The Media
And it’s death grip on the nation’s moral direction
Clint Harper
When we speak of the "Media" we are referring to such things as Movies, Television, Music, Newspapers and Magazines. These are the things we spend too much of our time with our minds immersed in. The question is, do we realize what the media is doing to our minds? We know that there are too many "cuss words" in movies today. We recognize that there is too much sexual imagery in the movies we watch. But do we really know how bad it has gotten?
The old adage goes; if you put a frog in a pan of hot water he will jump out. But, if you put that same frog in a pan of warm water and slowly turn up the heat, the frog will sit right there and be boiled alive. I wonder how many of us are being boiled alive. When Lot "pitched his tent toward Sodom" (Genesis 13:12), do you really think he had the intention of having his soul "vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked"? Just the same, we may not realize just how bad it has gotten.
The Center for Media and Public Affairs (a non-profit, non-religious, non-governmental group) has done some research on the amount of profanity and sexual imagery in our modern entertainment. They reported the following on their web site for the 1998-99 season:
Profane language is used once every six minutes on network TV shows, every two minutes on premium cable shows, and every three minutes in major motion picture…FOX featured the most foul-mouthed shows among the broadcast networks, while HBO led the cable networks.
There are many examples given in the article of the language used with the expletives left out. Then they give a listing of "The Dirty Dozen" among Network programming, Cable Programming, and for Motion Pictures as follows.
TV Program – Rating – Profanity Per Episode
Costello (FOX) – TV-PG 24
Family Guy (FOX) – TV-PG 20
Viper TV-PG 18
To Have and To Hold (CBS)-TV-PG 17
Babylon 5 –NR 17
Holding the Baby (FOX) TV-PG 14
Becker (CBS) – TV-PG 13
NYPD Blue (ABC) – TV-14 12
Living In Captivity (FOX) – TV-PG 11
That ‘70’s Show (FOX) – TV-PG 11
Nash Bridges (CBS) – TV-PG 11
7 Days (UPN) – TV-PG 11
Notice that the worst rating any of these had was a TV-14 rating. I will not list all of the Cable programs they have. However, some samples are, Pacific Blue (17), LA Heat (11), The Net (7), Farscape (7) and LaFemme Nikita (5). And again, the worst rating was TV-14.
Motion Picture – Rating – Profanity Per Film (Hard-Core)
1. Primary Colors – R 175 (109)
2. Lethal Weapon 4 – R 153 (69)
3. Something About Mary – R 128 (67)
4. The Negotiator – R 124 (83)
5. Out of Sight – R 113 (67)
6. I Know…Last Summer – R 96 (50)
7. Rush Hour – PG-13 85 (23)
8. Saving Private Ryan – R 83 (28)
9. Snake Eyes – R 70 (21)
10. Armageddon – PG-12 65 (8)
11. Blade – R 60 (37)
12. U.S. Marshals – PG-13 55 (16)
In another report by the same group, sexual imagery in popular entertainment has become a very big selling point. Some excerpts from the report follow:
Criticism of music video content has been more sporadic, at least partly because of the rapid turnover of titles. On a scene-for-scene basis, however, this format contained more sexual material than any other – 93 scenes per hour, or one and one half per minute, among those shown in our MTV sample…
There are several examples of the most sexually explicit videos and movies that I will not list here. However, one of the most concerning things is as follows:
Public concern over sexual themes and images in popular entertainment extends beyond the sheer volume of such material to the context in which it is presented…To get some indication as to whether such material is integral to a larger narrative rather than serving a mainly libidinal interest, we analyzed the dramatic context within which each instance of sexual behavior occurred. Specifically, we determined whether such behavior had any lasting physical or emotional consequences, whether the script contained any overt judgment of the activity, and whether characters engaging in sexual activity were presented in a mainly positive or negative light….
One of the most striking things about the portrayal of sex in popular entertainment is how rarely it has any consequences for either the participants or any other characters. Out of 3228 scenes showing sexual activity…only eight pregnancies and not a single case of sexually transmitted disease resulted. Overall, 98% of these instances had no physical consequences of any sort.
Basically the same is reported about the emotional consequences of sexual activity. Brethren, the water is boiling and we have failed to recognize it.
The Lord tells us that advertising works (Matthew 5:13-16), therefore, we need to be careful about the things that we watch and listen to. Paul tells us that the associations that we keep can cause us to have our morals corrupted (1 Corinthians 15:33). Further he tells us to not allow our associations be such as would cause us to go astray (2 Corinthians 6:14).
Therefore, we need to make a choice (Joshua 24:15) about the things we are going to allow to be put into our and our children’s minds. Remember what the things that were constantly before the eyes of Lot did (2 Pet 2:7-8). Paul gives us this admonition, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things" (Philippians 4:8). And he says further, "And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified" (Acts 20:32).
[If any would like to read the full reports from the Center for Media And Public Affairs, I have them in my office. Or you can go to their web site – www.cmpa.com.]