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{Straight From the Heart}   *Temptation*  1/11/00

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LEAD US NOT INTO "TEMPTATION"

By Joseph Walker

I thought I had seen everything in six years as a daily newspaper television critic.

It was, after all, during the 1980s, and "Dallas," "Dynasty," "Knots Landing" and "Falcon Crest" dominated prime time in all their soapy glory. J.R. Ewing and Alexis Carrington led a telekinetic assault on values that glorified the tawdry and celebrated sleaze. Together with an assortment of sitcom excesses and a hefty dose of made-for-TV mediocrity, they eventually wore me down and drove me to the relative moral safety of public relations.

Since that time, I have been an interested-but-distant observer as television's producers and network executives have continued their steady descent. I have heard them boast of "pushing the edge of the envelope" with naked backsides, coarse language and ever-increasing levels of violence and "reality"-based weirdness, and I have wondered what all of that means for television as a medium and for us as a people. But to tell you the truth, I haven't actually watched most of it. I've never seen an entire episode of Jerry Springer, "The Real World" or Howard Stern, although I've seen enough to be grateful I relinquished my professional couch potato status. After six years of having to watch everything, I have savored the privilege of selectivity.

But every once in a while a program comes along that makes me wish I could reclaim my "bully pulpit" in the newspaper's entertainment section -- even if only for a day. Take the Fox Network's "Temptation Island," for example (or, with a tip of the ol' rabbit ears to Rodney Dangerfield, take "Temptation Island" PLEASE!). According to Fox press materials, "Temptation Island" is "a provocative new reality-based show" in which "four unmarried, but seriously committed, couples . . . and 30 singles who are looking for love travel to an exotic location to test the waters of temptation."

Of course, I haven't seen the program, and I have no intention of doing so. But I am outraged by the concept, and insulted by the implied suggestion that America's viewing sensibilities have sunk to this extraordinary level. While I'm sure there are those who are interested in this kind of titillation, I am confident that most reasonable people are unwilling to allow themselves to be assaulted by their television sets in this way.

If you would like to take a stand against this kind of exploitation on the public airwaves, please allow me to remind you of three things I learned on the TV beat:

  a.. The worst thing you can do to a television program is to not watch it. Bad ratings will kill a program faster and with more surety than any amount of protest or public outcry.
  b.. If you feel you must protest, contact the companies that choose to advertise on the program. They are its life's blood. Without them, the program doesn't exist.
  c.. There is no such thing as censorship in the home. Parents don't just have the right to control what is viewed within the walls of their home -- they have that responsibility.
Some years ago, prominent journalist Edward R. Murrow had this to say about television: "This instrument can teach, it can entertain and yes, it can inspire. But only to the extent that humans are prepared to use it for those purposes. Otherwise, it is only tubes and lights in a box."

I think that applies to us as viewers as well as those who work within the medium. Like any tool, from the hammer to the computer, television can be used for our benefit or our destruction. It all depends on how we choose to use it.

Whether or not we succumb to "Temptation."

Joseph Walker
valuescom@juno.com

Send Joseph an email and let him know what you thought of his story!
*******
Joseph Walker has been writing professionally since 1980, when he left
college to join the staff of a daily metropolitan newspaper. For 10
years -- including six as the paper's TV columnist and critic -- he was
part of the mainstream media, and was painfully aware of the
overwhelming negativity of contemporary journalism. Joe says, "Nobody
was looking for real solutions to the problems society was facing; they
were just looking for someone or something to blame the problems on." So
in 1990 Joe began writing ValueSpeak, a weekly syndicated column that
attempts to look at contemporary issues from the perspective of
traditional values. Joe and his wife, Anita, are parents of five
children, with their first grandchild due shortly.

You'll love his new book, "How Can you Mend a Broken Spleen!"
Ordering is simple and fast at the following Amazon address:
How To Mend  A Broken Spleen
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1573453005/qid=972961681/sr=1-6/straighfromthe0a
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REQUESTS:

From: ILUVU2MUCHLL@aol.com
 
Michael,
              I would like for you to remember my family and I in prayer, we need work real bad right now, and it looks like we are fixing to lose everything if something doesn't happen.  Also I had two friends that were in a car wreck and are in pretty bad shape, her name is Amy Hanna and his name is Rudy Plate. 
Thanks so much,
Becky Matos

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Thought For The Day:

"Happiness is a dividend on a well-invested life." - Duncan Stuart

Verse for the Day:

"When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well
with you." - Psalm 128:2

Kid's Thought For The Day:

"Hitting your little brother may get you the toy he had in his hand, but it will
also get you into a lot of trouble."

Parent's Thought For The Day:

"A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on." - Carl Sandburg

Coach's Thought For The Day:

"Don't mistake activity for achievement..." - John Wooden

Deep Thought For The Day:

"There was a man who entered a local paper's pun contest. He sent in ten
different puns, in the hope that at least one of the puns would win. Unfortunately,
no pun in ten did."

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  _
/_/\/\    MICHAEL T. POWERS
\_\  /    THUNDER27@aol.com  
/_/  \    "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but
\_\/\ \   Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body I live for the Son
   \_\/   of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20 

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