Thursday, December 14, 2006

Having a Good Day? Then Don't Watch the Evening News!

Core Thought: Why are we drawn to the negative stuff?

Sorry, I've been out for a week...had a mini-cold, etc. I saw the ABC (you can probably insert any network...it seems to be the same with them all) news the other night, and in 20 minutes (you subtract about 10 min for commercials!) of actual broadcasting, they covered these stories:

Iraq: daily, weekly death tolls; questions on staying/withdrawal/internal fighting between two main factions, etc.

Political race for president (Isn't that still two years away???) / Democratic tension over Hillary vs. Obama

The IRS's ineptitude using a new computer system (without a backup) that caused 200 to 300 million in refunds that were NOT legitimate. Guess who ends up paying for their mistake...us, so if you got a refund that you were not due, send it back! Hmmm...hasn't the IRS heard of stop payments??

Violence in GAZA as Palestinian factions continue to fight...this night was particularly gruesome with video of the car in which three children (3,6,9) were gunned down because of their father's position in the gov't. Sure, it's news, but why did they have to show video of the interior of the car riddled with bullet holes, and blood...remember, ABC is owned and operated by DISNEY!

The plight of children (as young as five or six) in the Congo and other parts of Africa working in mineral mines (copper and cobalt) to get minerals needed for OUR ELECTRONICS! Now how guilty do I feel about that? I didn't know! Honest!

And then my personal favorite: THE CHRISTMAS WARS...the tag line was something like, "Tis the Season to Be Intolerant or Outraged." The story centered on the airport in Seattle removing their Christmas trees when a rabbi wanted a menorah put up. They even interviewed the airport Santa, asking if he felt like he was a "walking target!" Personally, what saddens me is when Christians get angry ON AIR about not having a nativity scene somewhere, etc., instead of finding ways to reach and love people who disagree with them. I mean, if Jesus on the cross can forgive everyone (including you and me) who was responsible for his being there... and mind you, He did that with no one (other than the thief) coming for repentance, agreeing with Him, etc...so be careful what you get mad at! Make sure it's something that Jesus would get mad at...like injustice, poverty, the sin in your own life. Then again, that's the subject for another blog.

No, where was I? Oh, the negative 20 minutes...to be fair, there was one news story that was upbeat..the shuttle made it to the international space station...that took about 15 seconds.

I wouldn't have even blogged this had not Charlie Gibson (who comes across as an upbeat person), said, "We hope you've had a good day, and we hope for you a good night!" I thought to myself, "Hmmm...that news cast didn't really contribute to my having a good day! Sure, we need to know what's going on in the world, and sure, people are more interested in the negative stuff....but can't we have more than 15 seconds of uplifting news on a news show?

I guess the good news business isn't the networks anyway, I guess that why God gave us the Great Commission, and not to ABC!


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