Herding Cattle Into the Seductive Depravity of Hollywood's Great Karmic Corral (Part 2 of 2)
And now, for plethora of Horror films that feature the torture of others for the purposes of entertainment or as it is called in German 'Schadenfreude', a word meaning to "take pleasure from another's suffering.' This term should be part of the textbook definition of being a 'psychopath.' Words can do little to describe the utter depravity and monstrous cruelty of what Hollywood produces and exposes our children to. (Continued in Part II)
The film series "The Hunger Games", "Hostel", 'Saw' and "Purge' are amongst a list of many movies that exemplify the utter depravity and selling of one's soul to profit from portraying the torture and murder of another as being cool, hip and fun. And parents, if there are any of you who are truly parents out there, if you allow your children or teens to see the upcoming film 'The Purge, Election Year' about a several hour period of time, one day a year, where anyone can commit the most heinous of crimes...mostly murder...with zero criminal results, please do humanity a huge favor and turn yourselves into the police for the reckless psychological endangerment of your child's mental health.
Lets not let the music side of the entertainment industry off the hook because, of all of the forms of entertainment, they're probably the biggest perpetrator of negativity on the hearts, minds and soul of our youth. The main reason for this is because when someone listens to music they also, defacto, participate in creating mental pictures to coincide with the melody and/or lyrics. This differs slightly from passively watching images on some sort of video screen. Video games are another huge issue that I won't go into in this article. Briefly, though, let me state... that anyone who justifies letting your children play violent video games of any sort, again, please consider checking yourself into some authority / agency who will better protect your beloved child.
"Any Channel Can Deliver Eyeballs. But How Many Can Include Hearts and Minds?" - An advertisement by MTV in the July 12, 1993 issue of the Wall Street Journal
Now, imagine the lyrics from the Geto Boys 1991 album entitled 'Mind of a Lunatic" where it states, "She begged me not to kill her, I gave her a rose. Then I slit her throat, watched her shake till her eyes closed. Had sex with the corpse before I left her. And drew my name on wall like Helter Skelter." Now consider the impact of the some 500,000 copies of the album were repeated listened and visualized by young people. With this, keep in mind the quote of the great Chinese philosopher Confucius who stated, "If one should desire to know whether a kingdom is well governed, if its morals are good or bad, the quality of its music will furnish the answer"
The philosophy of some of the music industry executives was portrayed on the cover of the August 3, 1991 issue of Billboard Magazine. It read, "KEEP MUSIC EVIL." The composer and poet Cyril Meir Scott reminds us "An innovation in musical style has invariably been followed by an innovation in politics and morals."
Plato, in Laws, reminded us, "Through foolishness they deceived themselves into thinking that there was no right or wrong in music - that it was to be judged good or bad by the pleasure it gave. By their work and their theories they infected the masses with the presumption to think themselves adequate judges . . . As it was, the criterion as not music, but a reputation for promiscuous cleverness and a spirit of law-breaking."
Honestly, I wish all of this was a big joke and that it had no impact on the psychological well-being of society and especially our children, however, it does. You see, there are a handful of people funding, producing and distributing all forms of soul crushing content to the people in society who they consider to be little more than 'Cattle.'
The depravity Hollywood and the Music Industry intentionally inflicts on society only occurs because parents have been induced into a coma and zombie like state of awareness and given them unspoken permission to do so. They know they can get away with this because only the most completely irresponsible of parents would ever allow their children to be exposed to the sadistic Schadenfreude content that threatens the very innocence and loving kindness, that as parent, we are chartered to foster and empower. And by self-evident box office and music sales success of this unconscious and cruel entertainment, the large majority of parents are known, by the marketers of this packaged insanity, to be spiritually impotent and indifference toward their own children's future and the larger society in which they live and dwell.
"The film maker has the unrestricted privilege of haranguing an audience for two-hour stretches and the chance to influence the public thinking for good or evil. It is therefore his responsibility to emphasize the positive qualities of humanity by showing the triumph of the individual over adversities." Frank Capra, The great filmmaker of "It's a Wonderful Life."
Personally, I challenge all parents, especially men, and that is if you are truly a man... be the protector of your family and all children at large. I make it a practice to go into the theaters where vulgar and/or monstrously violent/horror-type films are playing and scan the seats for underage teens. Here is what I do and what happens:
Once I've identified a teen or a group of them, I quietly go out and find the theater manager. I explain that he has a group of unsupervised underage teens watching an R rated film. I then walk with him/her to the theater door and explain that they have only two choices. 1) They find and eject the teens from the theater or 2) if they choose not to, I call the police and have them do so. Either way, as I explain, I'm going to wait right here until one or the other thing happens.
Lastly, if you're a parent and happen to find yourself in a film that's inappropriate on any level, I suggest you get that you clearly and/or forcefully announced to your children, or any kids that you've been entrusted with in the role of temporary guardian, that 'you're all leaving and leaving now.' With this said you then stand up, communicate that if you have any arguments about this matter, whatsoever, and that if this doesn't occur immediately and per your lead, that your kids will be grounded for x period of time and the disobedience other children will be reported to their parents. Tough love? Maybe.
My apologies here to any parent who somehow believes they are to be friends with their children. This I hope, you really understand, is not your job as parent. You are chartered as mentor and midwife to your children to set safe and healthy boundaries by which your child hopefully evolves into a kind, caring and loving human being who contributes to a world of good.
In closing, I believe it important to remember with words of Lewis Munford (American renowned historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology and influential literary critic, 1985 - 1990) who reminds us of the stakes that are currently at hand and to what has previously and correlatively occurred in history: "Rome fell not because of political or economic ineptitude, not even because of barbarian invasions; Rome collapsed through a leaching away of meaning and a loss of faith. Rome fell because of a barbarization from within."