Media Negativity and How it Impacts Us

     Almost everyone watches television and like it or not, what you watch affects your perspective. News programs are a great example of this. Our news stations focus a lot on negativity such as shootings, stabbings, theft, corruption, rapes, etc. That negativity projects into our lives and impacts how we view everyone else. 

     Director Michael Moore filmed a documentary called Bowling for Columbine. In it, he talks about American  news airing stories regarding crimes and negativity. He compared our news to Canada which he viewed as a lot more positive. This positivity in turn, makes the  communities feel safer because fear is not being projected. Moore wanted to see how this positive news coverage impacted a Toronto community first hand by walking around the neighborhood and attempting to open the front doors to stranger’s homes. No knocking...just walking up and testing the door. The doors were unlocked! Broad daylight. House after house, the front doors swung open. Best of all, the home owners were never frightened by the sight of an unknown man coming into their home, in fact, they would say “Hello.”  Moore even asked one of them, “Are you not afraid?” The home owner responded “Why should I be?”  

Now I’m not saying to feel bad if you don’t start leaving your front door unlocked. What I am saying is,  don’t let the media tell you how to feel towards others or allow fear to reign in you. Don’t let their projections tell you how to view others of different nationalities, races, and genders. Let Jesus show you how to view others...and that’s with Love! 

     Every man and women is a sinner yet Jesus and God love us all the same. Jesus and God love me the same amount as they do you, unconditionally, no matter what! Love is so important that our Heavenly Father is literally described as “God is Love.” 

"One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12: 28-31

     Here is the twist. God wants us to Love our neighbor as we Love ourselves. To LOVE! Not fear! This is so important that Jesus said its one of the Greatest Commandments. How can we Love strangers if we are taught to judge them, mistrust and fear them by our media?

     Imagine sitting at a red light next to another car. When you look at that stranger, do you love them as much as you love yourself? If they cut you off, do you wish bad things on them or do you pray for them with a loving heart? When you are around strangers in a store, do you cast judgement? Do you fear what that person “might do” or do you say "Hello, how are you today?" 

     Our media is a huge part of that problem causing Love for others to be replaced with fear and sin. Television shows replace Love with Judgement. Many shows today are solely based on Gossiping and that in turn encourages us to do the same. People watch reality shows not realizing they develop mannerisms similar to what is seen on the show. With this said, keep in mind that the eyes are the windows to our soul. Our spirit is impacted by what it is  subjected to. Negativity produces negativity.

     Lets start turning those type of shows off and listening to God’s Word more. Let’s follow Jesus’ example of loving others unconditionally, enough that he died for all our sins, even the ones that tortured and crucified him. We want Jesus’ light to shine bright in us, right? Well that light is love. When you show love to others, you are truly displaying God and Jesus in your life. How awesome is that!

     I want to speak more about our media in future postings      because I truly feel like our world can be a completely different place if our media revolved around positivity rather than negativity. Could you imagine what society would be like if all the hate and negativity was replaced by Love, hope, and encouragement on television?

     I can’t change how media presents itself to us on my own. It takes all of us to do so. When we tune a negative show out, the ratings drop, and studies will be done showing why it no longer works. These studies can show media companies that we want to hear and watch more positive shows/news. It starts with us! 

     I would like to hear from our readers. How else can we promote this change? What are you going to do to start this movement? Share in the comments below or on instagram @christianpalsblog. We would love to hear back from our readers!

Ken is a blogger at Christian Pals Blog. He enjoys anything creative and playing golf.
Proud father, husband, and servant of God.

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