems and issues that begin and end with us as a society. Everyone is rightfully entitled to their opinion. Whether it makes sense or not, celebrities drive opinions because they have access to widespread means of communication and can make their opinions attractive.
You can argue that religion is a similar issue in that it deals with us as individuals and it only has as much sway in society as we let it have. But I feel like there's more to it than that. If (and this is a big "IF") we accept that a God or some omnipotent, intelligent force of some kind exists, then it seems almost ego-maniacal to think that we can fully comprehend its thoughts, methods, purposes, or reasons. If God exists and created us, He must be superior to us in such a way that we can't even begin to imagine with our relatively feeble human brains. There's no way we can ever fully understand His mind or his purposes. And so it seems to be rather presumptive to attempt to whittle religion (or, rather, what our relationship to God is) down into a few pop-culture sound bites. And yet, that's what I'm seeing when my favorite TV shows go off on their high horses about how organized religion is lunacy, or the familiar "if God existed, then He would want X, Y, or Z" As if media opinion leaders could even begin to understand the mind of God sufficiently to say something like that.
I ignore it, personally. I give it no legitimacy whatsoever. But it scares me that many people seem to. I'm not saying people consciously base their opinions on what their favorite actor says (although some do). I'm saying that certain messages pervade our culture enough (via mass media) that they begin to become commonly accepted as fact by the masses. And it concerns me when those messages begin to deal with the nature and purposes of a supposedly all-knowing and omnipotent being, yet originate from origins that are saturated with wholesale secularism.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Today...
...my government decided it would be a good idea to take more of my money than it already does and give it to others to buy health care that they most likely don't want in the first place, so that insurance companies can make bigger profits. Then my president told me it was all right because it was best for me. Because he clearly knows better than I do.
God Bless America.
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