The Super Bowl Sexual Assault: An Assault on Our Culture
A commentary by Darris McNeely
United Church of God pastor, Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, Indiana
The Super Bowl entertainment was nothing less than sexual assault in
the name of art. On the same night that America witnessed the baring
of Janet Jackson's breast after a throbbing ritual of sexual degradation
and assault, another assault was taking place in front of another camera.
At a Florida car wash an 11-year-old girl, Carlie Bruschia, was kidnapped
by a stranger, taken by the arm and led away to be sexually assaulted,
callously murdered and then tossed away as so much refuse. This was "drama" acted
out in real life.
When will America make the connection? When will the defenders of "anything
goes" morality and entertainment realize there is a connection between
violent, sexually explicit entertainment and a culture of violence?
When will we learn that to rip the unborn from the womb breeds indifference
and cheapens life to the point where it can be cast aside as garbage?
If we treat life so cheaply from its conception, then we shouldn't be
surprised that a growing number of people don't see life as having much
value at any time.
When will we learn that when music and entertainment are vehicles to
attack a woman's value, monsters with uncontrolled animalistic urges
prowling the streets will prey on the innocent? When will we learn that
there is a connection between people who have no modesty and the immodest
actions committed daily?
The "anything-goes" left has pushed the country into a state
of catatonic confusion. Unless halted early, it is a terminal disease.
As The Wall Street Journal observed, "Forcing the culture
to consume acts, sights and words that belong in private is a recipe
for social disaster or collision."
We can't just beat up the left, either. The right and capitalism run
amok have their own guilt to answer for, also. Notice this excerpt from The
Wall Street Journal, Feb. 6,commenting on the pressure which our
capitalist system creates:
"Of course Viacom [owner of CBS, which aired the Super Bowl, and
MTV, which produced its halftime show] isn't a creature of the Left.
It's a product of the world's freest market, and so of the Right. We
proponents of the market better come to grips fast with the all-too-evident
fact that Big Media's commercial needs are driving the culture in a downward
spiral.
"Viacom, the media iceberg currently with its tip exposed, includes
CBS, MTV, VH1, BET, Paramount Pictures, Comedy Central, Showtime, Blockbuster
and Simon & Schuster. The industries that now constitute much of
what is going to be America's economy for the future include TV, music,
advertising, fashion, movies, magazines, videogames, digital technology
and telecom distribution.
"Commerce follows culture in a country like the U.S., and finally
the culture is pulling large segments of the new economy down to its
level. Where's the bottom? The imperative to produce revenue growth is
driving the media players ever downward to win mass audiences aged 16-30.
Authentic creativity can't compete, as desperate managers dive to the
culture's lowest common denominator of what sells—and at this level
we know what sells.
"The dumbing down of America has been followed by the scuzzing
down of America. One might hope that the Super Bowl fiasco would cause
media marketers to seek other ways to hit revenue targets without driving
the culture into a dying swamp, but that's not likely. The pressure to
perform fast [in producing profits] is the strongest force in play here."
In Revelation 18 we find a description of "Babylon" in its
glory at the time of the end. This chapter describes a world that even
now is forming right before our eyes. Babylon in the end is a city, a
culture, a global deception that dominates the whole world. At its heart
is religious deception that has turned the truth of God into a lie (2
Thessalonians 2:11). It is a global economic system that controls and
influences markets and economies (Revelation 18:3).
This "Babylon" of the end time reaches into every aspect of
life. While men clamor for more and more material goods (verses 11-13),
it is not money and goods that are the end goal of this system. It is
the lives of people. Its ultimate aim is to traffic in "bodies and
souls of men" (verse 13).
God goes so far to say that in this Babylon lies the "blood of
prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth" (verse
24).
God says to come out of her and not be partaker of her sins (verse 4).
We must realize that when we engage with our modern-day "Babylon" and
take part in all its prurient, sensual culture we are part of the system.
If we lose our moral ballast and drift with the times our lives will
become of little value. We cannot traffic in empty and shameless things
that are sin. We cannot traffic in the goods of Babylon while looking
to the heavenly Jerusalem. We cannot love this world more than the things
of God. |
