As if my normal level of exposure to evangelical drivel isn't bad enough...
Last night I was horrified to bear witness to Christian-pop princess Rachel Lampa's savior-worshiping during CNN's coverage of the Republican National Convention. I guess the GOP wants to set the record straight for any Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Atheists, etc who might subscribe to its openly homophobic, anti-women agenda: "Christ loves you! Good Republicans - nay, good Americans - are Christian! Praise the Lord - and wear cute lip gloss and chunky belts while doing it!"
UGGGH. Really, CNN? You couldn't find anything else worthy to cover last night but Republican celebration of the ever-expanding assault on American secularism? Come on!
It's one thing to have to sit through politicians making requisite references to God (e.g., ending a speech with "God bless America" or "God speed," like Hillary did last week at the DNC to my chagrin). Such statements are almost ubiquitously included in every candidates' stump speeches as a standard of practice. Indeed, I am constantly frustrated by the inclusion of such comments by all politicians (especially Republicans!), though I recognize they're not going away any time soon and thus I forge on. (See any of the polls on Americans' willingness to vote for atheists versus other minority groups for insight on another topic for another post.)
What I can't understand is why the evangelical pop-industry's proselytizing should get to monopolize precious airtime on a network that touts itself as being one of the world's leaders in news and information delivery, with its pulse on all the important headlines of the moment. The coverage of Rachel Lampa's performance I watched last night was not quality coverage of the political highlights of a major party's election-year convention... It was barely distinguishable from a Michelle Branch concert. This does not belong on CNN, people.
Yuck.
2 comments:
I do believe that Lampa is signed to Warner Records, which is owned by CNN parent company, Time Warner. I think this was a shameless promotional plug for one of their "artists." As soon as I saw coverage abruptly cut to Lampa, I did a wikipedia search to determine who she is signed with. Sure enough, Warner Records is in her past, although she is currently signed with A'Postrophe Records, which might still be a subsidiary of Warner. Awful, awful stuff by CNN.
That IS awful. But it makes perfect sense - there is no other reason I can think of that CNN would ACTUALLY spend - what do you think? - a good 15 minutes on a Christian pop concert with shots of a gleeful redneck crowd waving McCain signs... I repeat: "Yuck."
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