Posted on 01/21/2013 6:59:06 AM PST by IbJensen
Imagine if police in a major city were to uncover a plot in which a serial killer was found to be planning to use the Internet to unleash a cult of followers who would also engage in serial killings. Imagine further, if police found as evidence an ice pick impaling a woman’s eye.
Such a revelation would be enough to dominate the headlines at least for a couple days even in our sensationalist culture. It would unleash calls for limiting the use of weapons employed in the planned crimes. It would give rise to endless commentary and futile soul-searching by those who would ask how society failed the unfortunate individuals involved. And then all would fade into the background without resolution
The above mentioned plot was not uncovered by police. It is, however, the plot of a new television series that premiers this January on Fox television. The 15-episode series called “The Following” has in its first show the image of an ice pick impaling a woman’s eye. Apparently the show would have been even grislier had not the network itself stepped in and insisted that the program conform to certain “guidelines.” The producers were asked to tone down a slit-throat scene.
“The Following” is not a particularly exceptional program; it is one among many such shows that producers hope will boost ratings. Not even the recent massacres seem to have hindered its release. For producers, it is blood and gore as usual.
Such a program should raise questions as to the higher purpose of the arts, what lessons are to be learned or what values are being imparted to the audiences. However, the media admit no high purpose to the arts they produce. They claim such programs are there to entertain or amuse. It’s just entertainment. “The Following” is a thriller that must produce thrills. In a society where the sense of horror is dulled, programs must present ever more grisly scenes to produce its thrills. Media claim they are simply following the market.
Such groveling to base instincts is not the purpose of the arts. Art used to express the spirit and beauty of a culture. Today, the arts, if they can be called such, are made to produce sensations and thrills. Arts should inspire and uplift. They now fascinate and degrade.
The object of the arts should be toward those sublime things that should serve to inspire society toward the good, true and beautiful. A culture turned towards the sublime uplifts those who would otherwise detain themselves with the purely ordinary and common. Art should draw individuals outside themselves in wonder, and so opposes the inward egoistic vices that drive people to disgrace. Such inspiration makes men capable of dedication, admiration and great feats. It ultimately leads men to God.
Modern programming does the opposite. It serves to break down the barriers that separate men from the horrors of their basest acts and instincts. It encourages and glorifies the breaking of taboos, conventions and morals. Despite denials from the media, these programs do impart a wrong message and a macabre agenda that tends to the bad, the false and the ugly.
In the soul-searching over how America has become a land of violence, people ask how it is possible that society has produced individuals capable of such monstrous crimes. Part of the answer lies in the fact that television and media have become the how-to manuals of those who become monsters.
We need a return to order.
The advent of Obama was to put the final touches on the end of any semblance of polite society. The beginning started sometime during the administration of Woodrow Wilson.
"Gee. Before you know it they'll be taxing our income."
The big problem is: does anyone care anymore?
“Da da da da; that’s entertainment!”
Desperate for ratings, and totally lacking any idea of right or wrong, the TV producers will put increasingly violent and bloody scenes on the TV screen.
Not only the blood-red scenes, but the stories about people being rotten to people, deceiving, betraying, cheating, stealing, lying, destroying lives.
All this in high definition.
Empty, valueless hypocrisy!
“Does anyone care anymore?”
Unfortunately, not many. Obviously Freepers do, but the general public says “that’s just entertainment.”
Bump, and new tagline about some other monsters of our day.
I remember a controversy back in the early 1960s when a murder was committed.
A young boy killed his family. It was discovered he learned how to set the murder scene up by watching the old ALFRED HITCHCOCK show on TV.
The author obviously hasn’t watched any of The Walking Dead series.......LOL!
Fox also had that asinine “Jailbreak” show and has been at the forefront of pushing shows glorifying crime and violence, although they’re not alone in that. On Fox cable network F/X “The Shield” won at least one Emmy, a couple of Golden Globes, ran for seven seasons, and the central character was a murdering rogue cop.
I’m sure the show had some fans on FR of course, most of whom regarded it as a documentary.
Thanks IbJensen.
On the one hand, the author may have a point.
On the other hand, where does it stop? To take your Hitchcock example, how many useful tricks are contained in the writings of Agatha Christie? Would we ban Shakespeare if a group of people smuggled resin knives into a legislative chamber and stabbed a colleague to death?
-PJ
Regarding the recent New Mexico shooting:
The Albuquerque Journal reports that neighbor Peter Gomez said he saw the boy walk with siblings and his parents through the neighborhood regularly, and he “wore nothing but camouflage stuff”. Greg Griego turned his life around after being in a gang.
Griego reportedly served in Desert Storm, and Nehemiah told neighbors he wanted to be a soldier. He always wore army clothing and camouflage, but he wasn’t allowed to play violent video games, according to one neighbor, since the boy’s parents didn’t allow anything “dirty or violent” and limited TV watching.
I guess we all have to accept that there is sometimes such deep evil in the heart that it will find its way out even without the usual conduits that pundits want to blame.
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