KTIS - keeping my family safe?
We had KTIS on this morning during breakfast. During one of their traffic updates, I noticed that the traffic reporter closed his segment by saying, “…and that’s your traffic update from KTIS - keeping you and your family safe on your way to work and school.”
Keeping us safe? Really??? I had to wait around for the next traffic update 15 minutes later to confirm what I’d heard. He closed his segment in the same way.
I know getting stuck in traffic can be quite frustrating, but is it unsafe? I think not. I’d think the opposite is actually true - you’re much safer puttering along at 5 mph in a traffic jam than you are while cruising at 70 mph down I-94. Why would KTIS say this? I can’t come up with a plausible explanation. My cynical side says that KTIS has bought into the constant fear-mongering that the MSM does every day. I certainly hope that’s not the case, but it’s the closest thing to an explanation I’ve been able to come up with.
Thoughts? Ideas?
The Grandma I live with has KTIS on constantly in her house.. so if it’s not keeping me safe during a traffic jam, the announcers have told me KTIS is keeping me safe while making eggs at 9:45am, doing my homework at 12:15pm and even sitting down to a game of Scrabble at 10 at night. They’re really big on emphasizing how safe they are. So far the only thing I really feel safe from is variety (I swear, they play MercyMe “God with us” at least twice an hour)
Anyway, I have a problem with their constant professions of safeness. I don’t know, maybe it’s the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe fan in me talking, but Jesus shouldn’t get the word “safe” tagged on Him all the time. Especially “safe for the whole family” because I guess there’s not a ton in Jesus’ teaching that feels too family friendly to me.. especially that whole hating your mother and father part.
I think you’re on to something with the fear mongering thing. If you start to believe that every other radio station besides KTIS is heathen filth that is poisoning your children and corrupting their souls.. you might be more apt to keep your dial on the “safer” radio station. However, with some of the crap that has come out of CCM in the last 20 years, I can’t be entirely sure we’re protecting our children from every type of wrongdoing.
I also think a lot of the safety talk reflects main-stream Christianity’s movement towards emphasizing God as our cuddly, sweet, lovey-dovey pal who wants nothing more than to shower his magnificent blessings upon us. KTIS becomes a cheerful soundtrack for drowning out the rest of the world as we create our bubble of risk-free, danger-free Christianity. Because maybe if I stop listening to songs about drugs, sex and violence it will be easier to forget those things actually happen.
Wow - I had no idea their emphasis on “safety” (what *is* their definition of safety anyway???) was so far-reaching. We literally never have KTIS on, but due to the MPR fund drive, Meghan switched over to it for a bit.
Right on - this has been a pet peeve of mine for quite some time now. There is *so* much of this “bubble” sentiment in mainstream Christianity it makes me sick.
Anyway - thanks for your comments. They helped give legs to some of the thoughts I’d been having about this throughout the day.
hi Erik! These thoughts are really interesting - both from you and Lindsay - and remind me of how there is a certain assumed subculture that goes along with some ‘flavors’ of Christianity. Like there is a code that everyone should know - ’safe’ being a big watchword that shows you know that code maybe? - and a culture of *very* particular language, political and social views, values, etc. that are all bundled together under that subculture’s sense of faith. And it makes me crazy b/c sometimes, those particulars are great things all on their own (aka, safe families are a good thing), but they get branded and politicized into something different. And we can lose the good woven in with the fear-mongering, as you put it. Its almost like I can hear in the word ’safe’ that kind of code for what you and Lindsay were saying - sentiments like there is much to fear, the world is dirty and scary, stay inside, stay safe, stay caccooned (sp?). It’s too bad, b/c I think the conversation should be more like, how do we keep families safe (from real stuff), how does faith engage and exist in the world, etc. But yeah, the KTIS subculture sounds like it is more formed around assumptions that using code helps the church and families. Alas. :)
I’m thinking you are reading way too much into this! They simply mean that they are keeping your child’s ears “safe” from profanity, sexual inuendo’s and other topics that are becoming too common on “secular” radio.
@Me
I understand what you’re getting at, and I certainly acknowledge that MSM has gotten pretty raunchy as of late. I just don’t buy your explanation, though. Sorry. If protecting our kids is really their aim, then they ought to just come out and say so. By playing the “safety” card, they are just trying to put a positive “Christian” face on the same fear-mongering that the other outlets participate in.
Regarding the innuendo coming from other radio stations: I’m a firm believer that if we spend all of our time trying to protect and insulate our children (I have a two and a half year old son and another on the way in September) from the “evils” of secular society, we’re doing them a disservice. To a certain degree, we need to be exposed to concepts, ideas, etc. (whether good or bad), to be able to process them in a prudent and shall I say Christ-like fashion. Christ did not insulate himself from the dregs of society - quite the opposite was true in fact. I’m not saying that we should force our children to listen to sexually-explicit music, watch violent movies, or anything like that. Rather, I think that we must just live our lives, not concentrating on protectionism, but rather capitalizing on (to coin a cliche) teachable moments with our children. They’re *going* to be exposed to all of this eventually - why not let it happen while you’re there to help guide them as they think/process/discuss?