Looks like someone forgot one of the shalt nots
Evangelical blogger Bene Diction knew exactly what was coming after he found out that this week's tragic tabloid teens, Kara Beth Borden and David Ludwig, both had MySpace and Xanga sites. He tried to warn the media away. "Their blogs aren't the story," he wrote. "Platforms such as Xanga, My Space, are places were teens talk back and forth, much like most of us use phones... There is no 'blog' story here, this is a tragic case of teens wanting to be together and killing to get their own way... Lives are far more complicated than one angle, with millions of blogs, the statistical probabilities events will occur to put bloggers into the spotlight are the same as they'd be for a medium sized country... This isn't a story of home schooled teens online." He reminds readers a couple of times that the teens' blogs are "private" (though they don't seem to be).
At the time BD wrote that post, a few media outlets had mentioned the sites in their stories without further comment, but sure enough, the next day brought, Pennsylvania teens' weblogs reveal Christian faith, a 1,000 word piece on Spero News that links to the sites, quotes them extensively, and even notes their background colors. "To read their blogs is to look into a sub-world, a world of Christian contemporary music and searching for Jesus; a place where music speaks volumes to Pennsylvania home-schooled teens."
The author of this article? Why, it's Bene Diction, who was apparently just warning everyone else away from the story so he could have it for himself. What accounts for the change of heart? Back on his blog, BD says he wanted to "give them the dignity of their own voice." Mark my words, this man has a future in TV newsmagazines.
By the way, I happen to have a particular interest right now in the "sub-world" of Christian contemporary music and pop culture (more on that soon), and I'll be interested to see how the media studiously avoids trying to make any connection between Ludwig's pathology and his "obsession" with Pillar and Audio Adrenaline. Not that I think there is one. I'm sure there isn't. But imagine if his passions were Grand Theft Auto and Green Day. James Dobson would be issuing a press release as we speak.
Comments
I look forward to seeing what you produce about Christian pop culture. Christian "raves," t-shirts, and computer games always tickle me.
Of course so do Christian plumbers.
Posted by: Richard | November 15, 2005 8:05 PM