The Truth About w/ Pastor Del
In the present world, “truth" has become an endangered species. Absolute moral standards that once governed our society have been replaced with ambiguous placeholders. The erosion of truth is not just about distinguishing between fact and fiction, but also the deliberate replacement of traditional truth standards with corrupt values without any basis in truth.
The Truth About w/ Pastor Del
The Truth About: Truth - An Endangered Species
In the 21st century, truth has become an endangered species. When news is misreported or distorted, it puts others at risk. When false warnings become common, it makes it difficult to properly respond when there is a true emergency. The widespread influence of television has conditioned global cultures to accept false narratives as truth.
w/ Pastor Del
In the 21st century, truth has become an endangered species. When news is misreported or distorted, it puts others at risk. When false warnings become common, it makes it difficult to properly respond when there is a true emergency. The widespread influence of television has conditioned global cultures to accept false narratives as truth. Gerald Norman Springer would make the largest deposit of debauchery on daytime television. On daytime television, this is Apostle Del Phillips.
Speaker 2:Stay tuned for this monumental episode about the truth. Welcome to the Truth About Podcast with Pastor Del Phillips. Is truth absolute? If truth is absolute, this means if something is true, then the moment it becomes true it's true for all times. Studies show that you may be lied to anywhere from 10 to 200 times. If at some point you got lied to, it's because you agreed to get lied to. Somebody that says there's no such thing as absolute truth is making a statement they believe is absolutely true.
Speaker 1:Well welcome to the Truth About Podcast. Well welcome to the Truth About Podcast. I'm Apostle and Pastor Del Phillips and I'm glad that you've joined us. This is for our second entry into our series on the truth. The Truth About Podcast is an opportunity for us to analyze important subject matters, highlight the truth that we find and discover about those subject matters. In most cases, we are hoping to present information that has not been brought to the forefront, to make sure that we understand and know the truth. This is our continued conversation on our first subject matter the truth. If we're going to be exposing the truth in general, we wanted to take a look at the condition and status of truth in the world that we live in right now, and in our inaugural podcast, we dealt with just a background and overview about truth, looking at some historical elements, including passages of scripture, that help us to understand the condition of the truth that is waning away and under attack in the world that we live in right now. In this iteration, we are going to bring attention to truth being an endangered species. You got it right Truth and endangered species.
Speaker 1:In the 21st century, truth has become an endangered species. An endangered species the belief in absolute moral standards, which once provided a foundation for truth, is slowly deteriorating due to the rise of amoral alternatives. The erosion continues beyond distinguishing fact from fiction, with an aim to eliminate traditional standards of truth and replace them with non-traditional practices that lack any basis for truth. Truth has become a much sought after commodity as its seekers strive to determine if the facts presented to them are accurate or if the acquired information has been compromised. Remember I shared with you that a part of the background in producing this program many years ago in 2016, god really put a burden on my heart and gave me a revelation that in the 21st century, truth would become the most valuable commodity, the thing that people would be seeking after. I had no idea almost 10 some odd years ago that we would be living in a world where it is so hard and difficult to be able to discern and determine the difference between what's truth and what is not. We identify truth as a commodity because commodities in the marketplace have an attached valuation which rises as the demand increases. The cost of truth is rising and trading well beyond normal market standards because it's harder to access for those who need it most. To access for those who need it most the cost of truth.
Speaker 1:What it takes to be able to discern and know the truth is at high stakes right now. Fundamental truths required to help people navigate through everyday life accurately and safely is increasingly becoming more unreliable. Without true standards, the ability to even safely cross the street during high traffic volumes begins to diminish. When news is misreported or distorted, it puts others at risk. Distorted or distorted, it puts others at risk. When false warnings become common, it makes it difficult to properly respond when there is a true emergency.
Speaker 1:The unspoken protocols that prompt people even to line up in sequential order at a checkout stand. These protocols are rooted in a true standard that quietly promotes the rule of orderly assembly, and every time one standard begins to unravel, it makes it easier for the next. And there is no mechanism. If there is no mechanism to remove or to preserve those protocols and standards that are being removed, eventually these standards will not only become less effective, ultimately they will become extinct. Thus, truth is an endangered species. This is something I want you to consider. A living species does not become extinct overnight. It's a slow death march. When we look into the natural ecology or into the animal kingdom, we see things that have been nominated and labeled and identified as endangered species. And those items did not become endangered because of one single event, but a slow walk, a slow pace of multiple events, some here, some there that eventually began to diminish the population, the livelihood, the sustaining factors required for that entity to continue to exist, to continue to exist.
Speaker 1:I want to take a look into the rear view mirror of our present day culture and to see if we can identify some important markers that track the deterioration of truth in this generation. We want to be able to identify them so we can take note when they occur, because when certain things happen, you don't immediately see the potential damage or harm. It's not noticeable On the surface. Some of these events may appear to be harmless but unfortunately, by the time all the facts come in and we're able to identify a trail of evidence, by then the damage is already done and a new construct has already begun to form, while a previous one has deteriorated.
Speaker 1:The first item I want to look at in our rear view assessment is reality television. It's the first thing on my list Now, before you like. Ok, pastor, apostle, where is this going? What a reality out television. How can that be a thing you know we're jumping from focus on scriptures and you know what God has said. Now you're talking about reality television. How how can that have anything to do with truth as an endangered species? Can that have anything to do with truth as an endangered species? I told you already that when we first identify some of these things, it doesn't look harmless In the beginning. But stay with me. Stay with things that we need to keep us sustained and supported.
Speaker 1:First of all, let's deal with the name Reality television. The very name is misleading because there there was nothing real about the concept of reality television, except for the hoax that was going to be imposed upon its audience. Officially, the first form was presented in the well-known and beloved Candid Camera series. The hoax was not actually deceptive, because the producers allowed the audience to see behind the scenes, to view the fictional characters before the false narrative was executed. But don't lose what I just said the false narrative was executed. Yes, harmless it appears, but what they were promoting was a false narrative. This became the groundwork to identify and create the genre of reality television.
Speaker 1:The success of this series laid the groundwork for another well-known program called America's Funniest Home Videos. This series took the candid camera plot and used reels of actual recorded events instead of creating a false narrative that would normally be limited to a small audience in someone's family den, and they presented them to a wider public audience to engage what was happening in private and bring it to the forefront of the public. Don't forget that things that were happening privately at your home kid's birthday, mom and dad's anniversary, you know what happened on the ski trip, the fishing trip private events that normally would only have the eyes and ears of those who were immediately close to you but now we're bringing that all out into public space. I'm going somewhere with this. Stay with me, watch this. So now America's home funniest home videos becomes a massive success. This outpaced even the success of Candid Camera. Candid Camera had its first airing in 1948. America's Funniest Videos started in 1989. Candid Camera would go off the air for a brief take, a brief hiatus and then come back on, but it ended its season in 2014. And America's funniest home videos was the dominant, what was then classified as reality television program. It was the dominant show on television engaging the public with scenes of what's happening in private. I'm going to say it one more time engaging the public with scenes and information and parodies that were happening in private Hold on to that 2003.
Speaker 1:There's a entity called MTV Music Television. They dominated their market share in music television when they started back in 1981 until the late 1990s, but towards the end of the 1990s they're looking for a new angle. Mtv took the model of America's funniest home videos and intentionally altered the focus of the hoax. Now, remember, you know, with America's home videos it was all about bringing private incidents, private activity, out into the open public so that the public audience could enjoy it. The audience was a part of the experience. The entertainment was to entertain the audience. But now MTV came up with a new series called Punk'd. The audience was introduced to seemingly improbable events when they were watching America's Home video. But now this series was going to make the audience the target of the hoax. Instead of giving the viewing audience a private seat of homemade events, the audience became the target.
Speaker 1:Each portrayal of these pre-planned narratives, false narratives. Now we're bringing back in the origin of candid camera. They brought in these false narratives, portrayals, and once they were presented they challenged the audience to determine if what they witnessed with their own eyes and heard with their ears was true or false. Interesting. This setup would become a tremendous alteration in what's labeled as reality television, because now, intentionally, they are trying to fool the audience. They're presenting what they know is not real. But the audience is uncertain. The audience is no longer a part of the scheme. The audience is the target of the scheme. Camera being open and honest, that we're going to present a false narrative, but we're telling you the truth in advance. But it's a setup Because, as we said, an endangered species does not die off overnight, but over time. So we began with a measure of truth telling the audience what you're doing, telling the audience what you're doing. But now, more than 50 years later, you're going to see the intentional removal of the truth. And now the audience has to guess, has to determine what's true and what's not true. Oh, it gets better. Watch this Now. By the time, mtv's Punk'd has become a success and sensation. Punked has become a success and sensation. The audience appetite for reality television, as it's being labeled, has reached a high point. There's there is a true, proven appetite for the audience to be engaged in what is presented as real life television. That brings us to 1989.
Speaker 1:Jerry Springer launched a talk show. Nothing special about that, it was a standard talk show. Nothing nuanced about it Followed the same standard formats as other talk show programs in that genre in 1989. For the first three years or so his ratings were very sluggish. For the first three years or so his ratings were very sluggish. He was unlikely to survive another season with a market flooded with the same types of programs and formats. Mr Springer convinced producers to allow him to push the tolerance threshold of his viewing audience. With the success and the attraction of the newly labeled reality programs that were already starting to take up more space and gathering more audience attention, he believed that he could push further with a format never seen before on television. 24 years following, gerald Norman, springer would make the largest deposit of debauchery on daytime television.
Speaker 1:The success of this show proved that America did not have a tolerance limit for crude and debased subject matters. Many of his tabloid topics had truth origins, but in several cases that truth was embellished to feed the frenzy of his audiences. The proof test of the Jerry Springer show reveals that contemporary culture was thirsty for the obscene. This program would not have survived a single season if the appetite and demand were not present in American culture. Facts behind the show's history reveal that ratings at times rivaled the infamous Oprah Winfrey show and on a few occasions actually outpaced that show's ratings. The comparison of ratings reveals competing appetites, with truth struggling against a greater appeal for false, lewd and crude narratives.
Speaker 1:The market success of inaugural versions of reality television has now paved the way for more than 600 nuances, with varying genres, from dating to gaming. With varying genres from dating to gaming, and there are estimates that show that nearly 80% 80% of adult TV viewers watch perceived reality television. In truth, the show is a collaboration between reality cast members, producers and the on-site crew, including editors and even camera operators. There's not a traditional written script as with a standard television show, which is the reason it gets labeled as unscripted TV. And then, you know, in parentheses, we are dubbing it as reality TV. But listen, it's not reality TV in the sense that they're putting a camera, you know, on the table and just spontaneously capturing whatever interactions might take place. That's not what's happening.
Speaker 1:The industry refers to these stage presentations that are coached up by producers, where there is a verbal or generalized outline of what's supposed to happen and they coach the cast members to respond in certain ways. Behind the scenes, they call this simulcrum. Simulcrum, and that word means imitating real life and not accurately reflecting reality. It's an imitation, and a staged imitation of life at that. Participants are placed in these artificial situations, fully aware that they are role-playing reactions to a camera. In some reality game shows, producers have actually been accused of skewing the outcome to favor a popular personality or, in contrast, the underdog, to make the viewing audience, to get them excited and to help raise and increase ratings. That's what this is all about.
Speaker 1:The widespread influence of television has conditioned global cultures to accept false narratives as truth. I got to stop there and just emphasize this. It started with presenting a false narrative in 1948. And with candid cameras telling the audience this is going to be a false narrative, but it's OK because we're telling you it's a false narrative. False narrative, but it's okay because we're telling you it's a false narrative. Go along with us. Well, in 1948, everybody did go along with it because they felt that they were a part. Watch this. They were a part and participating in the outcome. But that small entry to suggest we're going to present something that is false, but we want you to accept it. Truth is not going to decay overnight, but over time. The appeal of truth is not going to wane overnight, but over time. Truth is not going to be replaced with a false narrative overnight, but over time.
Speaker 1:After candid camera, then we get the opportunity to see personal home videos in public space. In hindsight, if you think about it, this was the setup for what we see present day in social media the attraction that we have to the lewd and the crude. Whatever is going on in your private space, we want to see it in public space. But it didn't start with Instagram. It didn't start with TikTok. It didn't start with Tik TOK. It didn't start with what we see right now. It started with what looked warm and fuzzy with America's funniest home videos.
Speaker 1:Bringing what you're doing in private to a public audience starts a little bit here and a little bit there. To a public audience Starts A little bit here and a little bit there, and gradually we start to warm up that pot and continue to build on the audience's appetite for reality television Until we reach the boiling point of Jerry Springer's show and then we discover that the audience is still in the boiling pot. The false narrative role play has also been found in some of our daily radio. Personas shows up, as I already stated in social media reels and is present in nearly every aspect of digital communication. The ability to distinctively set truth and false presentations apart, to know the truth and to know that the truth is known, is becoming more difficult each and every day, because truth is an endangered species.
Speaker 2:Thank you for joining the Truth About podcast today. Tune in for the new Truth About topic on our next episode.