Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Our Unchurched Media
The recent Pew poll found that journalists were far, far less likely to be religious than the populations they serve.
That's not necessarily a big deal. You don't have to be religious in order to cover religious people, or politics in the south.
But it's not too much to ask that our AP reporters at least understand it.
The reporter is flaunting his cluelessness here.
Miller may have been referring to the speech. But it's a lot more likely that he was referring to Jacob, Isaac, and Esau in Genesis, Ch. 25:
See? It's not that reporters aren't religious. It's that they don't even speak the same language, anymore.
Vast segments of the Southern community speak in sentences leavened rich with Biblical allusion, and they do it all the time.
But this reporter didn't get the reference. Nor did he have the wherewithal to look it up in a Biblical concordance (one wonders if he knows what a Biblical concordance is?).
The bottom line:
The cultural divide between national media and the people they serve is a chasm.
This AP reporter covering southern politics doesn't understand southern politics.
And all the "objectivity" in the world--all this misplaced faith in the power of journalistic ethics--can't help him.
Splash, out
Jason
That's not necessarily a big deal. You don't have to be religious in order to cover religious people, or politics in the south.
But it's not too much to ask that our AP reporters at least understand it.
"I think he has sold his soul for a mess of pottage," said Lewis, in a reference to a speech Miller gave as a congressional candidate 40 years ago in which he argued that President Johnson was "a Southerner who sold his birthright for a mess of dark pottage" because of his support for the Civil Rights Act.
Pottage is defined as a thick soup or stew of vegetables.
The reporter is flaunting his cluelessness here.
Miller may have been referring to the speech. But it's a lot more likely that he was referring to Jacob, Isaac, and Esau in Genesis, Ch. 25:
And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of [his] venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.
And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he [was] faint:
And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red [pottage]; for I [am] faint: therefore was his name called Edom.
And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
And Esau said, Behold, I [am] at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised [his] birthright.
See? It's not that reporters aren't religious. It's that they don't even speak the same language, anymore.
Vast segments of the Southern community speak in sentences leavened rich with Biblical allusion, and they do it all the time.
But this reporter didn't get the reference. Nor did he have the wherewithal to look it up in a Biblical concordance (one wonders if he knows what a Biblical concordance is?).
The bottom line:
The cultural divide between national media and the people they serve is a chasm.
This AP reporter covering southern politics doesn't understand southern politics.
And all the "objectivity" in the world--all this misplaced faith in the power of journalistic ethics--can't help him.
Splash, out
Jason
Comments:
Greetings - As I was net cruising, I came across your Christian Blog. You have created a pretty good Blog here. I have a website that also contains information about Esau, Edom and the Edomites, and you might find it informative as well.
With Blessings,
Dennis Day
http://www.BibleFamilyTree.com
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With Blessings,
Dennis Day
http://www.BibleFamilyTree.com
# posted by 
: 1:53 AM
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