Update to Morning Sex Ad

I went to church this morning with a whirlwind swirling inside. My husband – still on his business trip – is as calm and stabilizing a force to my frenetic pace as the magnetic pointer in a shaken compass.

So, when my quiet little blog here had well over 40,000 people stop by for a read about the soft porn ad that played during Good Morning America last week – burning an image into my son’s 8-year-old brain that will never go away – I really, really wanted my husband home. To talk. To think out loud. To process and react. Pretty sure we’ve used up the minutes on our cell plan at this point. (And thanks, Apple, for the wonder of FaceTime!)

I’ve read the vast majority of comments y’all left on the blog, my FB, Todd Starnes’ FB, Joe Pags’ Twitter, and on other FB and Twitter feeds. Thanks to everyone who echoed the outrage and offered encouragement and empathy. Reading your words planted my feet even more firmly in this particular piece of ground.

There are entirely too many of us to just let this roll.

In the aftermath, a few things have happened:

• I filed an official complaint with the FCC (and learned how backed up they are in handling complaints)
• I talked with the General Manager of my local ABC affiliate, WZVN
• The GM confirmed the ad aired 8:26-8:27AM EST
• Another individual checked his feed in Reston, Virginia and confirmed it aired in that timeslot in his market, too
• The GM believes – and the presence of the ad in the Virginia market indicates – that this ad aired from the national feed provided by ABC

• This means that the soft porn ad was not just seen in my local SW FL market, but all across the nation

I’m grappling with the next best step and wondering, “Why was that scene SHOT in the first place?” Yes, it’s for a primetime show and, yes, primetime and premium channel standards are bottom of the barrel when it comes to including sex and violence – but full on, both partners naked, sex? On a major network like ABC (not a premium channel like HBO)?

Why are we all just turning it off instead of demanding THEY knock it off?

I was floored by how many commenters said they got rid of their TV, canceled their subscription, etc. With all due respect – WHAT? Television is one of – if not the – most powerful, effective forms of media for transmitting our beliefs, our cultural norms, what we deem entertaining and encouraging as a society. I’m trying desperately to understand the merits of just removing ourselves from it. Of disengaging completely. When we do that, we cede the territory…and it becomes what it has become, which is what our children inherit.

If we don’t engage, what changes?

After the past few days of this, I’m pretty tired. Some of those comments were downright mean. And, the clients at Glass Road still need their work done and our efforts at SON are ongoing to equip and encourage creators of television, films, and books and did I mention we just moved and I’m still battling back the boxes? The To Do list right now, frankly, freaks me out. Y’all probably have a ton going on, too.

But we can’t let this go. We can’t relegate it to the bin of, “stuff we can’t do anything about” and move on like it didn’t happen, can we? 

How do we justify seeing evil and walking away?