No matter what actions we take, we will never rid the streets of crime. But we can as a society make better choices. We can choose uplifting, feel-good movies. We can watch documentaries about nature or science. There are forums for the exchange of ideas like TedTalks, magazines like Positive Impact, there are people and venues dedicated to enriching the human experience through positive experience.
We must start somewhere and the best place to start is to create a new mindset, a healthier mindset. What is acceptable to one person, can be offensive to another. What seems like pure innocent entertainment can be a destructive trigger-point to another. Society is failing future generations and our acceptability factor is rapidly changing. If we desire a society that is worthy of bringing human life into it, if we desire a society where you can raise your children without fear of being shot to death while watching a movie, then we need to reeducate our youth, reevaluate our acceptability factors and reinforce our commitment to a higher standard!
Maybe instead of trying to determine where an individual went awry we should be focused on why our society is failing. In other words, how is our social experience impacting the the development of our youth? To what degree does what we feed our collective soul influence our cultural conscience and morality?
When you listen to a motivational speaker or read an inspirational story, you get pumped, the information and inspiration get into your psyche and you probably feel like you can do just about anything. Would you agree with that?
I remember a recent movie with race cars that were doing incredible stunts on the road. When I drove my car from the theater, guess what I was doing? I didn’t even realize it, but I felt super-energized as I was racing by the other cars – that is until I got a ticket! What about when you go to a movie, do you sometimes associate yourself with the characters? Most of us probably wouldn’t relate to extreme violence, but there are clearly some people who go over the edge – they snap and begin to relate to a fantasy world. Would you agree with that?
Look at the success of the CSI and Law & Order television franchises and a host of other crime driven shows, people love them. We are bombarded on a daily basis with the fictional portrayal of serial murderers, rape, robbery and extreme violence of all kinds. I’ve never understood how or why people are entertained with these shows. Personally I believe there is enough trauma and drama in real life without adding all this violence to the subconscious mind. Watching the news of the day can be traumatic as well. I’ve seen newscasts where the entire program was just one murder, one killing, one rape, one horror story after the other! Certainly all of this negative energy has to have an effect on the subconscious mind.
Now, layer on another dimension- virtual reality or gaming, hours upon hours of simulated killing -whether zombies, aliens, or “foreigners” in war games, literally imprinting on the minds of our kids (in this case primarily boys) and, as studies have undisputedly shown, seriously desensitizing a whole generation of youth to violence.
If you are with me thus far, then you have to agree with me when I say ‘The fabric of our cultural conscience is in serious need of repair’!
Time to Get Involved, Get Loud & Think on the Brink
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