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| The
Doctrine of Sensationalism
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It’s interesting
to me that news reporting has taken on a kind of
sensationalism. You can’t just report on a threatening
storm, you have to stand in three-feet-deep water and let the
wind nearly blow you over so that you let the folks watching
know that there’s a big rain storm. When I worked in the
media (admittedly, long ago now), there was an unwritten law
about reporting: you didn’t show bloody scenes and you never
showed a dead body. Now it’s routine—and the bloodier, the
better. Just today I read in the paper where there had to be a
lawful intervention to keep Robert Blake, the actor who is
accused of murdering his wife, from appearing on Dianne
Sawyer’s program. That’s news? Spare me. That’s
sensationalism. If I’m any judge (and maybe I’m not),
there’s no such thing as objectivity in reporting the news
today; it’s all commentary. The media not only tells you
what happened but offers constant opinionated views of what
you ought to think about it. And when you consider that the
media is almost all liberal, you must know that you hardly
ever get a view that tends toward anything morally
constructive. It’s nearly always tolerant, no matter the
immorality involved. After all, we have our rights. People’s
rights are more important than their wrongs it seems.
Entertainment is tainted with sensationalism, too. There are
few heartwarming, family type movies, only one big fat
explosion after another. I don’t watch movies much , but
when I flip by them it seems to me that there’s either a
huge explosion blowing off or a car chase. And sometimes there
is a car chase that ends up in a huge explosion. Now that’s
good drama, right? And our imagination is titillated with all
kinds of monsters. We are treated to celestial beings so
bizarre that it seems to me you’d have to be on something
just to dream them up. And then, if that weren’t enough, we
are bombarded with terrestrial beings that come up out of the
ground and invade our habitation with a ferocity that runs
past our wildest nightmares. What ever happened to Billy Goat
Gruff and the Big, Bad wolf? Were they not enough?
I remember when a four letter word threatened to ruin Gone
With The Wind. Now that word is bandied around with
nonchalance. I remember when the Federal Communications
Commission could lock the doors on your radio station for the
slightest hint of dirty language. Now dirty language is the
rule, not the exception on many stations. Some even specialize
in it. Disc Jockeys’ mouths exude filth and garbage with
impunity. Call-in programs discuss things that heretofore were
reserved for the most private conversations, if they were
discussed at all. And sexual innuendo is not innuendo at
all—they just come right out and describe the most delicate
sexual moments without shame or blush. What ever happened to
propriety?
What brought all this about? Sensationalism has to be part of
the cause. Yesterday’s putridity is not sufficient; it has
to be topped again today. Where will it all end? I don’t
know, but today’s sensationalism doesn’t bode well for the
future, that’s for sure. Filth has always caused poor
health—be it physical or spiritual and whatever you sow, you
will reap—count on it.
And what about the election campaign advertising? Nothing
positive is said about any candidate, very little is said
about his qualifications or programs, and there is almost no
discussion of issues, just some sensational, mud-slinging
story about the opponent. Who knows who is qualified to serve?
I’ve heard of skeletons in the closet, but they’ve pulled
out all the old dog bones as well. It’s inhumane how they
treat one another. It’s sensationalism at its worst,
that’s what.
And would someone please explain to me the difference between
the Playboy Magazine of the 1950s and the Victoria’s
Secret Catalog we got in the mail last week?
Now you may think I’m upset about all this. And you’re
right. I have grandchildren that are growing up in all this,
and if they aren’t taught differently (I’m happy to say
they are), they’re apt to consider this kind of conduct the
norm. And what about those people who in the next generation
have to top today’s sensationalism? Where are they to go to
do it? To what ungodly ends will they have to turn? What kind
of putrid conduct is left to top what we’re seeing today?
It’s scary, folks.
But I don’t despair. I don’t like it, but I’m not in
total despair. In the midst of all this there is God’s
gospel. Right smack in the middle of the Roman decadence, Paul
told the people that the gospel is “the power of God unto
salvation,” even as he warned of those who “did not like
to retain God in their knowledge.” Having described the
invasion of perilous times to come “in the last days,” he
tells the young evangelist in —with the utmost
confidence—I am writing these things so that you will know
“how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God,
which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground
of the truth.” Make no mistake about it—God is on His
throne. He sees our plight and He cares. In the middle of this
loblolly of immorality, in the midst of this disregard for
honor and purity, in the midst of the seeming disdain for
piety and holiness, His word shines as a lighthouse beacon
during a stormy night.
He is there and He cares. It is but ours to listen. Let us
learn to be turned off by television’s efforts to capture
our morals. Let us not be overly impressed by the media’s
constant bombardment of our principles. Let us turn our minds
more toward Bible study and less toward the things of the
world. Believe me, He is there. And He cares.
Dee Bowman
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Copyright (C)
2009
Southside Church of Christ
All rights reserved.
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