The pagans blogging at The Wild Hunt report that the MTV program True Life is looking for a few good teenaged Wiccans. They’re concerned that "Far too often naive (or greedy) Pagans have been exploited in this sensationalist and bottom-feeding genre, providing snarky laughs to a growingly cynical audience." But MTV is hardly a convention of religious broadcasters who would scorn the pagans. It’s more likely they’d enjoy watching a few Christian parents blow a gasket while they film it. Here's a snippet of the request for subjects:
…we are casting for an upcoming episode of the award-winning series True Life. For this episode, we are looking for people who are in the process of converting to Wicca, or who have recently converted. We are focusing on how parents deal with these changes, and how it affects relationships. People should email their situations to Parents@mtvnmix.com with their name, age, location, phone number, and recent photo of themselves I would really appreciate it.
MTV’s working on an upcoming episode called "I’m Clashing With My Parents." Isn’t that what MTV is all about widening up the generation gap with a crowbar? Clashes are great "reality show" grist, and MTV’s appetite is never-ending:
Are you clashing with your parents? Going against their wishes? Defying them even? Are you an Americanized teen growing up in a household with immigrant parents whose conservative cultural values are at odds with your modern viewpoints and lifestyle? Perhaps your religious beliefs are setting you and your parents at odds. Are you abandoning the beliefs they instilled in you as a child? Or is your deepening passion for faith and religion concerning your more secular-leaning parents? Maybe the conflict between you and your parents is a classic old disagreement over the guy or girl you’re dating. If you’re personally living through any of these scenarios, or an equally compelling conflict with your mother & father, we’d like to hear from you. MTV is working on a new episode of "True Life" that will explore the impact on young adults, and their families, when grown children challenge their upbringing and defy their parents.
It would be fascinating if MTV truly turned the usual tables around and found a religious teen horrifying his secular parents. But I wouldn't count on it.
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.
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Rebels
February 21, 2009 - 23:15 ET by MotherChildren who had religion shoved down their gullets and have a MIND OF THIER own will often act out this way. Some parents want to INDOCTRINATE their children and shove 'religion' down their throat whilst beating the crap out of them, yelling, screaming and basically being hypocrites.
Christians of ALL people need to stop the cycle of abuse.
MY church is in my heart and Jesus is there when I pray in my happy times or in my darkest hours. I'm not dissin' the church goers...I'm just saying that...the soul GOD gave you has all the prayer you need. Church is the back-up plan. Women are STRONG and we are the ones BIRTHING humanity with pain and then pleasure when our child is put upon our breast and we gaze upon her/him with pure love. Men are nothing without GODDESS and visa versa. We are some strong biotches. My man would have been clueless without my intellect and we wouldn't have flourished as a business without my input both intellectually and business wise. People who know how to run a business for as long as we have need to be in Congress. Lawyers? Throw 'em to the ducks. :))
Some parents want to
February 22, 2009 - 07:40 ET by motherbeltSome parents want to INDOCTRINATE their children and shove 'religion'
down their throat whilst beating the crap out of them, yelling,
screaming and basically being hypocrites.
That's just B as in B, S as in S!
You take a case of extreme religious zealotry which basically exists only in the fevered imagination of Hollywood writers, , and haphazardly use it as an example of Christianity. I've been around Christians all my life (and I'm no spring chicken!), lived in 6 different states and 2 foreign countries, and I have NEVER come across any congregation that expects their members to treat their children thus.
Are we to assume that all of these kids looking into Wiccan were the product of "some" abusive parents who shoved religion down their throats?
It couldn't be just the adolescent practice of rejecting the parents' values and/or going along with the latest fad?
Give me a break.
And Tim, yesterday in the "Wife Swap" thread, I commented that the kind of outrageous behavior that guy (forget his name) exhibited was exactly the kind of stuff the producers were looking for, even though the show wasn't specifically "scripted."
This is another example of a "reality" show being deliberately set up to provide the maximum of conflict, for the entertainment of the ignorant masses.
Why any thinking person with a shred of dignity would subject him/herself to this personal exploitation is beyond me.
Oh, wait, I did qualify it..."with a shred of dignity." Some people will tolerate anything for a chance to be on TV.
I didn't think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows. -Bart Simpson
Wicca-rific?
February 22, 2009 - 08:04 ET by Tim GrahamThe pagans are cautious, but MTV could sculpt a real "teaching moment" for them, and promote Wicca.
right on~
February 23, 2009 - 13:27 ET by buzzkill3r"That's just B as in B, S as in S!"
Ever been to the town of Garage Logic?
On the indoctrination front, I wonder what 'Mother' thinks of the liberals in the courts and government school system forcing children attend classes that:
A) Indoctrinate children in the activist homosexual agenda by having radical gay speakers promote homosexuality among the children, making the children sign confidentiality agreements so they won't tell their parents, and refusing to let kids that disagree with the agenda leave the class.
B) Indoctrinate children in Multiculturalism by instructing the children to take Muslim names, pray to Allah on their knees, fast during Ramadan, and memorize the 5 pillars of the Islamic religion.
C) Indoctrinate children in the fanatical environmental movement by forcing them to watch (eco-hypocrite) Al Gore's largely debunked propaganda film "An Inconvenient Truth"
I'm pretty certain that 'Mother' has no problems with government indoctrination. In fact I don't think that she even has an issue with the fact parents have the right to pass on their values and beliefs to their own children for if a Wiccan family raised their children in the same way (or worse) would she complain?
The truth is that the Left hates REAL Christianity.They try to hijack the aspects that they like and demonize those that they don't. They disguise thier bigotry by pointing out abuses here and there by people that are obviously not even close to living a Christian life, but when it comes to identical abuses in the secular world or in other religions their silence is deafening.
Also, MTV is the wrong venue for a show on Wicca. With the strange Wiccan obsessions on birthing, wombs and vaginas I think that the goddesses would be more at home in a place where they don't have to cover up. (HBO or Showtime most likely)
Yes, that is the popular secular stereotype...
February 22, 2009 - 08:42 ET by JohnMcGrew...of Christian family life, but hardly the typical one.
What is stereotypical here and is truly representative of today’s mainstream media is the mockery of traditional values in a narcissistic celebration of self and easy profits. MTV is hardly a venue for people with “minds of their own”. They cater to the young and clueless who want to be told what to wear, how to act, and how to be hip and relevant in the shallowest manners possible. There is little valuable or sustainable in the values they promote. The irony is that the Wiccans are being exploited just as the Christians are; it’s just that they don’t realize it.
the young and clueless who
February 22, 2009 - 08:49 ET by motherbeltthe young and clueless who want to be told what to wear, how to act, and how to be hip
And all the while, in their uniformity, they proclaim that that are "different." LOL
I didn't think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows. -Bart Simpson
"Christians of ALL people
February 22, 2009 - 20:55 ET by Kingfish17"Christians of ALL people need to stop the cycle of abuse."
I'm not sure I understand why you single out Christians of ALL peopel as needing to do this. Either you think that this problem is predominately Christian or you think that Christians have a better chance at stopping this problem, because they are Christian then other religious groups.
Maybe you could clarify. Don't mean to put meaning into your statement but it's kind of confusing.
kingfish
February 22, 2009 - 21:13 ET by botgi believe Mother self-identifies as a Christian and is pointing out that it is inconsistant with Christianity
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” -- Chief Justice John Roberts
God forbid ...
February 21, 2009 - 23:58 ET by legacyrepublicanthat MTV would ever do a story about Keith Green driving his parents nuts after his conversion to being a Christian and his original Christian rock style music that helped fuel the Christian Contemporary movement.
That would be too radical for them!
Same old MTV crap.
February 22, 2009 - 01:44 ET by Saint ZeroI guess it's cheaper not to bother thinking, just recycle a stupid idea.
Dear Mom;
We've heard all that before.
I do hope they call the show
February 22, 2009 - 08:44 ET by Jack BauerI do hope they call the show Bewiccaned
wiccans
February 22, 2009 - 11:04 ET by candanceI've known many Wiccans in my life and even dated a few back in my younger days. Almost all of them used paganism either as an intellectual escape or because they wanted to be different. That's not to say there are no genuine Wiccans, because I do know a few, but the majority do it to play around.
If MTV really wanted to do a respectful show about Wiccans they could, but all I see from this is portraying Wicca as a cool way to annoy your parents. And Tim is right, I'd love to see them do a show on evangelical or devout Catholic kids who feel misunderstood.
But acts of kindness and generosity must be free and voluntary; no man has a right to compel another to follow his conscience. This is a concern which lies between a man and his God.
-Richard Fuhrman, pro slave advocate, 1823
They've gone Goth
February 22, 2009 - 11:36 ET by CobraManGood luck on that teenage wiccan search, MTV. Your about 100 years too late. Most teenagers who would have be wiccans in the past are now all Goth's and Emo's. 20 years ago, they were Punk. 20 years before that, they were all Love Children. 20 years before that, Bobbie Sockers. 20 years before that, Beatniks. 20 years before that, Zoot Suiters. And twenty years before that, Flappers.
Get with the times, MTV!
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities
of Citizens in the several States.
The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus.
The US Supreme Court
I think you're right!
February 22, 2009 - 13:01 ET by motherbeltI think you're right!
Wicca is soooooo 1990's!!
LOL
I didn't think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows. -Bart Simpson
You mean 1890's, don't you?
February 22, 2009 - 13:38 ET by CobraManYou mean 1890's, don't you?
On Edit: My 15 year old daughter just asked me: "Why doesn't this site have emoticons? Smiley's are SOOO last decade!"
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities
of Citizens in the several States.
The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus.
The US Supreme Court
One would think that any
February 22, 2009 - 11:57 ET by RR GOPOne would think that any true Wiccan would not want to be exploited. Same goes for devout Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, etc.
From what I've seen a lot of these kids (girls mostly) dabble in Wicca but like with all beliefs find the moral strictures too hard to live by.
One of the 24% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 89% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.