-Stretching Social Fabric-
A conversation on Friday with the youth leader of the Christian group I advise has left me feeling like the ideological version of Seymour, from Little Shop of Horrors. I’m helping an alien creature find *people food* even though I disagree with it and it seems to be growing out of its pot.
The other faculty members and I debated whether or not someone should represent a group like mine, a Christian group with members who fall all over the fervency scale when it comes to expressing their faith. We all agreed they deserved some representation, even if it comes from little ol’ lapsed me.
Maybe, we believed, I could moderate some of the excesses. Proselytizing is off the table, but I sense that the youth leader and some of the more active members are looking for the opportunity to circumvent the ban. They enjoy controversy as much as anyone, and it is unnerving to see their eyes glitter when someone (the school administration, the media, me) appears to be infringing on their first amendment rights.
It’s particularly unnerving, since Leaderboy used his first amendment argument to suppress someone else’s first amendment rights.
Maybe you heard, he said, that 'Book of Daniel' was taken off the air. I had, but his eyes had the constitutional glitter, so I didn’t say anything back. The plant in Little Shop of Horrors didn’t have eyes, just a killer whale maw.
So many Christians called in and complained, he continued with unmistakable glee. The networks knew better than to keep it on.
My fingers twitched at my side, out of sight. I hoped my own teeth weren’t showing. “Maybe the show just wasn’t that good.” I said. “That’s what I’ve been hearing.”
He shakes his head. “It was the Christian boycott. They wouldn’t let something so insulting stay on, if so many viewers objected.”
“Your source?” I asked incredulously. Say 700 club, I thought. I dare you.
He frowns. “A bunch of different websites I visit regularly.”
It is only years of library training that keep from scoffing.
Anyway, if “they” have the clout to determine what is or is not played on television – and there is some truth to his exaggerations (remember Sinclair Broadcasting?) – why can’t they use that power to smite some of the programming that deserves to be smote?
I could give them a list, even though I don’t have cable.
However, I tell the student leader that I’ve often become irritated by what I’ve seen on television or in movies. I tell him that every time I feel incensed enough to write in and complain, I always stop myself when I ask myself if it is worth the trouble when there are so many more important issues on which I should expending my energy.
He is undeterred. Yes, yes, he nods impatiently, but these things eat away the social fabric..
I feel like such a patsy for agreeing to advise this group. I’m not an NAACP lawyer representing a Klansman to insure due process. I’m just another foolish unsaved soul to be used while they gather to celebrate their elitist group. Worse yet, my support, slight as it is, seems to have enabled them to work against the things I cherish.
Or maybe I’m being overly dramatic.
The other faculty members and I debated whether or not someone should represent a group like mine, a Christian group with members who fall all over the fervency scale when it comes to expressing their faith. We all agreed they deserved some representation, even if it comes from little ol’ lapsed me.
Maybe, we believed, I could moderate some of the excesses. Proselytizing is off the table, but I sense that the youth leader and some of the more active members are looking for the opportunity to circumvent the ban. They enjoy controversy as much as anyone, and it is unnerving to see their eyes glitter when someone (the school administration, the media, me) appears to be infringing on their first amendment rights.
It’s particularly unnerving, since Leaderboy used his first amendment argument to suppress someone else’s first amendment rights.
Maybe you heard, he said, that 'Book of Daniel' was taken off the air. I had, but his eyes had the constitutional glitter, so I didn’t say anything back. The plant in Little Shop of Horrors didn’t have eyes, just a killer whale maw.
So many Christians called in and complained, he continued with unmistakable glee. The networks knew better than to keep it on.
My fingers twitched at my side, out of sight. I hoped my own teeth weren’t showing. “Maybe the show just wasn’t that good.” I said. “That’s what I’ve been hearing.”
He shakes his head. “It was the Christian boycott. They wouldn’t let something so insulting stay on, if so many viewers objected.”
“Your source?” I asked incredulously. Say 700 club, I thought. I dare you.
He frowns. “A bunch of different websites I visit regularly.”
It is only years of library training that keep from scoffing.
Anyway, if “they” have the clout to determine what is or is not played on television – and there is some truth to his exaggerations (remember Sinclair Broadcasting?) – why can’t they use that power to smite some of the programming that deserves to be smote?
I could give them a list, even though I don’t have cable.
However, I tell the student leader that I’ve often become irritated by what I’ve seen on television or in movies. I tell him that every time I feel incensed enough to write in and complain, I always stop myself when I ask myself if it is worth the trouble when there are so many more important issues on which I should expending my energy.
He is undeterred. Yes, yes, he nods impatiently, but these things eat away the social fabric..
I feel like such a patsy for agreeing to advise this group. I’m not an NAACP lawyer representing a Klansman to insure due process. I’m just another foolish unsaved soul to be used while they gather to celebrate their elitist group. Worse yet, my support, slight as it is, seems to have enabled them to work against the things I cherish.
Or maybe I’m being overly dramatic.
posted by Benedict | 3:13 PM
4 Comments:
eesh.
quite so.
You contained yourself much more than I would have.
Also, can we get Highway to Heaven back on?
Let me know if they still have it in Espana.
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