Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone. Thanks for listening to wake up, look up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch. And in today's episode, we're asking the question, did ESPN just wreck a life? This is based on an article I read in the Atlantic about ESPN personality, Pat McAfee, a former NFL football player turned television and Internet personality who signed an incredibly lucrative deal with ESPN to be an on air personality for the sports network.

And the story goes like this. There was an Internet rumor that was floating around something called Yik Yak or Yik Yik or something. I'd never heard of this. Spreading all over old Missus campus about one particular undergraduate woman who allegedly was having an affair on her boyfriend with the boyfriend's father. That rumor wasn't true, but that didn't stop it from spreading.

And in fact, it spread so much that Pat McAfee and his crew on his television show, YouTube show, heard about it and actually referenced it in an interview with another ESPN personality, bringing up the idea that this girl had done this thing. Well, of course, Pat McAfee's platform is huge. So what started as a rumor on an obscure social media platform at one college campus became overnight a national story on every social media channel that actually ended up ruining this girl's life. And what I mean by that is people began to find out who she was and began to, insult her, began to attack her on the Internet, even go so far as to as to SWAT her, which is when you call in a threat to the local police department and a SWAT team actually invades, her her home. All kinds of incredible things, death threats, causing her a ton of stress, had to withdraw from school, etcetera, etcetera.

You get the point. Now when Pat McAfee and his crew referenced the story, they said things like allegedly and supposedly, leaving out the legal loophole that, hey. We're not saying we know for sure. We don't really know. But, of course, all that's with a wink and a nod at the idea that this is happening.

The problem got so severe that the FBI actually had to step in moving this girl into protective custody. Of course, no one with ESPN has said anything about this because that would, of course, open them up to legal ramifications, which, of course, the girl's family says they're going to pursue. As always, though, I'm assuming Pat McAfee is not listening to this podcast. You are. But you might be someone who watches Pat McAfee.

And I'm not telling you you can't engage in sports programming, but I am saying this. A television personalities put out content because they know what we like. They know what moves the needle with us. After all, it's our clicks, our money spent on their advert advertisers that they're after. And Pat McAfee knows what all television and Internet personalities know.

We love a good rumor. But, of course, as Christians, the Bible has a lot to say about how we engage in rumor, not just personally at the office or in our family, but even as we think about gossip that spreads through television. For example, one of the 10 commandments in Exodus 20 is that you should not bear false witness. You shouldn't say something about someone that isn't true. You also shouldn't listen to it or believe it without proof or evidence.

And by the way, this story isn't even about proof or evidence or anything legal. This is at best, even if true, the salacious passing of details about one girl's life to people who don't even know her. The book of Proverbs tells us that words wound people. The old adage of sticks and stones shall break my bones, but words will never harm me is about the dumbest thing a person could ever say or believe. Words devastate people.

The words can cause a person to take their life. They can ruin, especially when on the Internet or social media, ruin a person's life. This person had to this girl had to withdraw from school. She'd be placed into protective custody because one Internet personality shot his mouth off about her life in a stupid and unkind manner. Don't forget that in Matthew twenty five on the day of judgment when Jesus separates us into sheep and goats, he says that the basis of our separation into those welcomed into heaven and those rejected is how we treated the least of these.

In this scenario, the person with the television show is the person with power. The young coed being lied about is the vulnerable and marginalized. And Jesus is saying, in so much as you listen to rumors about her, you have listened to rumors about me. Amos five twenty four tells us that justice matters to God. It is what he cares about.

And this is an example of injustice. And Pat McAfee is selling it because we are buying it. Listen. You and I have got to be honest about our appetite for the salacious details of other people's lives. We have to realize that a gossiper is only giving us what we want to listen to.

Let's repent of caring about what's going on in other people's personal lives. Let's repent of a heart that wants to judge them, and let's change the channel when people try to sell us on it. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!