It’s been said that media doesn’t tell us what to think but rather, what to think about. That is, it can be an agenda setter in the marketplace of ideas. I saw a good example of that today as we drove across Florida after attending the Easter service at our church. The Lakeland, FL, Ledger has a front page article, Searching for Answers, that starts with a description of (mandatory spoiler alert) a scene at the start of a March episode of Lost, where spiritual seeker John Locke, having been murdered and placed in a coffin, finds himself alive and back on the strange island (as illustrated by the before and after pictures above) at the center of mysterious forces. He is thought to have given his life to get six island escapees to return to face their true destinies and now, having died and returned to life, he is different–but what, the audience wonders, does it mean? The faith vs. science debate, perhaps the chief theme of the show, continues to play out and this article is but one example of how entertainment can raise the level of discourse in its audience. (Update: A Breakpoint article I wrote from a few years ago is related to this post.)
Happy Easter!
