YOU Must Be The Antidote to Hate

Is there anyone out there who reads or sees the national news headlines without a deep feeling of disgust, disappointment, and disillusionment?

I doubt it.

The vitriol is flying wildly in all directions. So we retreat to our "safe places" where everyone agrees with us, and we convince each other how right we are and how wrong everyone else is.

Our social media feeds are inflammatory and incendiary (quite by design, I might add, and only for the profit of Big Tech). Every point of view is amped up to provoke a severe emotional reaction - because that's what makes for likes, comments, shares - and corporate profits.

We are being manipulated en masse by the powers-that-be. We are being turned against each other. Friends, neighbors, family. Have we ever seen less eye-to-eye?

I don't know about you, but much of the poison I see on social media (and I try to dodge as much as possible) would never be communicated face-to-face. Somehow it's safe to say nasty things to each other in a place where we'll never have to look each other in the eyes and talk to each other like human beings.

So what does this have to do with you?

Everything. Because the antidote to all this hate is you.

Being a Christian media ministry means you have a mission not only to lead others to Christ but also to behave in a Christ-like manner and encourage others to do the same. We all have "better angels." But who is there to help us see them? YOU are. If you're up to it.

Why you? Because nobody else seems to be answering the call. And to you and me, following the example of Jesus Christ matters.

It's up to YOU to remind us of the words of Luke 6:27–28:

But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.

From a more secular perspective, it's up to YOU to remind the generations that grew up loving Star Wars that it was Master Yoda who conveyed a very Christian teaching when he said:

Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering.

It was his own hate that Luke Skywalker needed to overcome in order to vanquish true evil.

It's up to YOU to bring us together when every force in politics and business and culture seeks to sway us to the dark side for their own selfish reasons.

It's up to YOU to do as Robert Kennedy did in 1968 when he was running for president. He was about to give a speech in Indianapolis when he got the news that Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated. His audience was distraught, shocked, angry, and on the verge of riot.

He threw away his prepared remarks. He had a special responsibility now. And so, he riffed:

In this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in…You can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.

And he continued:

What we need in the United States is not division. What we need in the United States is not hatred. What we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness. [What we need is] love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country.

That night in Indianapolis, the mob chose peace and restraint over rage and violence.

So I ask you: Are you up to this challenge?

I'm often asked to help stations identify great community initiatives or promotional campaigns. But what about creating a campaign to bring peace and love and respect to your community and to every individual you reach within it?

It's because we can do this that we matter more than the "Classic Hits" station or the "#1 for Christmas" station. So what's stopping us?

Love and wisdom and compassion.

This is in your soul. It's who you are.

Do it.

For us all.

(One step ahead of me? share what you’re doing!)

Mark Ramsey Media does audience research for Christian Media - Perceptual research, digital studies, donor studies, underwriter impact studies, music studies, etc. Learn more here. Call Mark at 858-414-4191 or email markramsey@mac.com.

And if you want a strategy to solicit major donors to pay for your research, look here and download this Listener Impact Study solicitation for donors from WAKW-FM.

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