I Am Jazz
I have been suffering from "blogger's block" on one hand and an ideas over-load on the other. Does not make much sense, right?
Let me explain - there are so many ideas and topics that pop into my mind, at least 10 a day (the over-load). But as quickly as they pop in, they pop out because I do not get past writing more than two sentences before the idea/subject is discarded - why? I have no clue; I just am not able to write more than two sentences before my thoughts shut down, the flow of words dried up like a stream in a drought!
I finally am able to go beyond the two sentences, thanks to "I Am Jazz".
I have been getting a "broadcast" on the program "I am Jazz" from different people - friends on my Blackberry contact list, not-so-friends on my Whatsapp (can Whatsapp creators/administrators please come up with a more private platform? Anyone with your phone number thinks it is okay to send you messages and broadcasts or comments on whatever it is they are thinking!)
The program apparently starts airing in Nigeria on TLC on October 27. I am yet to see the advert, but then, I usually do not watch more than a total of 5 hours of TV in a two week period and at least 2 hours is accounted for by Disney programs, much to my 8-year old's constant amusement. So, the chances of my seeing this advert/trailer are quite slim.
What is "I Am Jazz" about? Apparently - and this is from what I have found out online (which is a whole lot more than my people who are forwarding the protest request have done, I am certain) - the program is about the life of a Transgender teen, Jazz Jennings, who was born - "assigned" as one website says - male but has, since early childhood, identified as female. Many are shocked and angry at what this represents - another attempt to push "abnormal" into the realm of "normal and acceptable". Societies have always fought against accepting anything deemed different from the norm. But, what is the "norm" has varied from century to century, age to age, all dependent on what ideology is the "norm" or the "rage" or the "accepted".
My views on "abnormal, sinful and abominations" are different than most, thanks to my father's insistence on independent and practical thought. He taught me never to just accept what "people say". For my side (Up Bendel!!), dem dey say "Dem (Them) say Dem (Them) say no be say I say!"
Once upon a time, witches, warlocks, magicians, druids, sorcerers, magicks old and new, all manners and forms of mysticism and occultism were the norm. And then they were not, driven underground by a new order or new religion.
Once upon a time, homosexualism, lesbianism, bestialism, all sorts of -isms and orgies were NORMAL (the heterosexual was the different one), acceptable and even welcome in societies. And then they were not.
Once upon a time, free thinking was the rage - anything was acceptable. And then it was not.
In Nigeria, polygamy is more and more becoming "different"; an educated man marries another wife and everyone is shocked and horrified. Yet, polygamy has been the NORM for centuries! What has changed? Western religion and economics.School fees are something else. And the cost of buying "Aunty Funmi" or "Brazilian/Spanish/Indian" hair and designer bags & shoes for even one wife is a tough act!!
The age of "freedom" is upon us and everything will fight to be accepted and acceptable. And then, they will not be.
A group called "One Million Moms" (and no, they do not seem to have up to a tenth of the number they claim to have or be and have even less than that tenth in "likes" on Facebook) have attacked the program and been dubbed a hate group.
Those of us who are Christian scream and rage about the "wrongness" of the LGBT movement and instigate hate and intolerance. I ask if that is what Christ teaches.
While it would be simple minded of me to separate the old testament from the new, I would say that as a follower of Christ, I would, when things get really choppy and confusing, focus on His teachings and not on the myriad messages in the testaments (if we followed the Old Testament ways, wed all be dead - strung and quartered for our transgressions, for the Old Laws were harsh and unyielding and the Apostles seemed a bit over-zealous in some of their utterances!)
Christ taught love and tolerance. Instead of this condemnation and hating, what happened to praying for the "different" and leaving them to God?
If transgenderism and homosexualism and bisexualism are sins, just as murder, rape, incest, stealing, looting the state or national treasury, lying (a lie, white or black IS a sin), cheating (in ANY form), adultery, fornication are ALL sins, what makes one different from the other?
Yes, yes, God destroyed Sodom & Gomorrah. Remember He also wiped out the earth's population for their sins - and it was for all manner of sins, not just homosexualism.
For my fellow Nigerians calling on the NBC to ban the program, I ask, why do you subscribe to Multichoice/DSTV?
Do you even KNOW what your children are watching? And, why oh why are your children watching TLC and other age inappropriate stations/content?
I have heard of young children watching the Kardashians, Game of Thrones (even as an adult, I blush at some of the content). I have seen children dancing in a manner that suggests that they have watched musical videos that are near pornographic, dance moves that I would only dare dance in the privacy of my bedroom - ALONE!!!
It would seem sensible and more effective to put your money where your mouth is - DO NOT SUBSCRIBE to a company that has no moral meter! That would probably be more effective. A potential or actual loss in revenue would make any vendor think twice about a decision than empty threats.
I Am Jazz is only about one issue. I have seen programs - Empire, for one - which have sexually explicit homosexual scenes. Programs where the raping of women is portrayed in very blasé ways, where murder is made to seem "cool" and gangsters get away with all manner of things. Musical videos, regardless of the theme of the song, have young girls in different stages of undress parading and shaking their "booties and what their mama gave them"; "orgistic" scenes, songs that peddle sex and aimed at youths, encouraging moral decadence.
So, to all the people sending that broadcast around, I say, "I Am Jazz" is the least of our issues.
Let me explain - there are so many ideas and topics that pop into my mind, at least 10 a day (the over-load). But as quickly as they pop in, they pop out because I do not get past writing more than two sentences before the idea/subject is discarded - why? I have no clue; I just am not able to write more than two sentences before my thoughts shut down, the flow of words dried up like a stream in a drought!
I finally am able to go beyond the two sentences, thanks to "I Am Jazz".
I have been getting a "broadcast" on the program "I am Jazz" from different people - friends on my Blackberry contact list, not-so-friends on my Whatsapp (can Whatsapp creators/administrators please come up with a more private platform? Anyone with your phone number thinks it is okay to send you messages and broadcasts or comments on whatever it is they are thinking!)
The program apparently starts airing in Nigeria on TLC on October 27. I am yet to see the advert, but then, I usually do not watch more than a total of 5 hours of TV in a two week period and at least 2 hours is accounted for by Disney programs, much to my 8-year old's constant amusement. So, the chances of my seeing this advert/trailer are quite slim.
What is "I Am Jazz" about? Apparently - and this is from what I have found out online (which is a whole lot more than my people who are forwarding the protest request have done, I am certain) - the program is about the life of a Transgender teen, Jazz Jennings, who was born - "assigned" as one website says - male but has, since early childhood, identified as female. Many are shocked and angry at what this represents - another attempt to push "abnormal" into the realm of "normal and acceptable". Societies have always fought against accepting anything deemed different from the norm. But, what is the "norm" has varied from century to century, age to age, all dependent on what ideology is the "norm" or the "rage" or the "accepted".
My views on "abnormal, sinful and abominations" are different than most, thanks to my father's insistence on independent and practical thought. He taught me never to just accept what "people say". For my side (Up Bendel!!), dem dey say "Dem (Them) say Dem (Them) say no be say I say!"
Once upon a time, witches, warlocks, magicians, druids, sorcerers, magicks old and new, all manners and forms of mysticism and occultism were the norm. And then they were not, driven underground by a new order or new religion.
Once upon a time, homosexualism, lesbianism, bestialism, all sorts of -isms and orgies were NORMAL (the heterosexual was the different one), acceptable and even welcome in societies. And then they were not.
Once upon a time, free thinking was the rage - anything was acceptable. And then it was not.
In Nigeria, polygamy is more and more becoming "different"; an educated man marries another wife and everyone is shocked and horrified. Yet, polygamy has been the NORM for centuries! What has changed? Western religion and economics.School fees are something else. And the cost of buying "Aunty Funmi" or "Brazilian/Spanish/Indian" hair and designer bags & shoes for even one wife is a tough act!!
The age of "freedom" is upon us and everything will fight to be accepted and acceptable. And then, they will not be.
A group called "One Million Moms" (and no, they do not seem to have up to a tenth of the number they claim to have or be and have even less than that tenth in "likes" on Facebook) have attacked the program and been dubbed a hate group.
Those of us who are Christian scream and rage about the "wrongness" of the LGBT movement and instigate hate and intolerance. I ask if that is what Christ teaches.
While it would be simple minded of me to separate the old testament from the new, I would say that as a follower of Christ, I would, when things get really choppy and confusing, focus on His teachings and not on the myriad messages in the testaments (if we followed the Old Testament ways, wed all be dead - strung and quartered for our transgressions, for the Old Laws were harsh and unyielding and the Apostles seemed a bit over-zealous in some of their utterances!)
Christ taught love and tolerance. Instead of this condemnation and hating, what happened to praying for the "different" and leaving them to God?
If transgenderism and homosexualism and bisexualism are sins, just as murder, rape, incest, stealing, looting the state or national treasury, lying (a lie, white or black IS a sin), cheating (in ANY form), adultery, fornication are ALL sins, what makes one different from the other?
Yes, yes, God destroyed Sodom & Gomorrah. Remember He also wiped out the earth's population for their sins - and it was for all manner of sins, not just homosexualism.
For my fellow Nigerians calling on the NBC to ban the program, I ask, why do you subscribe to Multichoice/DSTV?
Do you even KNOW what your children are watching? And, why oh why are your children watching TLC and other age inappropriate stations/content?
I have heard of young children watching the Kardashians, Game of Thrones (even as an adult, I blush at some of the content). I have seen children dancing in a manner that suggests that they have watched musical videos that are near pornographic, dance moves that I would only dare dance in the privacy of my bedroom - ALONE!!!
It would seem sensible and more effective to put your money where your mouth is - DO NOT SUBSCRIBE to a company that has no moral meter! That would probably be more effective. A potential or actual loss in revenue would make any vendor think twice about a decision than empty threats.
I Am Jazz is only about one issue. I have seen programs - Empire, for one - which have sexually explicit homosexual scenes. Programs where the raping of women is portrayed in very blasé ways, where murder is made to seem "cool" and gangsters get away with all manner of things. Musical videos, regardless of the theme of the song, have young girls in different stages of undress parading and shaking their "booties and what their mama gave them"; "orgistic" scenes, songs that peddle sex and aimed at youths, encouraging moral decadence.
So, to all the people sending that broadcast around, I say, "I Am Jazz" is the least of our issues.
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