Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 08/22/24

Media Scroll: Ugly stuff. Two items from The New York Post resonated with me this week.

Under the headline “Led by Obama, Democrats schoolyard tactics mirror Trump‘s trash-talking tactics,”columnist Bethany Mandel argues that the Kamala Harris Campaign is engaging in exactly the kind of name calling they accuse the former president of.

To be fair, among all her party’s accusations against the former president, this is probably the only one that is inarguable – as even many of Trump’s staunchest supporters wish he would lay off the childish invective.

On the other hand, it’s certainly no more appealing when her side does it. People want to hear about where each candidate stands on the issues and where they plan on taking this country.

Let’s hear the two candidates debate (more than once) the things people care about. How about full debates on each of these topics:

1.) Preserving Democracy/Election Integrity
2.) The Economy (i.e. inflation, jobs, affordable housing and health insurance, taxes and preserving Society Security and Medicare)
3.) Crime, Guns and the Border
4.) Education (i.e. what gets taught, school choice, college alternatives and student debt)
5.) Social Issues (i.e. abortion, immigration, LGBTQ issues, free speech, religious freedom and race relations)
6.) Foreign Policy (i.e. trade, NATO, Ukraine/Russia, the Middle East and China/Taiwan)
7.) The Climate, Ecology and Energy
and 8.) Managing Social Media and New Technologies (from TikTok to AI)

Of course, eight debates are not about to happen – but they could if the candidates would lean into the issues rather than distracting and needlessly divisive personal insults. Now, that would serve democracy.

For the record, here’s what’s on the Trump Campaign website regarding his policy positions. Here’s what’s on the Harris Campaign website.

Karens unite! This New York Post article on names that are no longer being given to babies notes that “Karen, of course, is on the list.” It’s one thing for the popularity of names to ebb and flow naturally but Karen has been maliciously erased by those who turned it into an epithet as a means of controlling women who get out of line.

To be clear, I’m not saying that many featured in all “Karen” stories weren’t, in fact, behaving like entitled idiots but morphing a perfectly acceptable name (which many women have as their identity) into epithet is also a cunning way of apply pressure on any of them who might dare hold an unapproved opinion. It’s quite nasty. I think the real-life Karens out there should join together and push back against the vile assault on their good name.
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At the Movies:

The Forge is in theaters now.

The latest film from the Kendrick Brothers tells the story of Isaiah Wright (Aspen Kennedy), a recent high school graduate with no plans for his future who challenged by his single mom (Priscilla C. Shirer) and a successful businessman (Cameron Arnett) to start charting a better course for his life.

The film’s soundtrack, featuring contemporary Christian artists such as Hulvey, Lecrae, Tasha Cobbs-Leonard, CeCe Winans, Aaron Cole and for King & Country is also available across all major streaming platforms  including Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Pandora. Bible studies tied to the film (The Forge Movie Bible Study and Fully Devoted) can be found under the Lifeway imprint.

Average Joe in theaters October 11th.

Average Joe in theaters October 11th. An official trailer dropped this week for this movie telling the true story of high school football coach Joe Kennedy (Eric Close) who took his uphill battle for the right to pray on the football field all the way to the Supreme Court. I spoke with the real Joe Kennedy about his story in February. Tickets can be purchased here.

John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God.