Reality TV vs the Disturbing Nature of Truth

 Reality TV vs the Disturbing Nature
of the Truth

The New York Post called it a violently disturbing sculpture. Many media types in New York City are up in arms about a particular work of art on display at the Rockefeller Center. It is called, "Tumbling Woman." It is a sculpture done by Eric Fischl that depicts a naked woman, limbs flailing, face contorted, at the exact moment her head hits the pavement following her leap from the flaming World Trade Center.

Andrea Peyser wrote an article for the New York Post and entitled it, "Shameful Art Attack." She was incensed at this needless exploitation of a tragedy so close to home. Like most other media outlets she wanted to overlook the graphic reality of what actually happened that day. In self-righteous indignation she wanted - no demanded, a sanitized version of 9-11. You know, the one where it looks like the buildings were imploded with no loss of human life. The version where no one was really at fault, "let's just get past this as positively and as quickly as possible." The one you saw on national television!

What is the aversion to allowing those of us "less enlightened" to see the horrible truth of what happened on 9-11? Why the censorship of events, leaving the impression that everyone lived happily ever after 9-11? Why are the media elite so upset with a sculpture entitled the "Tumbling Woman?"

Obviously the media has no such aversion to graphically portraying perversity, no matter how lude, and laying it out before us at dinnertime. Reality TV is another example of the incredible filth of our "let's get real" media. If we are talking about graphic trash, you can bet there is no censorship here!

The media has no problem depicting reality. It simply cannot and will not depict truth. Events and circumstances can be real, yet not true. The reality is that an unmarried man and woman may have a sexual relationship, but it is not grounded in the truth. The reality is that two men may have a sexual relationship, but it is not a true relationship. A woman can choose to have an abortion and this too is a reality, but once again, it is not grounded in truth. Truth is a lot deeper than reality and has its basis in Almighty God Himself. "God is Spirit, and His worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth." John 4:24.

It is for this very reason that the media will not portray the graphic truth about abortion. For someone to have the "freedom of choice" another must die. When have you ever seen the graphic pictures of what an abortion actually does on TV? You won't because, once the horror is seen, it will cause people to ask the hard questions. Questions that will make us distinguish between good and evil, and move us from reality into truth.

What was wrong with portraying the truth of what really happened at the World Trade Center on 9-11? People really did die. They really did jump from flaming buildings. They really did thump on the pavement. It really was a tragedy beyond all description. So, why not show the graphic truth? After all, isn't the media all about being real!

It was not shown because 9-11 confronted every single one of us with our own mortality. We are all going to die. This disconcerting message has conflicted the media because it has no eyes to see anything beyond this life. Therefore, if thousands of lives are snuffed out in a moment, it could happen to any of us. The reality of this horror and the anxiety it creates is almost too much to bear. Therefore, let's focus on the positive aspects of humanity and the heroic acts of many during 9-11 and just pretend that nobody died. So much for reality!

So, in order to avoid the hard questions, the media just denied the truth like an ostrich with its head in the sand. Amazing the power one has when he controls what others see. Imagine controlling the evidence a jury is allowed to see. You'd win every case - everyone would see it your way. Truth and justice would suffer, but so what!

This ubiquitous censorship of death by the media in its coverage of 9-11 has led us to believe that everything is going to be all right. Let's just eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. Yes, we don't have to worry about anything until tomorrow. This may seem like reality, but it most certainly is not the truth.

That's the problem with a sculpture like the "Tumbling Woman." It confronts us with both reality and the truth. The reality is that this tragedy actually happened. The truth is that we will all die, just like the "Tumbling Woman." It confronts us with the frailty and preciousness of life, and how quickly it can be gone. That was someone's wife, someone's mother, someone's sister, someone's best friend - one second here, the next second gone!

It causes us to make judgments between good and evil. The media, along with our government, would like us to believe that in reality Islam is a peaceful religion that has been hijacked by a few zealots. The truth is that the religion that caused these 19 men to snuff out innocent lives is evil. One cannot escape this truth. It causes us to take stock of our own lives. It causes us to ask the hard questions: Why would God allow this? Is He speaking to America? Why these people and not me? These questions cause us to move into truth, a domain that Almighty God, who's specific Name is Jesus, controls completely and bids us to walk in.

"But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." John 3:21.

Flip Benham