How Social Media Fails Our Orlando Grief

Quick to Listen

Christianity Today

Religion & Spirituality, Religion, Christianity

4.3 • 622 Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2016

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Forty-nine people lost their lives after a gunman opened fire in an Orlando nightclub early Sunday morning. In the days since the shooting, mainstream and social media responses have discussed and analyzed hatred and violence against LGBT communities, the merits of gun control, anti-Muslim sentiments, whether prayer is an appropriate response to tragedies, and if Christians who hold to traditional views on marriage are complicit in anti-LGBT violence. Are the array of opinions and facts available on our phones or television screens actually helping us? “We use media when we can’t be present,” says Andy Crouch, CT’s executive editor. While this type of technology makes many things possible--including this very podcast, and the article you are currently reading--it has several major disadvantages, Crouch says. “The one thing that media are really bad at doing is the one thing needed in the immediate wake of any trauma for any person or community: the silence that’s possible when you’re present in the body but impossible to communicate through media,” he says. Crouch joined Morgan and Katelyn on Quick to Listen this week to discuss social media’s specific disruption to reacting to tragedies, whether our cynicism over prayer is merited, and the dangers of responding to horror as an ideologue. (7:23) Andy, you have previously lamented the way media broadcasting runs on constant information and analysis without leaving room for mourning in silence or prayer. Did we see media work in a similar way in covering the Orlando shooting? (18:31) At what point after tragedy do we start offering up analysis or policy recommendations? (27:30) After tragedy, are there ways prayer inhibits us from action? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show, the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.
0:11.0	Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion.
0:14.5	Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at Apologeticsky.com.
0:27.5	Music Michael Del Rosario at Apologeticsguy.com. You're listening to Quick to Listen, the Christianity Today podcast, where we go beyond
0:32.0	hashtags and hot takes and set aside time to explore the reality behind a major cultural event.
0:38.5	I'm Caitlin Beatty and print managing editor of Christianity Today magazine. And I'm looking into the eyes of my lovely
0:43.9	co-host Morgan Lee. Hey Morgan. Hey, Caitlin. How's it going? Good. How are you? I'm doing well.
0:50.5	We are excited about this because this week we are joined by Andy Crouch.
0:55.3	Andy is our colleague.
0:56.6	He's an executive editor here at Christianity.
0:59.1	Today, he is also the author of three books.
1:02.4	You may have read them, culture making, plain God, strong, and weak, which is the latest one that just came out.
1:08.7	And he is also a public speaker who speaks around the world.
1:12.1	Andy, great to have you here. I am glad to be here. So as our listeners know, most controversies come
1:17.6	with complexity and tension. And every week we try to acknowledge those tensions and then work out as
1:23.0	best as we can, how Christians can respond. And this week, we are very compelled to discuss the shooting at a
1:29.1	popular gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida this past weekend. It left 49 people dead and 53
1:35.2	individuals wounded. And as I'm sure our listeners know, since the shooting, media narratives,
1:41.7	social media responses have touched on many themes that are pressing
1:46.6	and complicated for our nation, everything from hatred and violence against LGBT communities,
1:53.4	gun control, anti-Muslim sentiments in this country, whether prayer is an appropriate response
1:59.9	to national tragedy, and if so, how,
	...

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