Spectrum Blog and "Jesus Camp"

Recently over at Spectrum Blog Alexander placed the trailer for the new documentary “Jesus Camp”. (YouTube Jesus Camp Trailer) He installed the trailer so that the audio and video started as soon as a person arrived on his webpage or refreshed the page. So the audio ran even if you were not looking at that part of the page and if you put a comment somewhere the audio and video would start again. I placed a comment along with some information on the section dealing with the Jesus Camp movie, and noted that I did not appreciate the automatic start of the audio, mainly because I use my computer to listen to other things and did not want the noise of the Jesus Camp trailer mucking up what I was listening too. As I recall someone else commented about not liking the intrusive sound either but it appears that comment got dumped. Unlike this blog, Spectrum blog has a tendency to delete comments for reason other then offensive or irrelevant comments. I and others have actually had our comments edited by Alexander at Spectrum Blog. We discussed this unfortunate activity over at Atomorrow.com

After my comment Alexander posted on this blog the following comments:

Sorry you had to struggle to look for your volume control, but hey, we're about introducing folks to new things. We'll try to get that to work better.

Posted by: Alexander | 24 September 2006 at 18:07

Wait - follow the logic - is that Christianity to you?

Spooky music. . .yes, actually children being guilted into crying and confessing their 8-year-old sins and being prepared to fight Muslims in the name of Jesus, while praying over a cardboard-cut-out of any president is spooky to some.

Perhaps critiquing the scary parts of any faith doesn't preclude belief.

Posted by: Alexander | 24 September 2006 at 18:42

I imagine anything which accords listening to a talk show host from Air America as the voice of reason in such a film is spooky enough in itself.

Oh by the way again thanks for the intrusive noise of the trailer as we visit your site. sure I normally listen to other things on my computer so that a visit here is like a visit to Babel, but don't let that worry you as it will teach us poor illiterates how to turn down our sound, stop what we are listening to before we came here or leave your site.

Posted by: Ron Corson | 27 September 2006 at 16:31

Hey Ron,

What's with your kvetching on the Spectrum Blog? If you don't like the politics, feel free to articulate opinions of your own - but don't just complain about being annoyed; it's a poor substitute for interesting ideas.

Posted by: Alexander | 28 September 2006 at 09:18

I had actually provided in my first comment information which would be helpful to people interesting in the movie. Trailers don’t give you much information so I posted and excerpt from someone else who had also listened to Medved's show, later I looked up other information about the movie. I posted the following:

I listened to Michael Medved's interview with the producers also and was not impressed with them. Here is a comment from Free Republic:

"To: johnny7
I caught an interview of one of the producers on Michael Medved's show yesterday. The outstanding thing about their defense of their "documentary" was in the way that they answered questions.

It was exactly like the way CAIR responds to questions about islamo-fascist terrorism. They dodged, engaged in moral equivocation, and offered up a healthy dose of tu quoque's.

When asked why they put spooky background music to scenes where their targets spoke, they responded with a "One person's spooky is anther person's spiritual" crap. When asked why they deliberately slowed down the camera (post production editing) is certain scenes, they giggled and said "OMG! That's just artistic expression!" They created this mockumentary mess as another slam on Christianity and they knew exactly what they were doing.

I won't be seeing it (or missing it for that matter).."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1702572/posts

Oh yea it is annoying to have the video and audio start on its own. Hope they are at least paying you for annoying the people who visit your blog.

Posted by: Ron Corson | 24 September 2006 at 09:20

The Spectrum Blog did not mention the fact that the Jesus Camp movie uses commentary from Mike Papantonio an Air America talk show host who sees Christians who aren’t liberal as political conservatives and something to be fought against. He is a Liberal Methodist and the Jesus Camp film is about Pentecostals so he is not really a knowledgable commentator on Pentecostal religion and is there for the more political aspects of the movie.

Reflections on 'Jesus Camp' Documentary explores children's experiences with fundamentalism. Linda Leicht News-Leader

The film starts with a caller telling Papantonio he opposes the ministry. "There's nothing Christian about 'em," the caller insists.

Papantonio is nodding his head, and the audience may be ready to agree, but the film forces the viewer to see several sides of the issue.

The overt images of Christianity in America — from roadside crosses to billboards signed by God, seem surreal when Levi declares, "America is supposed to be God's nation. ... Now a lot of people in America just aren't following God."

A life-size, cardboard cutout of President Bush set up before the campers, along with a invocation to "pray the Spirit over him," is followed by a caller on Papantonio's show declaring, "They've taken over the White House."

A subtext to the film is the nomination and confirmation of Samuel Alito to fill retiring Sandra Day O'Connor's seat on the Supreme Court, an event that was happening during filming. The campers are urged to pray for "righteous judges."

It begs the question of how comfortable America is with such an overt mixture of politics in religious expression, while insisting on the freedom to express those viewpoints.

Of course few people will see this movie, it probably has no more relevance then a film of Christian snake handlers. There are always extremes but it is a mistake to draw too many conclusions from the extreme. It is however another play in the culture war of America where the Political Left try to denigrate conservatives by any means possible.

But you can thank me because the annoying automatic audio and video is no longer present on Spectrum Blog. Despite Alexander derisive statements it appears he has realized the error of his ways. And just maybe some day the Spectrum Blog will have more Christian or even Adventist content instead of its liberal political bent. But I would not hold my breath waiting; things that come out of Berkley California are usually politically distorted to the left in a big way.

Update: Read the article Are Christian Maoists Plotting a Takeover?

Posted by: Michael Medved Sept 27