Roy Exum: Today’s Offensive Word

  • Sunday, July 31, 2016
  • Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Roy Exum

A respected Knoxville business owner, Lois McGinnis, called the classifieds desk at the Knoxville News-Sentinel on Tuesday and politely asked to place an ad she wanted to appear on Thursday: “Store closing sale – Cedar Springs Christian Store –Clinton Highway location. All merchandise, fixtures, slat walls must go. Sale through August 13, phone 865-XXX-XXXX.”

But on Thursday the ad was nowhere to be found. Flummoxed, Ms. McGinnis called the newspaper and – to put it bluntly -- that is when all hell broke loose. Vicki Giest, a co-owner of the store, told Knoxville’s WATE 6, “My mom called to check on it and the (classified department) girl couldn’t find it anywhere. She (mom) said, ‘Look under Cedar Springs Christian Stores,’ and the girl said, ‘Oh, hang on a minute.’ So she put her on hold, was gone for a while, and then said the ad was put on hold because of an offensive word.

“Mom asked what that word would be and (the classified girl) said, ‘The word Christian.’”

Oh my mercy! Get the picture: There is a pretty graphic scene in the Bible’s book of Genesis, 19th chapter, where “the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, (25) and he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.” The Lord was so mad, according to verse 26, “… as Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, she turned into a pillar of salt!”

Trust me when I say the Lord needs little help in chastising the Knoxville News-Sentinel; the Godly people of East Tennessee are descending on the newspaper like a plague of locust. In recent years Knoxville and Chattanooga have seesawed as the No. 1 Bible city in the United States … and you dare think the thermometers are all that’s really hot!

Earlier this year the newspaper was purchased by the liberal-minded Gannett chain and you can only imagine what will be the topic from every pulpit in Big Orange land this morning. The story itself is now viral, with national news outlets, conservative as well as liberal commentators, Democrats and Republicans all with an opinion.

News-Sentinel Publisher Patrick Birmingham quickly blamed the newspaper’s computer for “Christian” being offensive. And on the Cedar Hills Christian Stores’ Facebook page there was a query, “Do you find the word Christian offensive?”

In a letter to the newspaper’s now-dwindling readers, the News-Sentinel’s Birmingham tried as hard to be contrite as he could: “As the President and Publisher of the News Sentinel, I am stating for the record that this was a system issue where the ad got temporarily put in a hold cue (sic) in our classified advertising front-end system. The ad will be in tomorrow’s paper and we are running it extra days because it did not start on the day originally ordered. The News Sentinel does not have a bias against Christianity or any other religion.”

A Facebook reply: “Not so sure I believe this apology or not. The KNS has become so liberal and anti-Christian in the past several years that the ‘error’ really fit in with the product.”

In this time of upheaval in our society, the crazies on both sides of the creek are in a new feeding frenzy. One writes, “Technology -- created by actual (and bigoted) live humans at the paper.” Another comes back with, “It’s justified, don’t you know? After all, aren’t all Christians the cause of most things bad?”

Todd Starnes, a columnist with Fox News, liked this quote: “I cannot believe they are doing this now. I am so glad I don’t subscribe to them or give them my business. To not sell an ad because the store has Christian in its name is wrong. I guess if it was the Cedar Springs Muslim Store it would be published. I hate to tell them, but the majority of people who live here are Christians.”

Andrew Curd came out swinging on the News-Sentinel Facebook page: “Upon finding out that you refuse to put "Christian", and like terms in your paper, I am ashamed to be located in the same place as your company. You know, as well as me, and everyone that ‘Christian’ is not the least bit offensive. I have no respect for you. If I owned a newspaper, and some government official attempted to tell me I can’t have Christian related terms in my paper, I’d tell them to go ahead and close my doors.

“This is outrageous,” he added, “You are part of the problem in this country, and you're allowing yourselves to be bullied. If God and Christ weren't real, no one would be trying to destroy their image. They know Christ is the way, the truth and the life. That's why they want Him banned. I hope you shut down, because you're pushing Satan's agenda.”

The News-Sentinel’s Birmingham is standing his ground, saying they immediately fixed the “front end” problem. “The News Sentinel fully understands the important role Christianity plays in the lives of our East Tennessee readers and in our community.”

He offers proof: “We routinely publish advertisements, news stories and photographs from Christian businesses, schools, churches and organizations, as well as an extensive obituary section where family members express their Christian faith and other faiths,” his letter read in Saturday’s editions.

“We have a Faith and Family section you will see inside today's newspaper. It publishes every Saturday. We publish Billy Graham's column daily. We believe these are important to our community and demonstrate our commitment to it,” his message read, ending with, “Please email concerns to publisher@knoxnews.com.”

My view? After years in the business and knowing what can occur, I believe it was an honest mistake. If you don’t think it can happen, sit down at your own computer sometime and you’ll learn “autocheck has become your worst enema.”

Lastly, remember this, Christians lead the world in forgiveness.

royexum@aol.com

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