Friday, October 28, 2005

E-myths: ABC, The Practice and apologies

(By Erik)

As you no doubt know by now, the Internet is the biggest repository of misinformation ever spawned by mankind.

I’m doing what little I can to turn the tide of tomfoolery, shining light into the dark corners of cyberspace.

To wit, I’ve gotten the same e-mail forwarded from two different sources this week, so I thought I’d share my findings.

The e-mail claims that a man named Jim Neugent wrote the following message to ABC after viewing a controversial episode of the network’s hit show, The Practice:

ABC is obsessed (or should I say abscessed) with the subject of homosexuality. I will no longer watch any of your attempts to convince the world that homosexuality is ok. THE PRACTICE can be a fairly good show but last night's program was so typical of your agenda. You picked the 'dufus' of the office to be the one who was against the idea of his mother being gay and made him look like a whiner because he had convictions. This type of mentality calls people like me "gay basher". Read the first chapter of Romans (that's in the Bible) and see what the apostle Paul had to say about it. He and God and Jesus were all 'gay bashers.' What if she'd fallen in love with her cocker spaniel is that an alternative lifestyle? (By the way the Bible speaks against that, too.)

I take issue with the notion that Jesus was a “gay basher,” but anyway …

The e-mail then claims that Neugent received “ABC’s reply from the ABC on-line Webmaster:”

How about getting your nose out of the Bible (which is ONLY a book of stories compiled by MANY different writers hundreds of years ago) and read the Declaration of Independence (what our nation is built on) where it says "All Men are Created Equal" - and try treating them that way for a change!? Or better yet, try thinking for yourself and stop using an archaic book of stories as your crutch for your existence.”

Whoa! Not nice! Is your blood boiling, fellow Christians?

(Don’t be too hasty and jump to conclusions. That’s what the e-mail wants you to do. Keep reading.)

The e-mail ends there with a response from Neugent that he’s going to contact his local newspaper. And, of course, there’s the obligatory Internet call to arms — “forward this to every single person you know!”

When I read this, I thought, “This HAS to be a hoax.” The first place I go whenever I’m forwarded an e-mail is www.snopes.com. It’s a sort of urban myth debunker Web site. I typed in the search terms and …

Whaddaya know. I was wrong. The incident really did happen to a guy named Jim Neugent in 1999 in Mena, Ark.

HOWEVER, the e-mail message only gives you half the story. Turns out that Mr. Neugent got another message later from ABC. Here’s the text:

Dear Mr. Neugent:

We apologize for the e-mail message that was sent to you with comments that reflect neither the view of ABC nor of its executives. Viewer mail is traditionally handled by our Audience Information department for response. Your message was inappropriately handled by a programmer from ABC.com. I want to assure you that the response that you received does not in any way reflect the views of ABC Television, and most importantly is not at all consistent with the manner in which KATV, our valued partner in Little Rock, would ever treat their audience/community members.

Unfortunately, as in any organization, there are bound to be a few individuals that step out of line. To that end, we completed a comprehensive investigation into the matter earlier this afternoon. While the individual was deeply contrite and wanted to apologize to you, we felt that his actions were reprehensible and terminated him immediately.

Specifically in response to your original concerns regarding the subject of homosexuality in our programming, the ABC programming department has tried to treat such subjects in a sensitive manner. We recognize that we are serving a large, diverse audience with a wide range of attitudes towards all types of entertainment programming. We believe that programs thoughtfully reflecting social issues existing in our present society constitute proper television faire. We appreciate your original comments and take serious note of your thoughts on the potential direction of future story lines.

We are glad that you brought the e-mail incident to our attention. We truly regret that this happened, and we hope you understand by our actions that we will not tolerate this kind of behavior from any member of our staff.

Finally, I would like to once again add that the response that you received should in no way be attributed to our partner in Little Rock, KATV. As you well know, KATV has been the news and public affairs leader in Little Rock for years, and will be for many more. A finer, more committed television station does not exist. I would not want their reputation to suffer in any way due to our mishap.

Please accept our apologies and regrets.

Sincerely,

Daren Benzi ABC Television Network


I find it odd that this portion of the story was left out of the e-mail, which continues to this day to circulate on the Internet. It joins the hundreds of other e-mails that seem to be designed for the same purpose — to make Christians angry for no good reason.

I also can’t help but think that a nicely worded initial letter from Mr. Neugent would have prevented all of this hubbub. His obsessive (or should I say abscessive) behavior clearly violates the “admonish one another with all wisdom” rule.

If you want to live for Christ, don’t waste your time complaining to ABC. Instead, turn off The Practice and go practice Christianity. Get off your couch and be Christ to someone.

And please check www.snopes.com before forwarding e-mail.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Blogging Tryggestads, Where are all the exciting new posts? :) And, don't try to tell me you're too busy with more important matters, like putting out a newspaper and healing the sick and injured. Bobby

EandJTrygg said...

I'm still waiting for all of the discussion that no doubt will follow this groundbreaking blog post thing about ABC. Yep. ... Still waiting ...

Mgam said...

If you love Jesus please send an email to 168.6 people telling them so. If you refuse to do this a little girl with cancer will install an email tracking program that will cause Bill Gates to give $50 gift certificates to everyone who has a kindney removed by someone after a party and then has it sold on the black market.

***This is true. I have a former roomate who knew a brother-in-law who was a lawyer and said it is***