Archive for September 16th, 2009

Sensationalism is Not Journalism

Sensationalism is Not Journalism

The moment you append the word “journalism” into your role – whether you’re a journalist or a citizen journalist – you need to live up to a few standards.  The moment you profess to the public that you’re broadcasting “news,” then you need to follow a few ground rules.  It doesn’t make you a “rebel” or a “revolutionary” to violate a few standards and rules that make up the essentials of journalism: tell the truth, state your sources, and disclose your purposes.  If you profess to be a journalist, you have to be journalistic.  If you profess to publish news online, then the expectation is that you publish news online.

Sensationalism is not journalism.

Usually I don’t like taking the holier-than-thou sanctimonious road where I tell people how to write, if only because I am not in a position to do it.  I am no expert in journalism or in writing, but I think I have been doing this for quite a while now that from time to time, I do live up to the standards I preach.  Unfortunately, this is NOT one of those times.  On the road to 2010, though – or on the path to some controversial issue where everyone wants to put their two cents in – some people have the tendency to play hero, cross the line, and violate those essentials.  It is wrong, it is despicable, and personally, it makes me sick.

Yes, this is one of those days… and just in case, pardon my Latin, because I’m going to vent and violate my own rules.

September 16, 2009 2 comments Read More
Cicatrice II

Cicatrice II

I could only imagine the pain as Christ was being flogged, as the heavy hammer drove the heavy nail down His Hand, piercing through skin, muscle, and bone.  His wounds exposed, His flesh dies for every minute he expires on that cross.  The sacrifices of the mortal Christ are beyond comprehension and imagination, especially in modern times.  No amount of self-flagellation and self-mortification will ever equal the kind of suffering Jesus went through.

Perhaps it is not the crown of thorns, the heavy nails, or the flogging that presented and represented the most suffering for the Son as he was being hurt and killed.  Perhaps it is to hang from that cross, and ask God why He hath forsaken Him.  I’m not a theologian or anything, and I’m not the most religious or spiritual person in the world, but I guess the questions are as apt as they come, especially if you’re being executed.  What has He done to suffer?  What has He done to deserve the pain?

Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?

Could it be possible that, at the moment of extreme pain, Jesus examined His life, and found a pain more intense than a crown of thorns?

September 16, 2009 1 comment Read More