Hate, The Media and Jesus
Victoria Hardy
April 15, 2007
So CBS has fired Don Imus and I think that was a fine idea, but the shock jock only represents the very tip of the iceberg of hate in our media. I have found that it has become difficult for me to watch the television news these days and more times than not, I end up with a huge knot in my stomach and a sure sense that I am being mislead. I wonder why we are so hateful these days, but then I flip through the television channels and the subtle manipulations become clear. Watching the cable news programs I hear so much hate and we the viewers, are encouraged to join them in the hate sessions. I guess this is what Orwell referred to as the “2 Minute Hate”, but perhaps he didn’t see that it would grow into the “24 Hour Hate”.
I often hear people state their opinions on subjects from the war in Iraq to Rosie O’Donnell and it seems their thoughts mirror, nearly verbatim, what I just heard on some news or entertainment program. They hate this one or love that one with such fervor, such energy and fully believe they are stating their own opinions, it seems most don’t recognize that they are echoing Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck or Inside Edition. I hesitate to use the words mind control, but sometimes I wonder what else it could be, perhaps they call them programs for a reason. I can’t figure out why we listen to this obviously slanted blather and then claim it as our own? Is there just a part of us that loves to hate? Do we seriously believe that by condemning and mocking others we become a stronger nation?
I guess what I find most disturbing about these media driven hate sessions, is that many of the hosts claim that they are Christians and use that as support for spewing hateful comments. And then the viewers gather behind the hosts, hearing the word Christian, but not seeing the bitter fruits of the hater’s actions.
I’ve been thinking a lot about Jesus recently, how he spoke of deception and then I wonder why his followers don’t see the deceptions all around us. Jesus taught us to seek and question authority, he insisted that we seek until we find, he warned that at first we will be disturbed by what we see, but we must persevere and then we will be amazed by what we discover. But the self-proclaimed Christian hosts of the cable news tell us we should look no further than their words, and they show us the wisdom of discontinuing our search by engaging in demeaning and hateful tirades. The message hits us loud and clear that if we do not agree, we are deserving of such attacks. I guess Jesus never implied that the search would be easy.
And then an even more frightening thought hits me, would millions of Christians across the world accept a Jesus offered to them by the way of the media? Would people just trust and believe these scripts? For myself I know that if the mainstream media introduced Jesus, I would look in another direction, but what about the majority? And how easy would it be to manipulate the faith of millions?
The doublespeak is all around us, but we do not see, we believe it is right to wage war, but wrong to ask questions. We have learned the way to support our opinions is to hate, mock and name call. We are told we should not kill, but it becomes the righteous, Christian and patriotic thing to do if the government requests our service. We support the idea that the way to maintain our freedom, is to give up our rights. The contradictions go on and on and grow only deeper with close inspection.
I figure I have enough smarts that I don’t need the news to tell me how I should feel, just simply give me the facts and keep all personal or corporate commentary to yourself. I remember a year or so ago, when I was spending far too much time watching all the news, I kept thinking, “How can this be all there is?” I couldn’t understand how these 24-hour stations, which claim to be international had to continuously repeat the same news, the same headlines and have the same arguments. How could it be that when they are covering the world, they run out of information? There are billions of people on this Earth and yet, no news? That’s when the subtle knowledge filled my mind that something was occurring that I was not supposed to see.
Aren’t our lives stressful enough between jobs, kids, ringing phones and responsibilities that the last thing we need is to have our blood pressures skyrocket by exposing ourselves to hate-filled and fear-based media programs? I had saved several quotes by the likes of Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck and Ann Coulter to prove my case about how hateful this world has become, but the funny thing was, while researching hate, I became ill. So I proved my own point to myself, not only is hate and anger not a proper spiritual ideology, it actually harms us physically.
I often hear people state their opinions on subjects from the war in Iraq to Rosie O’Donnell and it seems their thoughts mirror, nearly verbatim, what I just heard on some news or entertainment program. They hate this one or love that one with such fervor, such energy and fully believe they are stating their own opinions, it seems most don’t recognize that they are echoing Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck or Inside Edition. I hesitate to use the words mind control, but sometimes I wonder what else it could be, perhaps they call them programs for a reason. I can’t figure out why we listen to this obviously slanted blather and then claim it as our own? Is there just a part of us that loves to hate? Do we seriously believe that by condemning and mocking others we become a stronger nation?
I guess what I find most disturbing about these media driven hate sessions, is that many of the hosts claim that they are Christians and use that as support for spewing hateful comments. And then the viewers gather behind the hosts, hearing the word Christian, but not seeing the bitter fruits of the hater’s actions.
I’ve been thinking a lot about Jesus recently, how he spoke of deception and then I wonder why his followers don’t see the deceptions all around us. Jesus taught us to seek and question authority, he insisted that we seek until we find, he warned that at first we will be disturbed by what we see, but we must persevere and then we will be amazed by what we discover. But the self-proclaimed Christian hosts of the cable news tell us we should look no further than their words, and they show us the wisdom of discontinuing our search by engaging in demeaning and hateful tirades. The message hits us loud and clear that if we do not agree, we are deserving of such attacks. I guess Jesus never implied that the search would be easy.
And then an even more frightening thought hits me, would millions of Christians across the world accept a Jesus offered to them by the way of the media? Would people just trust and believe these scripts? For myself I know that if the mainstream media introduced Jesus, I would look in another direction, but what about the majority? And how easy would it be to manipulate the faith of millions?
The doublespeak is all around us, but we do not see, we believe it is right to wage war, but wrong to ask questions. We have learned the way to support our opinions is to hate, mock and name call. We are told we should not kill, but it becomes the righteous, Christian and patriotic thing to do if the government requests our service. We support the idea that the way to maintain our freedom, is to give up our rights. The contradictions go on and on and grow only deeper with close inspection.
I figure I have enough smarts that I don’t need the news to tell me how I should feel, just simply give me the facts and keep all personal or corporate commentary to yourself. I remember a year or so ago, when I was spending far too much time watching all the news, I kept thinking, “How can this be all there is?” I couldn’t understand how these 24-hour stations, which claim to be international had to continuously repeat the same news, the same headlines and have the same arguments. How could it be that when they are covering the world, they run out of information? There are billions of people on this Earth and yet, no news? That’s when the subtle knowledge filled my mind that something was occurring that I was not supposed to see.
Aren’t our lives stressful enough between jobs, kids, ringing phones and responsibilities that the last thing we need is to have our blood pressures skyrocket by exposing ourselves to hate-filled and fear-based media programs? I had saved several quotes by the likes of Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck and Ann Coulter to prove my case about how hateful this world has become, but the funny thing was, while researching hate, I became ill. So I proved my own point to myself, not only is hate and anger not a proper spiritual ideology, it actually harms us physically.