Too Controversial
I just read that NBC and CBS, both owned by Viacom, have chosen not to air an advocacy ad for the United Church of Christ for being "too controversial" and "unacceptable for broadcast.” The main point of controversy seems to be the text "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we,” which is in reference to homosexuals, people with disabilities, and minorities. Honestly, I had no idea that UCC even existed or that a church was seeking to advocate tolerance on the airwaves. Sounds like a nifty idea to me. They’re a minority so the word has to get out somehow.
Alas, Viacom has decided to help keep people like me in the dark. Their intention, supposedly, is to avoid controversy since the whole “gay marriage debate” has been thrust to the forefront thanks to Rove and Co. What a horrible attempt to create an excuse for banning an ad.
Do I understand this correctly? They’re trying to avoid controversy by implicitly advocating the conservative right’s views on marriage and tolerance?
By the way, isn’t UCC money as good as any other kind? I guess not. It’s scary when even paying up can’t get your words on the air.
posted by The Decider @ 3:27 PM
4 Comments:
Don't worry! Rev. Jerry Falwell reminds us all that we don't have to be stuck with network news anymore (I just have to post this quote):
"I remember a day when ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN and the major print media controlled all the news flow to the American people and we found ourselves getting warped and distorted news. I thank God now in the 21st century for talk radio, that three hours a day people like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and hundreds of others are telling the truth of what really is going on. I thank God for FOX News Channel [applause]. I thank God for the Internet bloggers and the news producers like NewsMax.com, WorldNetDaily.com, even The Drudge Report."
- Rev. Jerry Falwell
Nan,
The conservative Christian mob is a very cohesive, strong force indeed. They also work ways that tend not to grab the public's attention such as letter writing campaigns and boycotts. For the purposes of this short writing, let us refer to them as the "Silent but Deadly" (SBD) force.
There are more people who identify themselves as SBD then you might think. Doing a bit of googling, over one-third of the nation identifies itself as "born-again" and "Evangelicals" account for 7% of the population.
The SBD force can be mighty strong, indeed; though you may not be able to see it, the winds of change are working from behind the scenes writing letters to stations with boycott threats if they air certain programming. (Though it's not religiously tied, think back to the "Regan" miniseries.) How many people are going to write in to a station that they WANT to see a commercial? If all you get are angry letters saying that the products aired on your station won't get purchased, what are you going to do? In this sense the minority definitely has control over the majority since the majority typically doesn't know (or care) to ask for something it hasn't seen or heard.
As such, the SBD force permeates our culture with no sight and often times, very little sound. And the SBD force can cover a much larger area than you might expect for a group that's limited in size.
Take a look at what's happening with the movie Kinsey. It's currently being protested by the SBD force (a force that can be loud, often annoyingly and rudely so, with the same results). The SBD force is outraged at the scientific study Kinsey released and claim that the effect caused the cause. That is, by bringing to light (with a very large study, mind you) that American males and females have sex in a multitude of ways and that there really is no "norm" the SBD force thinks Kinsey caused people to be morally lax. Conservative Christians everywhere are PICKETING theaters where it is being shown.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Movies/11/11/film.kinsey.protests.ap/
As you can see, the SBD force can cause quite a stink over things when it's really not appropriate.
--Joe
Joe! Where have you been?!? I've missed you, buddy.
You're absolutely right about everything. Not only are they SBD, they also tend to make little lies to cover their ugliness when people begin to notice. Rev. Falwell recently said that, “among born-again, Bible-believing Christians who take the Bible as the word of God,” the divorce rate isn’t as high as other religious followers and non-Christians (or Northerners, as I’m sure he’d call them). LIAR! The Barna Group did a study and announced that, “born again Christians are just as likely to divorce as are non-Christians.”
Check out:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200411290008
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdateID=170
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