Posted on 09/08/2001 10:19:18 AM PDT by Starmaker
It was widely reported this week that the upcoming fall lineup of network television programming is going to be the raunchiest, vilest, most vulgar yet. According to the reports, all three major networks are planning to run television shows that push the standards of acceptable behavior to their lowest point ever. The reports say that expletives like the "s" word and the "f" word will be used. They also report that several shows will openly blaspheme G-d and mock Christianity.
People who have previewed them say the new shows will turn our television sets into moral slime pits. If that is not enough, reports also state a deal has been reached with the Red Chinese government that will put communist programming (propaganda) on most U.S. cable and satellite systems. Do we really hate our children that much? It appears we do.
Bible students often marveled how pagan cultures of antiquity could deliberately sacrifice their children to idols. Now, it seems easier to understand. The pursuit of hedonism and materialism has caused millions of Americans to sacrifice the hearts and minds of their own children. America's children today are passing through the fire of debauchery as surely as Israel's children once passed through the fire of Molech.
One has to wonder if there is anyone left who can say "no" to filthy lucre. Will actors and actresses play any part, no matter how vile it may be? Will they utter any word, no matter how blasphemous it is? Will they perform any act, no matter how debauched it is? Will parents sit back and say nothing as their children are turned into moral zombies? Will corporate America sponsor any show, no matter how harmful it is to our culture? Do we really hate our children that much? It appears we do.
It is difficult to imagine that so many would give up so much for so little. I submit that this is not natural. It's not natural for adult people to be so eager to damn their own children. It's just not natural. Adults today are willing to destroy children's lives for the prospect of making their lives a little easier. It's not natural, I say.
The natural inclination of normal adults is to be willing to sacrifice their own comfort or convenience in order to protect the lives and well-being of their children. They would never think of turning their culture over to forces that will destroy their children. Then again, it is obvious that we are not living in a normal society today.
Today we kill unborn babies and justify it by saying it will enhance medical research. We expose our children to any act of decadence and justify it by saying we are expressing "tolerance." We worship at the altar of materialism and justify it by saying we are good capitalists.
However, there was a time in this country when any attempt by film producers, educators, or corporate leaders to pollute the minds and morals of America's children would have been met with the fiercest resistance. We loved our children that much.
I see it everywhere here and it is extrememly annoying.
This is an absurd and, almost, irrational diatribe.
"We" don't kill children. "We" don't corrupt children. "We" don't worship false gods. And "we" _do_ love our children.
In all effective -- that is, functional -- ways, the entertainment business has managed to utterly cut itself off from the general population of the country. They can do whatever they choose.
Even "low ratings" in no way impact them.
Because since they all choose to do similar things, all their ratings are always comparable and advertisers can pretend low ratings are "normal." OR the entertainment businessmen in conjunction with the advertisers will turn to "demographics" and say ratings, per se, aren't important, they're looking for this or that age group or this or that particular batch of consumers...
The bottom line is that the producers of the mind-destroying crap will always get funding through the advertisers because they've created a kind of virtual reality around themselves where they can justify _anything_ they want to do.
But it's not us. It's them.
There's a great scene (well, among many of the great scenes) in "Atlas Shrugged" when one of the "Establishment" scum confronts Galt and says it will be Galt's fault if another of the scum does something terrible. Galt just says something like, "Look at him, and then look at me, and try telling me that anything he does impacts my morality..."
We should stop accepting this kind of garbage about what "we" are doing to the country. We are protecting our children the best we can. We are keeping alive the values of truth and liberty and human decency that built the country.
But when you're surrounded and out-numbered and over-powered you options for attack are limited... Mark W.
I used to think that was a simple answer, too. But it's not.
Look. Please indulge me with four supposes:
Suppose _you_ were a Native American 150 years ago.
Suppose _you_ observed Western Civilization chugging westward on locomotives.
Suppose _you_ complained to your tribe the locomotives were enabling Europeans to destroy Native American culture.
Suppose one of your fellow tribesman told you, "Hey, simple solution: If you don't like trains, just don't buy tickets and don't ride on them."
Do you see my point?
Television is destroying civilization (as we know it). Media is the enabling technology of the current era for the destruction of our civilization. If we choose, as individuals, to not participate, that's good for us. But we're not stupid. We can realisticly look around. Only a tiny fraction of a tiny fraction of the population is going to push away these glowing boxes. Civilization -- as we know it -- is going to be replaced by something else, just as the cultures of the Native Americans were replaced.
It's not a simple problem. It has no simple solution. Mark W.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.