Ted Turner revolutionized the information world when he bought Channel 17, a local Atlanta television station, and started bouncing its signal off of a satellite so people everywhere could watch, and it quickly turned into the first cable “superstation,” running content 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Before Turner forever changed the industry, the Big Three national networks (ranked in order of their marketshare) were CBS, NBC, and ABC. The three major networks all stopped offering content during the early morning hours and from around 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. every morning, only a test pattern was broadcast over the airways.
Ted owned the rights to a lot of old movies and the Atlanta Braves, which meant he had a virtually unlimited supply of content. The FCC decreed that once Channel 17 evolved into a national network, Turner had to broadcast a news program in order to maintain the station’s federal license.
In a move of sheer genius, Ted didn’t even try to go against the Walter Cronkite-style news anchors during the “normal” news hour from 6:00 p.m to 7:00 p.m. Instead, Ted hired a comedian named Bill Tush and offered the news at 3:00 a.m. Turner figured nobody was going to watch his station for the news, anyway, but at that hour of the morning, his SuperStation literally had no other competition, and Tush made it fun to watch the news. Some of his on-air stunts were hilarious and became legendary, as the video below demonstrates.
Another brilliant and innovative move was when Turner began scheduling his programs to run five minutes after the top of the hour, or half-hour, to give people watching a program on another channel time to change channels before the start of The Andy Griffith Show or Perry Mason.
But my favorite memory of Bill Tush on television was a program he briefly hosted called Good News, which presented stories in the news that had a happy ending. I never knew why the show got canceled, but I always suspected that a lack of regular material had something to do with it.
I’ve been thinking about my presence on the internet and it struck me that a friend talked about the “hate” that he read in my most recent post. His comment troubled me because I didn’t see myself as someone expressing hatred toward another human being. I thought I was venting frustration about wasting my time on stupid arguments, but I also now recognize that I’ve been contributing to the toxic environment by responding to hate with anger, when I should simply ignore the haters.
The book that began my career as a professional writer was titled Divine Evolution. It was published by a small, independent publisher. My primary editor suggested that I apply for a position with the (now defunct) Examiner.com website as the Atlanta Creationism Examiner to promote the book, a position I held for approximately three years until my last book on the subject was published, which I called Counterargument for God.
Here’s the thing, though–my friend George is wrong. I don’t hate anybody. I don’t hate the guy who told me he hates my guts. After 9/11 my least favorite person on earth was Osama bin Laden, but I didn’t hate the man. I hated what he did, but not the man himself. To be brutally honest when he was finally killed, I was relieved he could no longer threaten American lives but I could not bring myself to “spike the football” in celebration of his death because I had a pretty good idea of what was happening or going to happen to his soul. I don’t feel better about myself when I’m pretty sure I’ve just made someone else feel bad. I feel like a jerk. Most atheists are angry at religion for a pretty good reason–somebody like me who claimed to be a Christian treated them poorly. Doing the whole “gladiator” thing on the internet was never a good idea for me, because it seems I’ve enjoyed the taste of my enemy’s blood.
The end of my tenure as the Atlanta Creationism Examiner was marked by two major events: publication of the book, and a public debate with a guy named Ed Buckner, former president of American Atheists. Basically, a formal debate is just a public argument with an audience, theoretically officiated by a referee called a moderator.
My debate tactics and supporting material primarily came out of my book research. My argument is relatively simple: if atheism is true and no God exists, what is the alternative to a supernatural Creator? I propose the answer is serendipity, or extraordinary good luck, because we know the universe and life both had an origin caused by some unknown catalyst.
I can support the “origin” claim with scientific evidence for the Big Bang called redshift and cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB.) A form of supernatural intelligence or some truly remarkable good luck might explain both origins, but it seems safe to limit the possibilities to only those two options because the origin of the universe (and life) could either be a planned and well-executed, deliberate act, or the result of a series of incredibly fortuitous accidents. There is no such thing as a planned accident. Perhaps my expectations for the debate had been set too low because of Ed’s experience and my lack of same, although I did have one huge advantage: I knew what Ed was going to say and had a planned and prepared response for everything he threw at me. As a result, I felt the debate went pretty well, and my confidence grew.
In other words, the experience sort of created a monster.
After Counterargument for God was published, my intention was to turn my attention to writing novels full-time, because I’ve never seen myself as trying to make a career out of Christian apologetics. Even though the book won an award from Reader’s Favorite, I’ve given away more copies than I’ve sold because I’ve considered the book a labor of love, not labor for profit, which is a good thing because it hasn’t made any money.
That’s why I had to leave all the groups where politics and/or religion are constantly argued. I was never going to change anyone’s opinion and probably didn’t create a favorable impression of Christians with the atheists because my attitude was typically eye-for-an-eye rather than turning the other cheek, where the insults were concerned. I grew up with a dad who proudly wore a t-shirt made by his friends that declared him “S.O.B. of the Year.” Sarcasm is my native tongue. I have an unfair advantage when it comes to smart-aleck replies.
What is accomplished by making a miserable person with low self-esteem feel even worse? Nothing. What is the point of attempting conversation with someone who prefers childish insults and schoolyard taunts to civil, intelligent conversation? I would have a much more productive conversation by talking to my dog–she probably wouldn’t understand a word I said, but at least she appreciates having my full attention. Personally, I like to laugh. I’ve been married to the perpetual optimist for more than thirty years now, and know that positive and encouraging thoughts are far more pleasant than vitriolic exchanges. I’m a novelist. So, write novels. Problem solved. Except…I am now resolved to help make the internet a better place by posting positive, spiritually uplifting material. Sharing good news, like the short-lived Bill Tush show.
To get the ball rolling, I scanned the Drudge Report, looking for a story that might have a happy ending. Every single headline was negative. The same was true for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Savannah Morning News. I couldn’t find any stories that looked like they might inspire or uplift spirits. Every headline seemed to be doom-and-gloom.
Finally, I came across this story reporting that Rush Limbaugh is currently running a t-shirt campaign where all the net proceeds go to a charity called Tunnels to Towers, and so far raised $3 million dollars that has been used so far to pay off the mortgages of six Gold Star families, and construction will soon begin on brand-new houses for four more that will be mortgage-free to the families of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. That’s a lot of $27 t-shirts, sold to a lot of patriotic Americans in support of a very worthy cause.
But if I’m going to keep posting positive and uplifting news on a regular basis, I’m going to need your help. Send me your stories, and good news from wherever you may be and I’ll try to share it with the world on a timely basis. We should strive for a world with less anger and hate, more love and compassion. Less pessimism, and more optimism. Laughing together, instead of shouting at each other. I’d like to help make the world less unpleasant. There are many kind and decent people in this world who routinely perform altruistic deeds for the common good.
Why don’t we focus our attention on them? Remember, I’ll need your help. Share good news with me, and I’ll share it with the world. Please use the website contact form until I can set up an email account for goodnews@southernprose.com.
Thanks! Let’s make the internet a little more pleasant, shall we?
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