I want to weigh in on this one.
Of course Media Matters. And I am refreshed and relieved that the folks at Mennonite Media think so also.
If you have TV, radio or Internet (what about newspapers, or magazines, soon to bite the dust in the printed form I suspect).
A Sidebar: Just look at The Boston Globe, it is for sale...because it lost $50 Million last year. How much clean water could that have supplied? Now this will make my husband really sad, because he follows the Boston Red Sox, and in years gone by when we vacationed on Lake Winnepesaukee in NH we would tromp down to Camelot, a delightful and quaint, quintessentially NE newspaper, candy, book, gift shop. Well, guess what. The owner retired, we haven't been back to NH much and Howie reads the Globe on line, so the fact that the print version may evaporate doesn't really bother him. He gets it for free, can bring the scores right up and he is a happy camper.
I, on the other hand, am a hold out. I like the tactility (is that a word?) of turning pages and even getting newsprint on my fingers. Ah, I digress...
But I would venture to say that media matters in a huge way. It influences (if we allow it to) how we view subjects, how we interpret information and the perspective with which news is delivered. Are you a Fox News Junkie or do you prefer MSNBC?
I applaud Mennonite Media for taking an honest and hard look at tough issues: Recovery, Suicide, and others, and seeking to open dialog and add a voice to the conversation.
We listen to pop radio. There is plenty of junk on the air. But then again there is Jordan Sparks, too, and I do love her and when I finally got on the American Idol bandwagon it did expand my horizons and give us plenty to talk about...
Anyway, back to pop radio, Ryan Seacrest and 99.7 locally. There is plenty of objectionable content. Instead of barring it completely, I make my voice heard and open the dialog with my girls about why something is offensive or the message is wrong. Think if you flip the station they won't hear or know the lyrics to the song? Think again. Unless they are living in a totally bubbled world it will catch up with them sooner or later (and my younger daughter may be the one to teach it to others at the Mennonite Camp she is attending this week...oy vey, in trouble again...)
But my voice is being heard, and the conversation is open, and perhaps they (the teeny bopper pop crew) can also have a voice with their peers...
There is one song I find particularly offensive. I don't even know what the name of the song is, but there is a line about "Doing the Helen Keller and moving your hips." When it came on the radio in the car yesterday, I didn't even have to turn the radio off. Tianna, )my 12 year old daughter) who was sitting up front with me beat me to it. YAY! We had a passenger in the back who asked "why?" And I could explain that Helen Keller was an amazing woman of courage and integrity who was deaf and blind, and that the reference to communicating by moving one's hips (because they couldn't speak or hear) was totally disrespectful and totally unacceptable. Period. And she told me her mom didn't like the song either.
But we have to do more than not like the song. We need a voice to chime in on the conversation and say why.
Mennonite Media is doing this. Their documentaries have been aired on The Hallmark Channel and ABC and add a voice to the conversation. Kudos to them. We need this conversation in our homes and also in our churches.
Don't be afraid to speak up and be BOLD.
Join the conversation and add your voice.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
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2 comments:
And then there are those of us who DON'T hardly know what is going on in the world...(other than some selected politics) we have to ask, who are somebody plus how many? (I can't even remember their names..a few blogs ago) Or who go to lap swim, the one place I hear radio, albeit oldies, and have to ask, "Why are they playing so many old Michael Jackson songs tonight?" And who didn't even "get" the Helen Keller line (until you explained it).
Either I"m living in another world, or some people are not so affected by the media...and who could care less what they say.
But then, I think we live differently than other people on the whole. As an illustration in our pastor's sermons (he was preaching out of Ephesians..well one of those 4) and his translation said, "Don't irritate each other." And he said, "Just think if we quit irritating each other JUST in our marriages alone, what a difference that would make." And everyone was nodding in wholehearted agreement, and I was sitting there, for the rest of the sermon trying to think of a way my hubby irritates me. I could not come up with one. Of course, when I got home, 3 of them popped right out at me...but I have since forgotten them. So I dunno, and I just dense, or am I doing something right???
Oh, and HAD I heard that lyric on the radio, I probably would have heard "lips" instead of "hips" because that would have made more sense to me....
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