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Funnies
Not So Funny Anymore?
Geoff Brown, the editor of the Chicago Tribune comics
pages, finds more and more questionable material in the cartoons he screens. "I
have seen . . . a decided tilt toward the outrageous—risqué images
and language, name-calling disguised as political satire, oodles of toilet
humor and several attempts to slip in a certain curse word and a certain
racial epithet" (Bill Eichenberger, "Filtering the Funnies," The
Columbus Dispatch , April 4).
Such humor is inappropriate and especially influential in a negative way for young children who are often drawn to the comics because of the pictures and bright colors. But they aren't the only ones impacted negatively.
In the daily business of guarding our minds, everyone is at risk from all directions, including the cartoon page. The Bible warns against empty laughter and coarse jesting (Ecclesiastes 7:4-6; Ephesians 5:4), and screening the comics to avoid inappropriate humor is, sad to say, another action we now must take to avoid degrading our values and attitudes.
Army of Couch Potatoes?
The poor health of the present younger generation has begun to impact
the American military. The current recruiting pool of 17- to 24-year-olds,
often referred to as Generation Y, is increasingly proving too obese
and too reliant on mind-altering drugs that treat attention deficit disorders
to be capable of attaining the basic standards of military service.
While we may not serve in the military, we can learn something from the trends in the society around us. What is making these young people so unhealthy, and how can we avoid the same pitfalls? As soldiers of Christ, we, too, have certain standards to uphold (2 Timothy 2:3).
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