Here's a Hot Air post on a Gallup poll to that effect. Notice this line in the post:
"It may be that, even among GOP skeptics of gay marriage, the normalization of gays in the media over the past 15 years has caused their moral opinions of homosexuality to change if not their belief that marriage, as a religious institution, should remain one for heterosexual couples only."
There it is: "in the media". Poor time management is a major problem in cultures like the United States. It's worse than abortion, neglect of the poor, and other moral problems people often cite when asked what's wrong with a culture. Americans spend far too much time on trivial and vulgar television programs and movies, following sports, and the like. Their priorities are desperately wrong, and their time management is awful. Click on the Time Management label at the end of this post, and you can see an archive of posts I've written on the subject. I've cited a lot of polling data and other research that's been done. One of the reasons why parents, pastors, teachers, and other people in such positions of influence don't adequately address the problem with time management is that so many of them are a significant part of the problem.
Hot Air also has a post on how most Americans think that at least 20% of the population is homosexual. Where did they get that idea? Largely from the media they spend too much time with. The Hot Air post refers to "visibility in celebrity culture" and how "gays and gay-rights issues seem to be everywhere in media and on the news". Why are people following celebrity culture and depending on the mainstream media so much to begin with? And why didn't their misconceptions about homosexuality get corrected by more accurate sources they were spending time with? Because they aren't spending much time with more accurate sources. Even if they were, they probably wouldn't want to spend the time needed to do further research, think through the issues sufficiently, etc. Americans have more important things to do with their time, like watching sitcoms, going to baseball games, doing unnecessary housework, and reading romance novels.
A good post by James White on Facebook:
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To every duped supporter of the destruction of the institution of marriage:
I realize you are too busy watching Game of Thrones and checking your most recent Tweets, but I have a message for you: you have been duped. Big time. And by the time you realize it---it will be way, way too late.
You see, as you sit there observing the destruction of the liberties of Christians (and not being overly concerned because, hey, that movie you saw had a great gay actor in it, and besides, you think 1 out of 4 Americans are gay anyway [it is actually 1.6%, or one out of 45 people], so why should you care about those religious zealots anyway?) you are blissfully unaware that the massive government system that is growing day by day (and spending the life savings of your great grandchildren in the process) could really care less about homosexuality and homosexuals. They are a convenient tool, a means of controlling---you, the dupes. You see, they could care less about how they get the power they crave, as long as they get it. And once they can force people to THINK the way they want them to think (beginning with forcing Christians to celebrate acts and lifestyles that their faith identifies as sinful, evil, and life-destroying), do you really think they will stop there, lay aside their new totalitarian power, and leave YOU alone? Oh, you can avoid any problems with Big Brother alright---as long as you are willing to think as you are told, do as you are told, believe as you are told. But if you dare step out of line---well, you better bake that cake, celebrate that wedding, and LIKE IT, or Big Brother will deal with you. And he will do it with the power YOU gave him because you didn't care about the cost of liberty in the first place. I'd say "wake up," but I don't think you will hear me over the volume of your 50 inch flatscreen.
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"Poor time management is a major problem in cultures like the United States. It's worse than abortion, neglect of the poor, and other moral problems people often cite when asked what's wrong with a culture."
ReplyDeleteI agree that wasteful misuse of our God-given time is a major problem, but it doesn't seem to me to be equal to, much less worse than the sins of abortion, neglect of the poor, etc. Was this a flourish, or do you really believe it?
CR,
DeleteI referred to how much of a problem time management is "in cultures like the United States". The reason why I added that qualifier was because I was addressing the cumulative effect, not whether one instance of act X is worse than one instance of act Y. If a woman has an abortion, that's worse than her deciding to watch a sitcom on television when she should have been doing something like praying or reading a book instead. But in cultures like the United States, poor time management is far more widespread than something like abortion, is far more deeply ingrained in the culture, is far more pervasive in people's lives, is a large factor in producing things like abortion and poverty, and so on. It's worse than abortion cumulatively. Similarly, we could say that ingratitude is a worse problem in cultures like the United States than bestiality is. One act of ingratitude wouldn't be as bad as one act of bestiality, but ingratitude is a worse problem cumulatively. As I said above, one of the reasons why abortion is such a problem is poor time management. People are highly ignorant of important issues like abortion largely because they waste so much time on trivial television programs, unnecessary yard work, and involving their children in things like sports and music too much. The time would be far better spent on something like reading or doing other forms of research on matters like abortion.
When we get to a point where most Americans can't name the four gospels, most think that at least twenty percent of the population is homosexual, more than forty percent can't name the vice president, the large majority of Protestants believe in justification through works, about fifteen percent of voters in 2012 said that Hurricane Sandy was the biggest factor in determining which presidential candidate they voted for, most voters supported the reelection of a president as horrible as Barack Obama, etc., the situation is pathetic. We're not impoverished people living in huts in a third world nation. We're among the most privileged and prosperous people in the history of the world, and we're squandering our resources to an astonishing degree. To whom much is given, much is required. Privileges come with responsibilities, but the large majority of Americans seem to want the privileges without much of the responsibility. Instead of addressing the problem, the large majority of parents, pastors, radio hosts, bloggers, etc. are silent, aren't saying as much as they should, or are even contributing to the problem. Poor time management is a major problem, including among political conservatives and conservative Evangelicals. Given how widespread and deep the problem is, I see no way to conclude that abortion is cumulatively equal or worse.
Thanks for the clarification, Jason.
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