Media Rex

It's no secret to most of us in America that public opinion is decreasingly grounded in fact and increasingly founded on media spin. It would be easy to gripe about the news outlets alone; all of us can list channels, newspapers, and websites and their associated conservative/liberal bias (which is one reason I get most of my news from the BBC, but that's another story). Today, though, I want to deal with the entertainment industry.

Television, movies, music, books, and visual art dominate our lives. We all consume these media on a sweeping scale. It only makes sense that something which garners such large amounts of our time would influence how we think. And today's entertainers know it. Far from the pure escapism of earlier times (or even its blatant didactic moments), our current media pushes propaganda of the worst sort; television teaches false morality. The values we absorb from songs, shows, and books become our own values. The problem is the anti-Christian nature of those ethics.

What are we to do? Two things. One, don't be afraid to pull the plug on anything promoting unbiblical ideals. Get rid of it. I'm not advocating we all become Amish, just that we be bold in maintaining our holiness at home, even at the expense of things we might enjoy. Second, and on a positive note, create. Create, create, create. For over a millennium, the Church produced beautiful works of art, true masterpieces. Do it again. Write the next great novel. Make the next hit TV show, film, or album. Paint the next Sistine Chapel. Create some wonderful media for the glory of God.

Let Him reign, not the entertainments of this world.