So I heard about this group when they were protesting Ellen DeGeneres as a spokes person for JC Penny. I was just like, "oh jeeze..." and was glad to see that plenty of people responded by showing their support for Ellen and JC Penny. I haven't really thought about them since. But my sister brought them up tonight and told me some... interesting facts about it.
As my sister put it: "You go to the website and see a picture of a mom holding a broom. She's standing there with her kids and there's a pile of trash behind them. The caption says, 'Are you tired of the trash in today's media?' The thing is, the group is run by white, republican MALES. And they actually only have like, 2,000 members."
One Million Moms main priority is get rid of so called "trash" in the media. Some of the main happenings they take offense to are an openly gay woman promoting JC Penny's, Oreos supporting LGBT with a rainbow cookie add, shows with openly gay characters like The New Normal, Modern Family, and Glee, and, oddly enough, a Skittles commercial where a "teen" makes out with a walrus. They encourage members to stop shopping at JC Penny, cancel JC Penny credit cards, and petition companies to stop advertising during the shows with gay characters so the shows will get canceled.
I guess the main thing I genuinely don't understand is the urgency over TV shows and commercials. If you disagree with the values or themes that a TV show promotes, you don't have to watch it. Easy enough. Beyond that, I think it's important to understand that the reason shows are produced and do well is because the viewing public has already gotten to a place where they are supportive of those values. If your intention is to protect a certain value, getting a show canceled won't make much difference. Media does less to shape society than it does to mirror what is already happening within culture. Media supplies a demand. So for those genuinely upset by particular themes in the media, going after the media directly misses the source entirely.
That being said, I disagree that the issues One Million Moms has with media are of any importance. I don't think a girl making out with a walrus for a comedic affect in a Skittles commercial is promotion of bestiality... I don't personally believe that being gay is wrong or that it is in any way dangerous for society to see it portrayed in a positive light on a TV show. I also don't see how it's anyone's business. It's not my intention, however, to critique someone for the beliefs they hold. But I do very much want to encourage people in general, whatever the topic, to step back and weigh issues against the whole picture.
I don't see how concerns over what the media is portraying in sitcoms, etc. take up such a huge amount of time and effort, managing to crowd out more pressing issues. For instance, children in Haiti eating pies made out of MUD just so they can quiet their raging stomachs. People in Africa dying from malaria, lack of clean drinking water, etc, all of which could easily be remedied for a handful of US dollars per person. Women in Africa having to forgo extremely painful and dangerous circumcision. Babies dying in the African dust due to AIDS, drug wars, famine, or government oppression. African women not having access to OB-GYN care, left to labor for days on end, give birth to a dead baby, and then be ostracized because of fistulas (which could be repaired easily if there was access). An American society where men are excused from responsibility for physical abuse and rape, and women are blamed for it. An American society where the law and the workplace still discriminates for race and gender. Thousands of people who are homeless and suffering real pain and going through real trials, right outside our back doors. Unfortunately, I could go on and give many more examples. But this is more than enough to illustrate my point.
I guess what I'm mostly confused about is where are the one million moms who want to ease the suffering, comfort the troubled, heal the sick, and give food to the hungry? Who care deeply about the critical, life-or-death situations so many around the world are facing? Who have a broken heart for the broken hearted?
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