Media: Madonna vs Mel

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." (John 15:18,19 NIV) Recently there has been a struggle within myself with the always politically correct media. The media will tell you there is no discrimination amongst their news stories. They view all discrimination with disdain. Yet, they perpetuate their own versions of discrimination, without regards to the people they offend. Daniel, I’ve watched the news and they are vehemently against discrimination, what news discriminated against African- Americans, homosexuals, Jews, or Muslims? None, that I am aware of, but there is a strong anti-Christian bias within the media. Before you have a hemorrhage, read the whole entry.
Just recently I was flipping the channels and happen to come across the Crap News Network. They ran a 10 minute story on the evil anti-Semitic Mel Gibson. TEN MINUTES!! On something that happened a while back. (Also understand I don’t think Mel is an evil anti-Semite. That’s how the media portrayed him). What he did is reprehensible, but he has repented and felt very remorseful for what he has done. Is what he did unforgivable? Not at all. We all have had a momentary lapse of reason and when we repent and ask forgiveness, God will forgive us, and as Christians we are to forgive those who sin against us. Which actually brings me to my problem with the media.
Just even more recently the beloved Madonna was stripped of her "artistic creativity" because "fundamentalist Christians" petitioned NBC not to show a part of her show. The part of the show, her giving herself a mock crucifixion. In an interview with a famed woman journalist, Madonna claimed that she was censored and should have been allowed to show her mocking of the crucifixion. She is an artist and she should be able to do what she wants, even if it offends a certain type of person. If she did something that offended African-Americans would the media still be encouraging her? Of course not, and they would be treating her with the same disdain that they treat Mel at this point.
A couple of years ago, I was listening to Focus on the Family, and Dr Dobson had on an African-American pastor. (Unfortunately, I can not remember his name, but I remember the conversation) He made a valid point: All the references that the media made about him being a Christian (or anything Christian) would have been made about his race, he could sue for discrimination, but because it was about him being a Christian there wasn’t anything he could do about it.
When we think of persecution of the Christians we think of people being beheaded or thrown to the lions. We think we are a civilized society and none of that happens today. Wake up and look at what’s going on in our society. Lawsuits are being presented to stop children from bringing Bibles to school, children praying over their lunch, and organizing of Christian after school groups. Christians are being portrayed as narrow minded hate mongers, (unfortunately, there are some "Christians" that help spread that image) or simple minded idiots. Christians are portrayed as hypocrites and mindless lemmings. Christians are being sued for preaching hate, when they speak out of the Bible. Pastors are being persecuted, maligned, and hated by the media, because they speak God’s word. Why? Read the opening quote. I never gave that much thought until just recently. People hate Christians because of Jesus.
I was watching Bill O’Reilly one night and he had on his show a liberal woman. I used to like this woman as an actress and comedienne, but after that interview I was turned away from her. She talked about how "Christian conservatives" were narrow minded and wouldn’t let other people express their opinions. Bill masterfully wove the conversation onto that discussion. It was interesting to watch her stumble bumble around after he turned the tables on her. What did he say? He just pointed out the liberal style of thinking. "It’s all right to have an open mind as long as you agree with what they say. But, they're narrowminded if they don't agree with you." I have seen countless interviews from many people and it is my opinion that the liberal interviewers won’t allow others to speak their mind, unless it’s something they want to hear, and conservative interviewers to allow others to speak, even if it differs, but respond with truths, and the other person has a problem with responding back. It’s interesting how when someone quotes scripture on TV, they become narrow minded, yet when someone quotes Gloria Steinem they’re open minded.
Another case in point, Saturday, on my drive to visit my pa, I was listening to the radio. The topic was on abortion, particularly partial birth abortion. A woman called in to say she believed abortion to be all right. So the host asked about partial birth abortion, and the woman said she supported an abortion at any stage to be the right of the mother. The host then described a partial birth abortion to the woman. WARNING: The following account can be disturbing, read the following very very carefully, if you have a weak stomach or love for children skip to The media wants to. . .
The host described a partial birth abortion. He said, "A partial birth abortion is when they deliver the baby, except for the head. So the legs are flailing around, the arms are swinging. The stomach is compressing. The heart is beating. And the doctor then slides a scalpel into the woman and makes an incision into the head of the baby, and then uses a suction tube and sucks out the brains of the baby, causing the skull to collapse, aborting the child. What then is the difference in 3 inches and the doctor doing the same thing, after the baby has been delivered." The response of the woman, "You don’t need to put it in those terms, that makes it sound bad." The hosts response, "That’s because it is bad. And the current laws make no difference between 3 inches, between abortion and infanticide. Abortion is infanticide!" And a certain news channel was upset because the host of the show disagreed with the caller, and made her think.
The media wants to make Madonna a saint and Mel the second coming of Hitler. The media wants to make Christians to be narrow minded hate spewing idiots. The media wants you to think anything Christian is stupid. And they will do everything they can to portray Christians in a negative light and anti-Christians in a positive light. When you ask yourself why the media does what it does, keep the opening scripture in mind.
Have a blessed week
Daniel G Vandenburg
Addendum: This is posted after I originally posted this blog. An independant study in the new stories released a study. It was done on the media coverage in the last 6 weeks beginning in Sept. of the political parties. It found that 77% of the media stories favored the democrats and 12% favored the Republicans. That is the news stories, not the advertising. And to say there is no bias in the media.