Blog 3: Philosophy Interview

(Dr. Longinow, her responses equal 500 words without my "questions." I think you said that's how we were supposed to write it.)

Jaimee Fletcher is a local reporter for the Orange Country Register:

Why is it that you do what you do?

I think with journalism, a lot of people can argue now that it’s lost its source of function, you know? Kind of that watchdog role, that’s my favorite part of it. There’s a lot of different types of journalism that we can go into. Another aspect that I like of it is the storytelling part. We decide what people are going to know, and we decide what is important for people to know. When I meet someone who really inspires me to tell their story, sometimes it can kind of change or inspire other people. So I think those are my two main reasons for doing journalism, if that makes sense.

Why do you think that what you do matters?

Journalists cover a strange role. We’re kinda like lawyers, a lot of people hate us until they meet us. They are really rough, and if you’re a journalist, you’ll have all kinds of nasty things coming at you. But we’re an important source of information. And everything has changed with the Internet and blogs and that kind of stuff, but ultimately, if we don’t write it, people don’t know it. If people don’t report it, it doesn’t get out. That Watchdog role, to me that’s the most important role of journalism; without journalists prying into corruption or ethical issues a lot of things would go unnoticed.

How does what you do connect to larger trends in 21st century journalism?

Right now the trend is really different compared to when I started five years ago. I used to come in and wait for the paper, so we would have three days to put a story together, and now sometimes we have three minutes to put a story together. It’s usually online first, you might read the same story four or five times before that finished product and four of five versions of that story might be up on the website before it’s in the paper. So it is a really different world now.

What is your sense of God’s Place in the world?

I grew up Catholic; I am Catholic, I believe in God, I believe in Jesus. So, for me, I think God is in everything, he’s in the good, he’s in the bad. When bad things happen, that is his way of teaching us. I’m also a firm believer that he has a path chosen for every person, and he gives us little signs along the way to tell us what he wants us to do.

How does your faith play into your job? How is your faith an issue?

That’s the hard thing, because you can’t use it. You have to totally detach yourself from your personal life. Like, I have very strong political views and very strong religious views, and I write things against those views all the time. And those are the stories I am the most careful with, because I don’t want it to come across in my writing as if I’m favoring Catholicism or favoring a political party. Because as a journalist, our number one priority right up there with being accurate is being fair and being objective. For the story, we’re not supposed to add our own beliefs, and that is hard sometimes.

Blog 4: Evangelical Media Analysis

Finally Original? Evangelical Comic Books and their effect in the world. 

 

In most forms of evangelical media, the greatest problem that seems to keep reoccurring is the lack of originality. However, I’ve chosen to write on Christian Comic Books because it seems to me to be evangelical media’s most original idea yet. Comic books are typically known as being pretty violent and therefore have a great appeal to the male gender. However, Christians are able to take that form of blood and gush, with monsters, superheroes, villains, and destruction, and transform it into stories of faith, with heroes and villains, good and evil. This is not a mere form of copying what the main stream media is printing now, but it is a way of appealing to the ulterior world beyond Christians visually. Images, cartoons, and photographs enthrall humans; therefore, we are drawn to glancing at cartoons and pictures when we pick up the daily newspaper or pass a comic book or graphic novel. However, often we are not satisfied in just looking at the pictures and therefore become interested in the story that comes with the pictures. This is a wonderful scheme to draw people to reading about salvation without their having time to make presupposed notions.

I feel very optimistic about comic tracts. It was said in the lecture that evangelical comic tracts are a good way of preaching the gospel and has been famous for evangelists use over forty years. I firmly believe that a comic tract is more effective than any other tract. My opinion is that more people are drawn to the cartoon strips assuming they are creative, and therefore will be more willing to read the tract. However, it is true that one of the largest problems with evangelical comics is that they are very capable of lacking creativity. Of course, this is something all evangelicals involved in the media could work on.

Comic book novels are also a big part of the cartooning industry. The most popular of the evangelical comic book novels is the Left Behind Series. It was converted into graphics so children could more easily understand it. However, it is not limited to the enjoyment of children alone. Many adults and students, including myself, find a sense of delight in translating the left behind story into pictures and graphics.

One thing I don’t not agree with is the idea that superheroes should be religious. If anybody has “superpowers,” it is Jesus Christ alone and the miracle workers of the Biblical ages. This should be emphasized over the ideas of modern superheroes having religion or faith.

The lecture said that critics say evangelical graphics lack imagination and do not reflect the sacredness of Biblical truth. Like all forms of media, especially evangelical, there are kinks that need to be worked out. Of course creativity is a problem that should be further analyzed, but I firmly believe that when that greater art is achieved, many people will be enthralled by the prospect of Christian comic books. 

 

Blog 3: Torrey Interactive

The Torrey Memorial Bible Confrence at Biola University has been running for 73 years and is notorious for focusing on sex and sex related issues such as dating, homosexuality, the philosophical background of relationships and more. One of the great issues of our time, as Californians consider voting and defining their moral stance, is gay and lesbian rights and the prevalence of homosexuality in American culture. 

One of the questions of our day is deciding whether to vote yes or no on Prop 8 in order to save the rights of the sacred marriage between a male and female, and eliminate the possibility for homosexual marriage. It seems to me that one of the greatest problems on our shoulders for this decision is the idea that many people do not know what to think of gay marriage. Many have questioned the idea that homosexuality is a “gene” that people are born with and cannot control. This provokes the thought that there is nothing anybody can do about preventing gay love, and should therefore give them thae rights for marriage. 

Mike Haley a former homosexual who lectured on Friday night shared his story with students saying that when he wanted to seek help in his struggle with homosexuality, a woman told him that what he was going though was natural, a "gay gene." She informed him that he shouldn’t worry about getting rid of it because that is the way he was created. This led Haley down a tainted road, which he blindly followed. Finally, through the grace of God and the encouragement of people that cared about him, Mike conducted his own Internet research, and discovered that what that woman had told him so many years prior was not actually true. Rather, there was no scientific proof that being gay was due to a natural genetic variant. Being a bit skeptical with the idea that science has not proven this, I would also like to research that theory through the Internet and define the results. 

Randy Thomas, the founder of Exodus International, and also a former homosexual, explains in worldnetdaily.com that much research has been conducted on gays including that done by Stanton L. Jones and Mark A. Yarhouse. Over the course of three years, these two men were capable of proving the individuals’ wrong who said that sexual orientation was impossible to change. Their research was conducted “through religiously mediated programs” says Thomas, “[which] does not cause psychological harm to the patient.” What my question is, if this is a gene, how can it be changed without the use of modern technology? 

NewYorkTimes.com writer Natalie Angier found, in interviewing a scientist who was researching the gay chromosome, that “the evidence for a genetic basis for homosexuality remains slender and incomplete.” The scientist, Mr. Hamer, says that the specific “gay gene” hasn’t been found. In my opinion, finding this gene seems impossible. If there is such a thing as naturalistic homosexuality, why don’t men also withhold other obscene genes, such as animalistic and barbaric inclinations? For if and when a man does act upon primitive measures, his behavior is blamed on the manner in which he was nurtured, not his nature. 

In another New York Times Online article, Steven Pinker reports, “Some gay groups condemn [gay gene] research because it could stigmatize gay people as defective and lead to a day in which parents could selectively abort children with "gay genes." Others welcome the research because it shows that people don't "choose" to be gay and hence can't be criticized for it, nor could homosexuals convert the children in their classrooms or Scout troops even if they wanted to.” 

Obviously, research is still heavy on the nature of homosexuality, but it seems that there is currently more research showing that there is no “gay gene.” I believe, that if Mike Haley, Randy Thomas, and many other men can find faith and change their sexual orientation, then the idea of a homosexual chromosome is a theory made up to justify the faults of man’s sin nature. 


YouTube Video- a politician's stance on homosexuality, gay rights, and the "gene."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB8bW4vDaOk

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58240

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06E0DB123DF935A25753C1A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/17/opinion/17pinker.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=The%20Gay%20Gene&st=cse&oref=slogin

Tribute to 9-11

Time has quickly passed. Don't free your memory of the emotions that reigned on this day, seven years ago.

A Response to the Violence in India

In a time and place where war, peace, and equality transpose to create harmony among the many diverse cultures and races in America, it seems fictional to read of mobs evoking unreasonable destruction of societies because of their religious stance. However, it’s happening. An attempt of religious genocide is occurring in India by people who believe their countrymen should have no right to convert from the dominate religion, Hinduism, to Christianity. I often convince myself to believe that prejudices are being eliminated throughout the world, that the common population is being given more rights to make their own discernments of religion and morality. However, the blanket of American government and culture has tainted my vision. Moral and religious issues are extremely prevalent outside of my homeland. Reading this article opened my eyes and brought a tear. To even think of those who are innocently suffering for what they believe in, is stomach-churning.

This article introduces many explanations for social dissension on the mob’s side, and explanations for religious conversion on the victim’s side. The Christians say they are being targeted because of their educational opportunities, which are open to all willing India occupants, even the socially rejected tribal communities. The Indians say it’s because the Christians bribe and\or force the Hindu’s to convert. Others believe people convert, “not only to Christianity, but to Buddhism, Islam and Marxist atheism, [because] people are in revolt after 60 years of their rights being trampled,” New York Times says, “it has nothing to do with any particular religion.” While it is very possible that the reason for the recent attacks may be a mix of these theories, what is not mentioned is the Indian-Christian’s true attraction to the idea of faith and an eternal life in heaven. Perhaps these people want to become Christians because they are convinced it’s what they should believe, without force or bribery.

What I am unsure about is what is being done to prevent this biased destruction. New York Times reports that the police were not doing enough to stop the attacks. Mr. David, a profound journalist from India explained to me, “in India there are 28 states, the Federal government that rules India as a whole is not concerned with these attacks. However, the leader of the state government has an opinion, he says, ‘we want to stop them,’ because in India, it’s bad news to kill people.” Unfortunately this article introduces many questions; do the mobs have reason to fear the government officials? Have they gotten away with such injustice in the past? Even though the government spurns murder, what are they doing to stop it? Timesonline.co.uk quotes an Indian Christian man saying, “They said that we must convert if we want to return. We can never go back.” These Christians are willing to suffer for their beliefs, the article concludes in encouragement with an Indian woman saying “My husband died for God Christ, I was born as a Christian and I will die as a Christian.”