Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Columnist Epps lacks sensitivity, perspective

Father David Epps, I have from time to time read your columns in [Friday’s] The Peachtree Citizen, and generally just shook my head at your occasional display of insensitivity. But after your attack on the content of the Super Bowl half-time show, I felt the need to speak out.

Just so you don’t misunderstand, I too thought that the half-time show was generally inappropriate; from some of the song lyrics, to the American flag poncho, to the on-stage groping.

And like you, Father Epps, I have absolutely no fondness for rap music (or heavy metal or hard rock for that matter). And since I also happen to be black, that relieves you of the “racist” tag that you showed concern for in your article.

But although I do not consider you a racist, I do believe that as a child of God, you have certainly lost your way. Jesus’ instruction to his followers includes compassion, forgiveness, unconditional love, and service to mankind. And as distasteful as the half-time show may have been, it is even more distasteful to me that a man of the cloth would jump on this overloaded bandwagon and attack human beings with the words “no-talent thugs,” “slutty dancers,” and “raunch and filth.”

Again I say, the show was in poor taste, but is this your idea of rejecting the sin but administering to the sinner? Are the words “slutty” and “thug” commonly used in your pulpit? And if the show was that distasteful to you, why not turn it off long before the Janet/Justin finale?

I think that the great tragedy in our society is that too many of our leaders (and you are a leader, Father Epps) as well as some of their followers spend way too much time focused on tearing down and dividing mankind, and way too little time focused on making our world better.

Do you think that the 30 million children (in America alone) who will go to bed hungry tonight care about Janet Jackson’s breast? The time that you spent writing your article was time that would be better served by using your influence to try and ensure that senior citizens in our community don’t have to decide between food and medicine (if they can first afford to go to the doctor the get a prescription).

Isn’t it much more “degrading” that Georgia’s children rank 50th in the U.S. in academic achievement? That certainly is not Janet Jackson’s fault.

I am much more concerned about the cost of my next gas station visit than I am about “Rock Your Body.” How many articles of indignation have you written about the factories in China that supply many of the goods at your local Wal-Mart, yet the workers there put in 80-hour weeks for $120 a month?

These are the problems that my family and friends are concerned about, and collectively, we encompass a wide range of backgrounds and ethnicities.

You are right, Father Epps. We should let the FCC and CBS and all those responsible know that we prefer more wholesome entertainment. But in spite of our concerns, and as we walk the fine line between wholesomeness and censorship, there are always (either accidentally or intentionally) going to be things presented to our children that we don’t feel they should experience.

In our family, we prefer to expose our children to the teachings of Jesus (and incidentally, we are accepting enough to know that spirituality can come via whomever one chooses to call his way-shower), as we let them know that not every TV program is right for them, not every song deserves to be in their collection, and that sometimes even our leaders are the victims of wrong thinking.

They then begin to learn that there are many more pressing issues in the world that need to be addressed. I pray that your instruction to your congregation is the same.

Patrick Riley, Sr.

Peachtree City, Ga.