Why I’m Media-Fasting

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Yesterday is a little too close to this day in my life.

It was a somewhat sunny January day in 2001. I was done with classes for that afternoon and was checking out CNN. That’s when I saw this story — apparently, there had been someone planning to stage a Columbine incident at my twin brother’s community college.

My heart was racing as I called Sean (my twin) and asked him if he knew why classes had been cancelled. I then told him about the thing I had seen on CNN. Sean looked at the story and told me that if this person had succeeded with his plans, he would have killed hundreds of people and Sean might have been one of them.

Yeah. All this because Al De Guzman,a freshman at De Anza, was pissed off at his life and angry at the rich kids who seemed to have a better one. (Apparently the Virginia Tech gunman had the same complaints.)

The mass casualties were prevented because a clerk at Longs (a drugstore chain on the West Coast) was processing film and saw the pics of bombs and guns. Her father was a San Jose police officer and she knew to be leery of what she saw. De Guzman was apprehended when he came to get his film and police spent the next 48 hours sweeping the campus for bombs and hidden weapons. The clerk got a 4 year scholarship from the California State University system and De Guzman got 70 years behind bars. He hanged himself in prison 3 1/2 years later.

So why am I avoiding the media today? Simple. I know what happened. I know that 32 innocent people are dead as well as the gunman. I don’t need to see endless reels of footage from the campus or hear soundbytes of 911 calls. Instead, I’d prefer to pray for the families and friends of the victims… as well as the parents and loved ones of the gunman who are probably wondering what went wrong here.

That is all.

Double Standard for Free Speech (II)

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Quoth TulipGirl on my Double Standard for Free Speech post:

And then there is another double standardâ????that in which other entertainers (comedians and rappers come to mind readily) say racist and degrading things regularly, and are rewarded with record contracts and adoring fans and not held accountable. As they should be, and as Imus was.

I agree most heartily.

While lying awake last night listening to CNN Headline News, I heard about some in the music industry defending the use of racial and gender-based slurs toward women in music, saying that they should be standing with Imus instead of going against him. According to Russell Simmons, “hiphop is a phenomena that transcends race…” Ummm… no.

What makes it right for rappers and hiphop stars to use the N-word, call women “ho’s”, and have scantily clad women making suggestive movements in their videos, yet at the same time call for Imus to be fired for the comments he made about the Rutgers women’s basketball team? Either words are simply words or we have a serious double standard here that needs to be rectified.

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Double Standard for Free Speech

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I’m kind of glad Imus was fired from MSNBC and CBS for making the “nappy-headed ho’s” comment about the Rutgers women’s basketball team but… what about people like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and others who make racist comments?Â? Do we just expect it from them?

I also want to just say that those members of the basketball team who spoke at the news conference, especially Essence Carson, were incredibly poised and just sounded brilliant.Â? They were tactful and quite diplomatic about the whole thing and I really wish these ladies well in their future.

A Time to Speak and a Time to Be Silent

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I frequently get asked how I can live in such an “isolated” area with people who are so “uninformed” by people who have known me since I was little or who went to college with me. Well… here’s my answer.

  1. This isn’t necessarily an isolated area. The part of Montana where I live is really rural but… we do have the Internet and our DSL is better than the DSL where my in-laws live in southern California. I might have to drive 20-25 miles to go grocery shopping and do my banking but it’s not like I’m the only one who has to. People have lived out here for a long time and they’ve adapted to living in remote locations. In addition, we’re all pretty close out here because we have to be — if I didn’t know the people around me well, I’d have problems.
  2. People are not “uninformed” just because they don’t happen to know about some of the things going on in the world. A lot of the people here may know more about grain prices than they do about the situation going on in Darfur but… it has to do with the fact that grain prices determine whether they have money for food and shelter than it does with simple ignorance. The War in Iraq affects us in that oil prices are insane (which is a pain for those of us who have to commute distances to do simple errands) but the genocide in Darfur simply isn’t something that affects most people here. It’s one of those times where me (as the pastor’s wife) being concerned about something involves letting people know what it means to them in their daily lives and sometimes the things that affect people in L.A. (like immigration) aren’t things that affect people in Montana.
  3. People are not evil because they watch FOX News. As much as I kvetch about how evil Fox News is, it’s the preferred news network up here because most everyone is conservative and FOX shares some of their same values. Instead of kvetching about how evil O’Reilly is, I instead have to show people the other side of the coin, which involves me knowing when it’s appropriate to bring something up vs. when I should really keep my mouth shut. People have every right to vote as they please so I don’t go on about how EVIL the Republicans are, especially if the Republicans do better things for the people up here than the Democrats do.
  4. There are times when it’s better to just keep my mouth shut instead of speaking up about an issue. This muchly applies to the War in Iraq because we have a large number of vets up here as well as people who have loved ones over in Iraq. I might do things like wear my “We will not be silent” shirt under a sweatshirt on Veteran’s Day or Memorial Day as a silent protest because that way, I can protest something I think is wrong while at the same time refraining from making someone feel like I’m dishonoring the sacrifice that they or someone in their family made.
  5. You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. There are times when I need to call someone on something but I need to do it tactfully. After all, this is a small community and I have to live with these people. For example, gossip is a necessary evil here (it’s a way people take care of each other) but… I can choose what I listen to. There will be times when I’ll excuse myself from a conversation because it isn’t something I should be listening to or I’ll just say, “sorry… I shouldn’t be hearing this.” It’s a kind of quiet way of demonstrating that what’s being said isn’t appropriate for me to hear and it doesn’t embarass the person speaking.

I’m writing this based on an experience I had today that has gotten me thinking about all of this.

Catching Up on Things

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[+] Good Friday was awesome, especially the evening service with the youth. They did an awesome job of presenting the Passion story according to Luke. The girl reading the part of Jesus even memorized some of her lines. (We’re a little short on boys in the group, OK? Besides, she’s an awesome reader.)

[+] As grinchy as I felt about having to get up at dark:30 to make the fruit for Church #2 and having to attend all 3 services (!!!!), everything went well on Easter Sunday. Worship was decent and the time with my extended family afterward was wonderful. I saw relatives and cousins that I hadn’t seen in 3-7 years and there was also good food.

[+] Just a tip from a fellow clergy wife: head cheese is not an acceptable hostess present, especially when it is re-gifted. Just sayin’.

[+] Fernando Ortega’s latest CD is awesome beyond words. I need to be on his mailing list or something. Just put myself on his mailing list so that I can go stalk see him perform if he’s ever anywhere within travelling distance.

[+] The weather lately has me doubting the truth of global warming.Â? I mean, I know it’s happening and I’m doing stuff to petition the government to stop ignoring it but… dude, it’s freaking below 32F and snowing here IN APRIL!!!!!!Â? (Could someone please give the Paxil back to Mother Nature????)

Easter Joy!

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Now the green blade rises from the buried grain,
Wheat that in the dark earth many years has lain;
Love lives again, that with the dead has been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

In the grave they laid Him, Love Whom we had slain,
Thinking that Heâ????d never wake to life again,
Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

Up He sprang at Easter, like the risen grain,
He that for three days in the grave had lain;
Up from the dead my risen Lord is seen:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

When our hearts are saddened, grieving or in pain,
By Your touch You call us back to life again;
Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.
–LBW 148