This post deals with a growing concern of mine. I may be called paranoid and silly. But, I know enough about history’s past to disregard such accusations.
The Set Up
Hitler was effective in exterminating Jews because he indulged in propaganda. Early in his campaign, little slanders and defamations of character seeped into news mediums. These insults were subtle a first. However, the perception that Jews were undesirables began to permeate German society and thought.
The Current Situation
If one pays attention to the headlines of today’s news media, one will notice that Christians are misrepresented, mocked, and jeered.
The Catholic Priests’ Scandal
Terry Jones’s Book Burning
Reyna Chicas’s “Jesus Cult”
Eddie Long’s Sex Allegations
The current media trend presents Christians as fundamentalist, crazies, hypocrites, and immoral.
My Reaction
The news, including both liberal and conservative, are dangerously misrepresenting the Christian community. These distortions will prompt bigoted actions toward Christians. The perception of Christianity is marred in our culture. Hatred toward fundamentalist and evangelical Christians is on the rise. It may simply be an under current now, but history has taught us that every massacre and persecution starts with a small seed of hatred and deception.
3 comments:
did any of those scandals not deserve to be brought to light and judged for their hypocrisy? the koran burning and long's hypocrisy towards homosexual desire in particular are evidence of persecution to other groups from WITHIN christianity. i have a hard time believing that they didn't get exactly what they deserved. maybe it's helpful to have our flaws pointed out.
- anne
Anne,
I hope you know that I agree with you. Scandal must be exposed and reprimanded.
But, I don’t think this is the media’s job. Propaganda and news are (in my estimation) separate things. News should report facts and events. The commentary that is extremely popular in today’s media is leaning toward slander and generalizations.
This contemporary media trend gives voice to hate speech, opinions, arguments, and outsider observations. This will feed misrepresentations.
This is not only true for Christians. Even homosexuality is incorrectly portrayed in movies, news, and other entertainment venues.
You inferred: these people got what they deserved.
Honestly, I don’t know. I know the media wants me to believe they deserved it, but generally I am more forgiving of our human frailties.
Thanks for commenting!
yeah, i agree that the media can be ridiculous. there's no reason for things to go on so long. i think this comic expresses it pretty perfectly-- made me laugh anyway. ^_^
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2017
- anne
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