Eugene Cho

Media, Commercials, and the Super Bowl: Women are objects to be objectified, marketed, and packaged for consumption.

I don’t want to be about censorship but at some point, some things deserve to be thrown in the garbage.  Commercials that exploit and objectify women aren’t only offensive and disgusting…but they’re dangerous.

First, some background:

Who watched the Super Bowl? Perhaps, a better question might be: “Who didn’t watch the Super Bowl?”

In 2011, the game drew the largest audience ever in history:

Last year’s Super Bowl drew the largest audience in American television history, averaging 111 million viewers. All total, 163 million people watched at least part of the game. That’s more than half of the population.

Yesterday’s game likely drew about 120 111.3 million viewers. This – in part – explains why the cost of a 30 second commercial was set at $3.5 million dollars.

Wow.

And while there were some good, funny, witty, and brilliant commercials, there were (and have been for some time) a growing number of commercials that are just downright offensive.  It’s not new but each year, they seem to be getting worse and worse – so much that the commercials are the things I least look forward to. After noticing couple of those commercials, I couldn’t help but send this tweet to Go Daddy:

Dear @GoDaddy: Your objectification and exploitation of women disgust me. #HopeAnElephantStompsAllOverYourServers Read the rest of this entry »

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sexism? stereotypes? guilty as charged.

As most of my readers know, I wrote as post regarding Ann Rice’s simple but dramatic departure from organized Christianity entitled, “Why I’m Not Quitting Christianity.”

I was encouraged by how it was generally received. It was crossed posted on numerous places including Huffington Post.

But shortly afterwards, I asked for some honest and gentle feedback about one little line I inserted – not necessarily intentionally but because I’m a wanna be funny guy. It was my attempt to use humor to diffuse a tense subject:

First of all, I am a fan of Anne Rice. In fact, I don’t know of many people that dislike her. She’s a phenomenal writer and additionally, she’s gotta have some Asian genes in her. She’s 68 and ages like no other.

But I received several emails and notes about the possible racial or sexist undertones. Some of these came from absolute strangers or stalkers and couple came from folks I know.

Was that statement racist? Read the rest of this entry »

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religion and women

Nicolas Kristof has an article in today’s NY Times entitled, Religion and Women, that’s worth reading. Unlike some of his other pieces, it’s not super long so it’ll take one sitting but hopefully, it’ll sit with you for a bit.

I’ve written about this topic numerous times and will continue to do so. If you’re interested in some of them, here’s several to check out:

It is the oldest injustice for the simple reason that men are physically stronger and thus, can oppress the “weaker” half. And then you mix in the combustion of various religions and world ideologies that seek to elevate one half and suppress the other half and you’ve got a cycle of great devastation and oppression.

I’m not an expert on all world religions so I can’t speak with full authority but this is one of the reasons why I am captivated by Jesus: He liberates; Not oppresses. If anything, he liberates that which has oppressed.  He turned things UPSIDE Read the rest of this entry »

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stuff, connect, info

one day’s wages | video

my tweets

  • Dear Hong Kong: I'll be preaching this Sunday @TheVineHK at all 3 services: 9.15, 11.30, 4pm. Hope to see you there: thevine.org.hk || 8 hours ago
  • "Justice is the grammar of things. Mercy is the poetry of things." - Frederick Buechner || 1 day ago
  • Proud to support the work of @thesoldproject & @raegoble as they fight human trafficking in Thailand with dignity: onedayswages.org/donate/org/sol… || 1 day ago
  • Don't underestimate the impact of our purchasing power. May our spending and investing be consistent with our values and convictions. || 1 day ago
  • How quickly people forget some of Abercrombie & Fitch's t-shirt designs from 2002 including these racist classics: http://t.co/vF5eGW0x80 || 1 day ago
  • The best way to make a statement against Abercrombie & Fitch isn't to exploit the homeless for a publicity stunt. Rather, just boycott AF. || 1 day ago
  • "My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ & I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it." - Brennan Manning || 1 day ago
  • Justice is not peripheral to God's story. Justice is mentioned over 200x in the Scriptures. It's not optional, it's central. Seek justice. || 2 days ago

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