Any one of my friends will tell you that I’m an
entertainment junkie. I have huge stacks
of movies in my room, a big bin of CDs that I haven’t found a place for yet,
and an often frequented Netflix account.
However, there is a trend within the entertainment industry that worries
me.
Recently the AMC hit show “The Walking Dead” was
finally moved to a TV-MA rating due to the extreme violence and gore, which is
its primary attraction. I personally
have only seen the show a few times, but the things I have seen on the show
include a man being stabbed in the eye with a piece of glass, a severed zombie
torso resiliently crawling, and a man pulling a bone out of a zombie’s limb to
use as a weapon. What worries me even
more is that nobody seems to be bothered by this. On the contrary, people celebrate it. On each occasion that the show strives to
outdo itself, you don’t hear statements like “That was awful!” or “That’s
disgusting!” Instead, what you hear are
statements like “That was awesome!” or “That’s got to be my favorite kill this
season.”
“So our culture is violent. What’s the big deal?” I’ll tell what the big deal is. Fifty
years ago, this kind of media was virtually if not completely nonexistent. Let’s think about violence in reality. Virginia Tech, Columbine, Aurora, and Sandy
Hook have all happened within the last fifteen years. Coincidence?
I don’t think so. Don’t get me
wrong, I’m not blaming those incidents on the entertainment. The violence of the entertainment industry is
one of the many symptoms, it is not the disease. Here’s what I’m getting at: what did we think was gonna happen when we started
embracing violence? Violence is now
embraced and glamourized. The dream of
being cool is no longer typified only by athletes and artists. After all, Rambo, Jason Bourne, and Django
are so much better. Who wouldn’t want to
be able to kill dozens of people in such a short time? I believe that one reviewer got it right when
he said this while reviewing the recent film “The Hunger Games”: “This is what
happens when a culture embraces violence.”
Specifically in relation to the film, it means violent games that involve
teenagers slaughtering each other mercilessly while being cheered on by the
masses. A little dramatic? Maybe.
But the point is valid.
Ultimately, the result is this: the value of human
life is dropping at a shocking rate. The
glamorization of violence, the acceptance of abortion, and the fantasizing of
bloodshed are making us as people next to worthless. By this point, I hope you are seeing the
gravity of this issue. The result is
two-fold: first, we need to trash some of our media. As you’re reading this, you’re probably
realizing there are some changes you need to make. When I realized how big of a deal this was, I
stopped playing first-person shooter games.
I was more wary of the movies I saw.
I deleted some songs from my music library. I did these things because I don’t want to be
part of the society that embraces violence.
Secondly, we need to speak out about this sort of thing. By that I don’t necessarily mean you need to
take part in a protest or sign a petition, although I do believe those things
can be helpful. What I do believe we
need to be doing is talking with those closest to us. We need to be talking to our friends and our
family about why this is such a big deal and why we have chosen to not take
part in these things anymore. I firmly
believe that our culture is not beyond saving; but if it is to be saved, it
will take a lot of effort and lot of courage.
Just know this: if we see the dangers and still refuse to speak up, the
blood of future generations will be on our hands.
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