Friday, 26 June 2009

• Confessions of a news junkie

  
  I have a confession to make, I'm a junkie. A news junkie. It started out innocently enough: a friend hooked me up with a subscription to a financial news e-mail list and I immediately went out into orbit. Pretty soon though I needed something harder: The Drudge Report. Then came Real Clear Politics. Then came... oh the shame of it all! I can't bring myself to admit all the news outlets I'm hooked on.
  
  It wasn't until a loved one suggested that I might have a problem that I started to consider how involved news was in my everyday life. I started seeing the classic signs and decided to sign up for Newsaholics Anonymous that very day.
  
  Through this great support group I've found that I don't HAVE to have news to get me through the day. If that link on my toolbar to the Drudge Report is tempting me, I call my accountability partners and they help me overcome the urge and we go to meetings and group therapy. It's been great.
  
  
  
  There is a balance somewhere when it comes to staying informed, but not overly informed. A huge part of staying informed has to do with the sources we draw from for news. If you leave the TV on all day on the news channel, you're going to be brainwashed. If you visit only conservative leaning or liberal leaning blogs, you're going to have a bitter outlook on life because you'll always be concerned that "the other side" is just getting out of hand.
  
  To be properly informed, the citizen needs some breathing space when it comes to media coverage. To be informed means to be able to understand how current events fit into our current lives, but not getting caught up in ratings driven sensationalism and the voyeurism of pop culture.
  
  Being informed sometimes means knowing when to shut the news feed off.
  

  R.I.P Michael Jackson

  You've probably heard that Michael Jackson died yesterday. It's sad to see what show business can do to a person. Jackson had one of the tougher journeys in the business and regardless of whether you liked his music or not (I don't care for it even though I think he had talent), yesterday was a sad day.
  
  The Greco-Roman culture of icon worship that both made and broke MJ has claimed another victim. I believe that's what killed Michael Jackson; he died broken hearted because he never could be at peace with who he really was.
  

  Scandalous Scandalistic Scandalism

  It seems like there has been a lot of sex scandals in the public arena lately, or at least the way the news media is reporting there has anyway.
  
  Ho-hum... nothing new there. People seem to think they can do anything they want when they're in public office or famous, but it turns out they have to face the music too just like the rest of us. Imagine that!
  
  I do think it's hypocritical to pass judgment on those caught in those sins, whether they be preachers or politicians. Were it not for the grace and mercy of God, there could go us if the sins we struggle with were as unsavory as the sins they struggle with.
  
  Remember, it's those who set themselves up, or are set up by a worshipful mob, as having a handle on morality that have the farthest to fall. Humility is the main antidote to moral failure because as Proverbs says "Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall".
  
  With a heart for purity must come a heart of humility because pride is just as bad a sin as adultery.
  
  On that note, let's get out there and live lives worthy of being called Christian! Changing the world for the better is up to us.
  
  Oops... I just remembered I have a Newsaholics Anonymous meeting to go to...
  
  

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