25 March 2008

Vision Forum Warning! Eeek!

I have to tell you I've ordered from Vision Forum in the past. I like their products and I appreciate their traditional values and family-friendly mentality. But I'm not as easily manipulated into a purchase as one might think. Recently I received this sc-aaaa--aaaaary email from Vision Forum about the evils of Disney. I'd better buy their latest product that will inform me all about how to stay away from that Disney brand name!!

"Disney’s great weakness was this: Even at his best, his morality was not linked to a defined transcendent standard; his worldview was syncretistic, being a mixture of Christian moralism and mythic paganism.

Despite his far-reaching influence, Christians have not thoroughly evaluated the worldview and accomplishments of Walt Disney from a biblical perspective. And until recent decades, the Disney logo was synonymous with family values. The consequence of this myopic acceptance of Disney has lead many parents to blindly expose their children to a diversity of problematic messages, from the sensuality and pantheism of Pocahontas to the immodesty and rebellion of The Little Mermaid."

Hmm. Guess I've got to stop letting my kids watch THIS movie:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedknobs_and_Broomsticks

You know, a Disney classic from 1971. This stuff is NOT new, folks. (And NO, we never let our kids watch it!! You have to be kidding!) D and I have had knock-down drag-out fights about exposing the kids to such stuff as Mary Poppins. The point being, we DO care what we show our kids and we DO have a brain in our heads.

Yes, even when we let our kids watch Spongebob. God help us, some of those episodes are *cute.* We have specifically avoided the movie, however, after reading the Focus on the Family's Plugged In Online review. This website is very balanced in its reviews, but does review from a Christian perspective.

I'm not "myopic" in this battle. I see quite clearly in this arena. But I also know that the children are IN the world. We can't even get an oil change without seeing some hussy shake-it-cause-she's-got-it in front of the camera. Now the GROCERY STORES have tv things in the aisles. Maybe no one shakes-it there yet, but I've noted cleavage. Give it a decade. I try to patronize places that are most closely aligned with my values, but we do have to eat.

As parents, we are charged with sheltering (yup) our children. At the same time, we're charged with sending them out into the world prepared for its challenges. God bless all you parents reading this in your fight to do that! :]

11 comments:

  1. Its a difficult area. Family values have chaned so much.
    Did you know that Walt Disney was dyslexic?

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  2. No, I didn't know that!

    And I enjoyed my time at Disney World two years ago. It is a very fun (but crowded!) place.

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  3. I have go back and forth so much with my kids. My girls especially. Who doesn't love the fairy tale stories where the witch get what she deserves and the princess and prince ride off into the sunset. As long as the witch is evil, it doesn't bother me as much. When the witch is portrayed as good then it bothers me more. I know that sounds crazy. But witches are evil and they can only get that power from one place, so there is no such thing as a "good" witch like mary poppins, nanny mcphee and the ever popular harry potter.
    If you know what to do about the great fairy tales (which I love too including the new one Enchanted) please give me your opinion.

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  4. Sometimes I think I am glad my kids are grown, but then I am reminded that my kids now have 18 grandkids and some of them think there is no harm in some of this stuff that is out there. Satan has so many blinded.

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  5. I love fairy tales (the original ones, not the dumbed down Disney ones). I read them to my kids. We watch them. We play them.

    G.K. Chesterton said “Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

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  6. See, that's just it. There are so many NASTY things out there - even tv commercials. I sometimes allow "this" program but not "that" even if "this and that" both have the same bad things in them. Hard to explain, but an example would be Roots. Yes, the woman is raped in the movie. I wouldn't want a four-year-old to watch it. I'd let an 11-year-old. But even a yogurt commercial where people are grunting MmmMMMMmm is *too* much for everyone in my opinion, you know??

    So I don't want to be legalistic with anyone else, although of course there are things we all agree are WAY OUT THERE and we need to fight those together.

    But here I have the same sort of ideals/rules you do, zimms, and yet I'm watching Lord of the Rings which has a good wizard (Gandalf) and a good Elf-witch roaming about the woods.

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  7. Wow, Daja, you must have written that during my monologue! Haven't heard from ya in a while! :]

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  8. I wanted to add, since I read your monologue, that I think that adults need to make their own decisions on what to watch in thier private time without their children. We have seen all the Lord of the Rings, but I wouldn't let my children watch because the fight between is just to heavy for them.
    Definitely not the Chronicles of Narnia. Much heavier.
    Thanks Daja for the quote. I liked it!

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  9. Here's an article you might find interesting:

    http://www.writetoinspire.com/article1314.html

    :-)

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  10. Thanks, Daja! That was a great article. Will have to get a picture of "Gandalf" and his little elf friend posted soon.

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  11. I know I'm a few years behind on this post but I'm glad I stumbled on it. I got a Women and Children First catalog yesterday. I have no idea how I got on their list, probably from some homeschool site. Anyway, I was looking at some of their homeschool items, did a google search for reviews and wallah! here was this post. I find it interesting that I found this since I was just reading their about on the vision forum website. I was telling my husband this morning that I'd like to know more about their philosophy before further looking at their products.

    I really appreciate you sharing this experience with us. I'm not happy that they would take such a blanket stance. I agree with you, our children are IN the world. We protect our daughter ALOT but she needs to know that there are evils in the world and how to stand against them. Otherwise when she grows up she won't have a clue how to defend herself against them. They'd probably have a fit they knew I let my daughter watch Dinosaur train!

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Non-troll comments always welcome! :)

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