easter 1987

4
sPeC, ft L EA'TTR ,&7 TF t5s uz.l PO. Box 22113 .OFTEN T/V ERROR - NEVER IN NI]BT, s.F. cA 94122 tb.e_!.qy.il- Made Me Do-!!.: The Mutated Mcluhanism of the Electronic Ministrv -.-.:s -..ear as'.ie crack open our Cadbury simulated candy e99s and think of the :^s::.; sp:rit of our Lord Jesus Christ we can only tliank our lucky stars that ::-e ieie::.pt1on has become an electrcnic rather than a spiritual process- To ---ea:.se ""i's self of the evils of society in 1987, today's sinner need only ::-eck r:rco the nearest Betty Ford franchise and then spill out the results in a )iat1onal Enquirer exclusive. If a made-for-TVer follows, fine, but even ;:.thout a factionalized mini-series, you can stilI find salvation by baring -,he gruesome details of your sex Iife, addiction, and/or questionable business dealings to neighbors, friends and Dear Abby. t{hile the mass media incorrectiy focuses on the humiliation and "scandaI" of the Bakker Regime, the true details of an electronic-cum-spiritual conspiracy are slipping between the cracks and conned-sumers remain unaware of the underlying implications of the electro-spiritual industry. 1 . quttinq Out the Mi - In the pre-electronic d9e, priests were the [email protected],that's a great system when youtre dealing with a local church and a few thousand diiciples. But todayr ro matter how tight your pipeline to the Pearly Gates, you gotta have big box office. With modern TV technology, the gospel can be el"ctronically dispatched Iike breakfast cereal and finer brands of margarine (See ish #23 i'The Next Voice You Hear: Spreading The Word of God and other Licensing Problems" ). Instead of the electronj-c Second-coming prophesized by Mcluhan, a mutated version of the technological theology was spawned in the 1 960's by AnaI Roberts and M.G. (Pat) Robertson. In the Electronic Church, the TV preacher doesn't have to get you to God, he only has to get you to the TV. By acting as His official TV spokesperson, the TV preacher effectively cuts out the middle-man (i.e, Yahweh, God, the Holiest of Holies, etc.). Keeping spiritual transmission electronic, rather than cosmological also makes the bookkeeping easier. After aII you can't cash a check written to Jesus Christ. 2. gex and Druqs and the H l - One thing the Bakkers have proven is that spiritual salvation is no longer a necessity. As TammyBakker demonslrated, true redemption in the 1980's comes from checking into a detox center. None of us are spiritually badr w€ just got hooked on some weird shit. And if sex is your downfall, don't sweat it as long as your picadillo smell-s Iike a prime-time soap and you're willing to describe it to Barbara Walters, Ted Koppel or any major network morning show host. 3. God Wants to Be A Star - Those who fear a Church/State conspiracy better toot<a9ai@eardan9erwithintheworldofTVtheoIogyisa Church/Entertainment inbreeding that is silently threatening one of our most important freedoms - the right to choose pop stars. Havinq hipped itself to ..rtities of pop starC-or,r, the TV Cllrireh has been infi'lt-rati-ncr the

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Mutated McLuhanism of Electronic Ministry, Map of Readers

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Page 1: Easter 1987

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tb.e_!.qy.il- Made Me Do-!!.:The Mu ta ted Mc luhan ism o f t he E lec t ron i c M i n i s t r v

- . - . : s - . . ea r as ' . i e c rack open ou r Cadbury s imu la ted candy e99s and th ink o f t he: ^ s : : . ; s p : r i t o f o u r L o r d J e s u s C h r i s t w e c a n o n l y t l i a n k o u r l u c k y s t a r s t h a t: : -e i e ie : : . p t1on has become an e lec t r cn i c ra the r t han a sp i r i t ua l p rocess - To- - - e a : . s e " " i ' s s e l f o f t h e e v i l s o f s o c i e t y i n 1 9 8 7 , t o d a y ' s s i n n e r n e e d o n l y: : -eck r : r co the nea res t Be t t y Fo rd f ranch ise and then sp i l l ou t t he resu l t s i na ) i a t 1 o n a l E n q u i r e r e x c l u s i v e . I f a m a d e - f o r - T V e r f o l l o w s , f i n e , b u t e v e n; : . t h o u t a f a c t i o n a l i z e d m i n i - s e r i e s , y o u c a n s t i l I f i n d s a l v a t i o n b y b a r i n g- ,he g ruesome de ta i l s o f you r sex I i f e , add ic t i on , and /o r ques t i onab lebus iness dea l i ngs to ne ighbors , f r i ends and Dear Abby .t {h i l e t he mass med ia i nco r rec t i y f ocuses on the humi l i a t i on and "scanda I " o fthe Bakke r Reg ime , t he t rue de ta i l s o f an e lec t ron i c -cum-sp i r i t ua l consp i racyare s l ipp ing between the cracks and conned-sumers remain unaware of theunder l y ing imp l i ca t i ons o f t he e lec t ro -sp i r i t ua l i ndus t r y .1 . qu t t i nq Ou t t he M i - I n t he p re -e lec t ron i c d9e , p r i es t s were thes e r v a n t s o f c o @ u i s w o r d t n d g u i d i n g t h e f I o c k . A n d h e y , t h a t ' sa g rea t sys tem when you t re dea l i ng w i th a l oca l chu rch and a few thousandd i i c i p les . Bu t t oday r ro ma t te r how t i gh t you r p ipe l i ne to the Pear l y Ga tes ,you go t ta have b ig box o f f i ce . W i th modern TV techno logy , t he gospe l can bee l " c t ron i ca l l y d i spa tched I i ke b reak fas t ce rea l and f i ne r b rands o f marga r ine(See i sh #23 i ' The Nex t Vo ice You Hear : Sp read ing The Word o f God and o the rL i c e n s i n g P r o b l e m s " ) .Instead of the e lect ronj -c Second-coming prophesized by Mcluhan, a mutatedve rs ion o f t he techno log i ca l t heo logy was spawned in the 1 960 ' s by Ana IRober t s and M.G. (Pa t ) Rober t son . I n t he E lec t ron i c Church , t he TV p reacherdoesn ' t have to ge t you to God , he on l y has to ge t you to the TV . By ac t i ngas H is o f f i c i a l TV spokesperson , t he TV p reacher e f fec t i ve l y cu ts ou t t hem i d d l e - m a n ( i . e , Y a h w e h , G o d , t h e H o l i e s t o f H o l i e s , e t c . ) . K e e p i n g s p i r i t u a lt ransmiss ion e lec t ron i c , ra the r t han cosmo log i ca l a l so makes the bookkeep inge a s i e r . A f t e r a I I y o u c a n ' t c a s h a c h e c k w r i t t e n t o J e s u s C h r i s t .2 . gex and Druqs and the H l - One th ing the Bakkers have proven istha t sp i r i t ua l sa l va t i on i s no l onger a necess i t y . As Tammy Bakke rdemons l ra ted , t rue redempt ion i n t he 1980 ' s comes f rom check ing i n to a de toxcen te r . None o f us a re sp i r i t ua l l y bad r w€ jus t go t hooked on some we i rdsh i t . And i f sex i s you r down fa l l , don ' t swea t i t as l ong as you r p i cad i l l osme l l - s I i ke a p r ime- t ime soap and you ' re w i l l i ng to desc r ibe i t t o Ba rba raWa l te rs , Ted Koppe l o r any ma jo r ne twork morn ing show hos t .3 . God Wan ts to Be A S ta r - Those who fea r a Church /S ta te consp i racy be t te rt o o t < a 9 a i @ e a r d a n 9 e r w i t h i n t h e w o r l d o f T V t h e o I o g y i s aChurch /En te r ta inmen t i nb reed ing tha t i s s i l en t l y t h rea ten ing one o f ou r mos timpor tant f reedoms - the r ight to choose pop stars . Havinq h ipped i tse l f to. . r t i t i e s o f p o p s t a r C - o r , r , t h e T V C l l r i r e h h a s b e e n i n f i ' l t - r a t i - n c r t h e

Page 2: Easter 1987

enf,erEarnmenE TrruusEry wl-'Enln cne paSE Clecade borrowing pop stars and pops ty les to sp read the word . f t ' s no acc iden t t ha t t he e lec l ron i c chu rch i s socarefu l ly a l igned wih the enter ta i -nment complex. The J immy Swaggar t -Jerry LeeLew is and the Tammy Bakke r /Gary (A I Iey Oops ! ) pax ton ] i a i son a ie fu t t he t i po f t he i cebe rg on th i s Re l i g ioso -En te r ta inmen t consp i racy .4 . ! @ - U n f o r t u n a t e I y , t h e ' ' b a d d e s t i ' t h i n g t h a t J i m B a k k e rd id was to b low PTL business deals . Amer ica can excuse any[h ing but a crappybus inessman and Reverend Bakke r j us t cou ldn ' t t u rn the ho l y do i l a r . rn acoun t r y where some ho te l s a re rep lac ing G ideon B ib les w i th " Iaccoca" i t ' s nowonder tha t we can accep t re l i g ion as a bus iness and bus iness as a re l i g ion .And i t ' s no wonder tha t Fa the r Bakke r used te rms l i ke "hos t i l e t akeove r iinstead of "b l -ackmai l " because of the many tongues in which the e lect ronicchu rch speaks , t he mos t popura r i s t he l anguage o f B ig Bus iness .Yeah the Lord g iveth and the Lord taketh arr ray. And i i the government won' tba i l ou t t he nea r -bank rup t Pass -The-Le t tuce C Iub , t hen . fe r r y Fa lwe l l w i11 . Soth i s Eas te r , when you ' re s tu f f i ng down an ex tended she l f - I i i e choco la tebunny, remember that Jesus may have d ied for your s ins, but J immy and Tammywi I I ge t a be t te r roya l t y sp read on the i r b iog raphy .

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Page 3: Easter 1987

REPORTNOFTEN .TN ERROR - NEVER IN DOI]BT'

THE A&R REPORT ACQUIRES AN INTEREST IN THE ATARI CORPORATION

Honor ing ou r po l i cy o f f u I I and comp le te d i sc losu re o f a l l acqu is i t i ons anddivestments, The A&R Repor t announces acquis i t ion of an undisc losed amount ofs tock in the Atar i Corporat ion. The purchase of these shares demonstrates oursuppor t o f the only v iab le a l ternat ive to the d ig i ta l confus ion fo is ted onthe genera l publ ic by Microsof t , IBM and a host o f equal ly hungry computercompan ies , a I I w i l l i ng to sac r i f i ce the t rue m i rac le o f compu t ing fo r t hesake of a fast ent repeneur ia l buck.As we have ind icated throughout our ser j -es of essays and ar t ic les on thesubject , the se lect ion of hardware, sof tware, and f i rmware in the currentcomputer market is a pathet ic co l lect ion of overpr iced, poor ly prepared, andqu ick l y obso le te ga rbage tha t i s d i f f i cu l t t o unders tand and i ns ta l l . Thefact that one needs a book to operate a computer or a c lass to proper ly learna program demonstrates how far we are f rom achiev ing the f reedom whichcomputers or ig ina l ly promised.Instead, computer usage, thanks to the near-conspi rator ia l e f for ts of anin te rna t i ona l gang o f merchand ise rs , rema ins the same e l i t i s t , un re l i ab le andpoor l y des igned mess o f w i res , cab les , an t i - v i sua l sc reens , andindec iphe rab le symbo ls and i cons . I t s use i s l im i ted mere l y t onumber-crunching and in fornrat ion processing and has spawned a generat ion ofmedj-ocre computer ar t is ts and desktop publ ishers.Only one company has penetrated th is s ickening morass - Atar i . F i rs t , wi ththe A ta r i 800 and now, w i th the A ta r i 1040 ST ( the f i r s t "a f fo rdab le

k i lobyte") , Atar i has demonstrated that comput ing can be easy, en joyable andproduct ive. The "game" connotat ion, which Atar i unfor tunate ly is a t tempt ingto shake, is ev idence that the Sunnyvale corporat ion, under both major CEO|s,has approached comput ing f rom a s imple, economicaly ef f ic ient , computerspi r i tua l i ty . We look forward to at tending the annual Atar i s tockholder 'smee t ing .DISCLOSURE: Thisp rog ram, a 1 050typewr i ter .

Report was composed on an A ta r i 800 us ing an A ta r iw r i t e rd i sk d r i ve , a B ro the r nte?face and a Brother CE50

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Page 4: Easter 1987

bx 22LL3 'OFTEN f/V ERROR - NEVER IN NIIBT| Surset S.F. CA 94L22

1987 READERSHIP SURVEY

Dear readers , i n o rde r t o be t te r unders tand you r we a re consu l t i ng ap roc to log i s t . Hey , j us t k idd ing . . . bu t you know tha t t he t ru th o f i t i stha t a t some pub l i ca t i ons , t he readersh ip i s j us t a face less l i s t o f ma i l i nglabe ls . No t so a t t he A&R Repor t . We take a spec ia l , a lmos t pe rve rse ,i n te res t i n t he i nd i v idua l and g roup conc iousness o f ou r subsc r ibe rs . I f wedon t t know who you a re , t hen we t l l neve r know who we a re . So p lease , t akeyour t ime, answer the survey and le t us know about your wor ld .

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1 . T h e b i g g e s t t h i n g w r o n g w i t h A m e r i c a i s :

2 . The b igges t t h ing wrong w i th the un i ve rse i s :

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