There has been an awful lot of talk about how racist and fear mongering the press has been in it's coverage of the London bombings. I have to say that I find this somewhat curious. We are all up in arms because "the media" seems to have a preference for WASPs. First of all let's examine the plank in our own eye. I would be willing to bet that whenever you hear about a tragedy somewhere your/my first thought is: Thank God that didn't happen here", followed very quickly by: "Thank God nobody I care about is involved". Let's face it we all make moral judgments about the value of people every singe day. The guy who cuts you off in traffic, the homeless person who accosts you outside the market, anyone who doesn't look like you, act like you, speak like you. How about the person who picks the trash in the alley? or that guy at work that really pisses you off, is his life as valuable to you/me as say your spouse, or you children. How ya doin' with that plank now?
And about "The Media". I think we all need to remember one thing. "The Media" is a "for profit" enterprise. They are going to report on topics that they know/believe are going to be relevant to the market they serve. So just remember that the next time you are condemning the values reflected in the media, that reflection is you.
We have met the enemy, and they is us.
2 comments:
No doubt we all struggle with loving others as we love ourselves. Does that preclude us from moral indignation and injustice and prejudice?
Admittedly, there's a tricky balance to be made between judgment and judgmentalism.
Interestingly enough, as I've been praying that God would soften my heart toward people outside of my ethnicity, nationality and social group, I've been finding that I'm moved when I hear about tragedy and injustice all around the world.
Yeah, it sucks that 50 people died in London. Is it any more tragic than the death of tens of thousands of civilians in Iraq? The simple math of it is obvious that the far greater tragedies happen outside of the gaze of the media.
What's galling to me is that so many of us are willing to not only accept the status quo, but to not wince when we see the leaders of the world unite to condemn the attacks on London, all the while not giving a flying fuck about other people in misery.
(sorry about the tortured syntax of the previous paragraph -- anger affects my grammar skills)
I, for one, am completely willing to accept that I am not loving enough, and that I, 9 times out of ten, will seek to protect my interests at the expense of others'. I'm not willing, however, to forfeit my responsibility to advocate justice on a larger scale, or to wait until I've been completely sanctified to speak out against racism and other pervasive social evils.
Much love for you and yours as we all try to work this out together.
There is a flaw in the logic of lumping "our" media in it's current form in with the powers and principalities etc. The media in it's current guise is strictly a for profit enterprise, at least in this country and thus exists purely at the discretion of the public that consumes it. If we fail to consume it, it goes away or morphs into something else. If we continue to support the media by watching it, or paying for it, then WE are the problem not THEM.
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