Last week former Republican Party vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin conducted a press conference at a turkey farm, causing a minor media uproar over the fact that turkeys were being slaughtered in the background.
Robert Peters, President of Morality in Media, had the following gives a great insight to real media play.
This one hits home for me because I still remember accompanying my father to a turkey farm in the 1950s, watching him choose a turkey, and watching the farmer cut the turkey's head off. This was no "NC-17" or even an "R-rated" affair.
My father also raised two ducks in a pen in the basement for food. Around the time they began getting used to my brother and I, dad removed their heads in the back yard. I cried then but have never since thought he did anything wrong taking their heads off or allowing us to watch.
I do think there is something wrong with depicting humans on TV and in film being brutally beaten, murdered and tortured as entertainment for the masses of all ages. Earlier this week on the critically acclaimed broadcast TV program "24," a child is shown preparing to decapitate a prisoner or sever his head in two with a large blade. Thankfully, viewers did not see the blade severing the neck or splitting the head (as they might have on cable or in a theatrical release) but did see the crowd of watchers cheering the just finished deed. Later in the program, Jack Bauer is brutally beaten and tortured with a hot blade.
There isn't a week goes by when a TV program doesn't provide prime time viewers with the graphic details of an autopsy and often with graphic details of the murder leading up to it.
Last month, Lionsgate released the R-rated film "Saw V," its latest contribution to what has been called "torture porn" (and for good reason). In August, a study by Dartmouth College researchers showed that 48% of children ages 10-14 had scene the R- rated film, "Scary Movie," which included scenes in which the killer slashes a victim's throat and severs a victim's head.
Last week, Broadcasting & Cable also reported on a Rutgers University study asserting that media depictions of violence are a "critical risk factor" for aggression in adolescents. Most of the media ignored this study, being preoccupied instead with the slaughter of turkeys on TV.
Christian Web News - In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a Christian shopkeeper was gunned down Wednesday while he was heading to work, according to a local official.
Christian Web News - First, a San Diego pastor was told that he could not have home Bible studies without a Major Use Permit. Then, a church in Gilbert, Arizona was told that they were violating zoning codes by meeting in a home. Now a third church is being told they cannot have home meetings.
Christian Web News - Chaplains from the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team were on the ground in Port-au-Prince less than 24 hours after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake shook the country of Haiti on Jan. 12.
Christian Web News - So many people across our nation, young people especially, are Biblically illiterate. Confusion and intimidation of the Bible's length and complexity causes many people to give up on reading the Bible altogether.
Christian Web News - According to advocacy group Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF), within the next 24 hours, officials in southern Laos plan to burn temporary shelters built by expelled Christians unless they deny their faith.
Christian Web News - Fortunately, the nation's first “hate speech” bill has been killed by the Massachusetts Senate. The Joint Education Committee's Martha Walz and Robert O'Leary added the provision to an anti-bullying bill. Had it passed, it would have punished any criticism of homosexuality with a term in jail or a fine.
Christian Web News - On Wednesday, Republican senators said that House members who vote for the Senate-passed health care bill would “own it,” and that nothing would be changed through reconciliation. Which includes prohibiting federal (taxpayer) funds from being used to pay for abortions.
Christian Web News - On Sunday, on the streets of multiple cities in Spain, tens of thousands of people protested a new law that would allow abortion on demand.
Christian Web News - On Tuesday, a European court ordered Turkey to remove the religious affiliation section from citizens’ identification cards, calling the practice a violation of human rights.
Christian Web News - SBC International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin is making a strong case for change within his denomination as he gets ready to walk away from the command of its missions arm following 17 years of service.
Christian Web News - Parents are being urged by a national coalition of organizations committed to preserving parental rights in public education, restoring academic integrity to public education, and removing partisan political protests from the classroom to call their children out of school on the Day of Silence if their school is permitting students to refuse to speak in class.
Christian Web News - A new survey found that not even half of churchgoers in America plan on inviting non-churchgoers to Easter worship service this year.
Rev 13:16-18 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
Christian Web News - At a time when greed and corruption seem to run rampant and morals seem nonexistent, many people wonder where to look for role models.
For the millions of junior high, high school and college students heading back to school, the idea of returning to the classroom may be met with mixed emotions.
Christian Web News - Jesus has a way of getting right to the point, doesn't He? There was certainly no mincing of words, He came right out and said, "why are you fearful?" and then went on to say, "O you of little faith." You don't have to read between the lines to see what He was saying, they had little faith.
Christian Web News - Galatians 3:13-14. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree''), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Christian Web News - SBC International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin is making a strong case for change within his denomination as he gets ready to walk away from the command of its missions arm following 17 years of service.
Christian Web News - Parents are being urged by a national coalition of organizations committed to preserving parental rights in public education, restoring academic integrity to public education, and removing partisan political protests from the classroom to call their children out of school on the Day of Silence if their school is permitting students to refuse to speak in class.
Christian Web News - A new survey found that not even half of churchgoers in America plan on inviting non-churchgoers to Easter worship service this year.
Rev 13:16-18 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. 
