Profane Hatred

Dr. Michael L. Ford

2 February 2008

            When I heard of the last episode of someone in broadcasting using profanity against Christianity my mind went back to the day some years ago when a reporter for Public Broadcasting was recorded to be screaming profanities in a hall of our nation’s congressional building. I remembered the person who did that to be Nina Totenberg, but it is possible I am wrong in the matter. When I tried to bring up the incident with a search on the Internet I struck out. I did find plenty of hits connecting her name with profanity including an incident where she had a “profanity-laced tirade against Senator Alan Simpson outside the ABC studios following a contentious episode of Nightline.” Nina had evidently led the way in showing people how to use profanity as a tool to advancement.

             One wonders what brings a person to the decision that profaning and diminishing womanhood is a good thing just as one might reflect on the circumstances that brings a person to the place they will climb into a tower with a high powered rifle and begin randomly shooting victims and destroying lives. I searched for a clue but came up with nothing conclusive. I wondered if the school where she learned to speak evil of dignities might have been in the marriage to the one term senator Floyd Haskell, who died of   pneumonia August. 25^th 1998. Maybe it was bitterness because his liberal politics was ultimately rejected. She had married him after he lost his bid for reelection, which would make him in my estimate a two-time loser. But Nina proved that if you are connected to a liberal leaning organization you could be crass and get advancement.

            One of the reasons I feel inspired to write an article where I must apologize to readers for references to behavior and speech so crude and unrefined as to be lacking in discrimination and sensibility is we have recently been handed a real double jab of anti-Christian attack in short order. I agree with the cast members of the Miracle Theater in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee who said after Kathy Griffin’s “rant” in September of last year “Enough is enough!” In a statement published in WorldNetDaily.com the group said "We, as Christian entertainers, do not take it lightly that the name of our Lord and Savior has been mocked, and in response, we took out an ad in USA Today to stand up for Him," I think it is time that everyone who has some standard of morality and decency join together to banish the rude and crude from public viewing. Enough is more than enough!

            Speaking of Kathy Griffin, whose claim to fame is she told Jesus to “suck it” on national television, I have some observations. She is an “entertainer” and star of the Bravo network show "My Life on the D-List." I had not seen it because I thought, given the spirit of the day and what I had heard about it, the “D” stood for depraved. Discussing her remarks with a friend I was informed the “D” stood for divorced. While I do not normally approve of divorce, it did occur to me that while somebody had the misjudgment to marry her they ultimately came to their senses and had the good sense to cut their losses and discard her. But I was to find out the “D” did not stand for divorce but was a take of on the “A” list category roster of most bankable movie stars. That list was created by journalist James Ulmer who developed the 100 point Ulmer scale method that quantifies a star’s value to a movie production.

By any standard, my opinion is Ms Griffin should be relegated to an F list for Foulmouthed Failure. Her remarks came when she was receiving the 2007 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program, non-competition in September aired on El. In her acceptance speech she said "Now a lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. He didn't help me a bit. If it was up to him, Cesar Milan would be up here with that d**n dog. So all I can say is..." Then she went on to hold up her Emmy and finished by saying, "...Suck it, Jesus, this award is my god now!" Since she describes herself as a militant atheist and Unitarian it is doubtful Jesus ever was her god. But the fact she was able to deliver the first punch and emerge unscathed, even getting more publicity for herself probably inspired Dana Jacobson to make what was described as "hateful, slurring remarks" and say "F*** Jesus" later.

            Dana Jacobson is described as an ESPN anchorwoman. ESPN is a subsidiary of ABC, which has a long history of being anti-Christian. I have tried unsuccessfully to get an accurate description for the term anchor-person but one would think given the combination of words it would mean something on the order of a person who holds a show or program, something like a reality show or a news program, together. It seems that networks have made a determination to appeal to the lowest common denominator of society. Even Fox News network has a low class late night program called Red Eye, so it is apparent if something is not soon done to halt the trend the swelling tide of blasphemy and smut will soon be an inundation. This is just one more reason why I must take your valuable time up speaking to the issue.

            Jacobson has been an ESPN news anchor since December of 2001, and will soon be 37 years old, so if she was ever going to learn to conduct herself as an adult media person it would seem she would have already done so. She should have known how to behave properly since she has a degree in communications from the University of Michigan. Some reports of the incident that occurred during a celebrity roast for co-workers claim she was intoxicated at the time. If that is true then her qualification to be a public person should be even more in question. She would not be the first t.v. personality to be drunk on television but time and space does not allow us to pursue that subject at this time.

            Ms. Jacobson who owes her living to the world of sports actually had “unleashed a profane tirade, saying, "F*** Notre Dame," "F*** Touchdown Jesus" and finally "F*** Jesus." "Touchdown Jesus" is the nickname for a mural in Notre Dame's library featuring Jesus raising his arms. Bill Donohue said he received an e-mail with this statement by Jacobson: "My remarks about Notre Dame were foolish and insensitive. I respect all religions and did not mean anything derogatory by my poorly chosen words." This statement is shallow and evidence the woman see her hate speech as being of “no consequence.”

ESPN is not taking this matter seriously. Her comments were at a public event where she represented ESPN. ABC once fired an actor for making an anti-gay comment but for speaking derogatively about my Lord Jacobson was given a week’s vacation. You can look for more anti-Christian comments in the future.