Here's Why There's So Much Junk on TV

Will we learn a lesson from it?

Photo by Mollie Sivaram on Unsplash

Recently I bought a used copy of Cronkite by Douglas Brinkley.

I know many of you who read this are familiar with Walter Cronkite - but I’m young enough that I don’t remember much about him at all. But I know he had a great deal of influence, especially with how the news was communicated. So I’m trying to learn a little bit more about him.

Anyway, I came across a quote about the “tragedy of television” that I thought was worth sharing.

…”that’s the tragedy of television - at it’s best it is so very good. But television can make so much money doing its worst that it can’t afford to be its best.” - Cronkite by Douglas Brinkley, 5

That quote summarizes why so many things go wrong in our world today. So many tools like television, the internet, social media, and even artificial intelligence can be used for good in many ways, but they are often used to do everything but good.

“The love of money” is still the root of all kinds of evil (1 Timothy 6:10), and it’s the insatiable desire (1 Timothy 6:9) for more money, for more power, for greater profits, for larger market share - that drives these tools to be used in many bad, evil ways.

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Now, let’s think about ourselves.

We have so many tools at our fingertips today - but how are we using them? Social media can be an excellent tool used to accomplish much good. But social media - like Facebook - is merely a tool in the hands of the user.

It can be used to accomplish good, and it can be used to do evil. How are you using the tools around you?

What if we rephrased that original quote a little to bring it closer to home?

That’s the tragedy of humanity- at their best they are so very good. But they can make so much money doing their worst that they can’t afford to be their best.

Now that’s a sobering thought, isn’t it?

In Christ Jesus, we who have sinned are set free and cleansed from our sin (Romans 6:3-7) to fulfill our purpose in Him by doing good works (Ephesians 2:10).

But what if we allow the sin and distractions of this world to pull us away from our purpose? What if we decide we could get so much out of this world by not being our best?

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24)

Jesus has given us a warning. Will we pay attention and learn?