Chicken Soup for the Mortal Soul

• Feb. 28, 2008 - Utter Degradation of Our Society

Posted in Serious

"TV is responsible for the utter degradation of our society. We should write letters." Grandma Ethyl, Brian Henson's Dinosaurs

As I have written many posts, I have always felt something lacking in them. I never have been satisfied with my serious posts. They have always been too shallow. But tonight, I am going to write my first post that has meaning and depth. I am going to speak out against the 4 sins of todays Media, in three different areas: In commercials, in TV shows, and in current movies.

Legochristian, Striker, and I have had a conversation recently via comment. We have talked alot about movies, tv shows, and such to that extent. Both have told me something to the extent of, 'We don't watch alot of TV,' at least one of them told me, 'We don't have cable', and at least one said, 'We try to only watch the good new releases.' This post is dedicated to you guys, thank you for giving me the inspiration of what to write about tonight.

Here is my post, I will start in sequential order of the four sins of todays Media, in order of least worst to worst, along with an example from each of the three groups of Media that I have stated:

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I'm sitting in the living room with my family, watching TV. The commercials are going. All of the sudden a piece of gum appears on the screen. I sigh in relief, as I am the one with the remote. I think, 'At least this is a commercial that I don't have to change the channel for!'. All of the sudden, I hear a woman's voice speaking about something that I'd never dreamed about in a gum commercial.The lady announcer says a very crude rhyme, which happens to mention a person's behind. And this is gum.

To me this was probably one of the most disturbing things in media today, which also happens to be sin number one of Media, and that is crassness. Media is terrible today with crude humor! I've seen two gum commercials already that I've had to change because of crass humor! It really does disturb me that I can't just watch a piece of gum on the screen without having to change the channel! Please bear with me though, because it is not just commercials that have this issue! You can't watch many movies without crassness now-a-days! Whether it's the 'Santa Clause 3', where Santa's Rain deer unmercifully pass gas, to the remake of 'Miracle on 34th St.', where Santa's pants fall down, and his crack is showing. Shows also. Come on, all of you have seen men get hit in certain areas on AFV, I believe we can all (who have seen that show) can admit to that fact. And that is one of the cleaner shows of today. So crassness is sin #4 of the media.

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A young, awkward red-head pushes open the door and enters the room. He looks around for a moment, then sees the head-chef, his back turned towards him. The chef then turns around, looks the young man in the eyes, and says, 'Welcome to h---'.

This made me very upset. Quite a few of you probably know what movie I am referring to. Disney's Ratatilloui was supposed to be a cute, family film, which was rated 'G'. But then again, you can't trust ratings today with movies.

Language has always been a problem with my family. We are very careful about what words we let our ears hear. That is one of the big reasons why I am a homeschooler right now. To give you a little background, our family has a machine that we hook up to the TV, and it takes off swear words. Unfortunately, we didn't think we'd need it for Ratatilloui, but we were wrong.

This is not only in movies, but not as much in commercials. But it is definitely in shows. I know that I am guilty of watching a TV show where they cuss a good amount. And that show would be American Idol, which is pretty big right about now. They let many words out that shouldn't be let out. Yes, this is the sin of media #3, which is language.

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A young blonde walks onto the stage. She picks up a microphone, then looks at the crowd and starts to sing. The obvious thing you can see is her brown tank-top, which is obviously too small for her. Pretty? Yes. Modest? No.

Kristy Lee Cook is a young contestant for American Idol. She is the person I was speaking of, during her performance two weeks ago.

American Idol, a TV show (as I have already stated), is the king of Immodest dressing, since it's live people, not just people acting. I think I have only seen one girl on the show who is modest, and that would be Brooke White. All of the others don't care who sees their bodies.

This is not just TV shows, though. I can't hardly watch a commercial without having to change it because of some girl who's trying to sell a beauty product isn't careful enough about how they dress. But then again, this is the point of the advertisers.

Movies also, have this problem. For this reason, me and my older brother could not see Cheaper by the Dozen 2.

Immodesty is a big-time sin in America today. It's hard for both men and women. And it doesn't help when TV media screams it at you. Sin #2.

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The screen flashes image after image to you. First it's a lady with a gun, second a man punching another man, then something blowing up, people screaming, and then a shot rings out, then silence. The end of the commercial.

This has always made me the most mad, and is probably the most disturbing to me. Crassness is bad, because little children will pick up on it, and find it funny. And with language, yes, little children can learn it, but if they ever use it, hopefully their mom is smart enough to spank them. And immodest, that affects mostly older children. But violence is the most frustrating in my house.

As some of you know, I live in a house with 7 other siblings, 5 of which are under the age of 9. And my Dad is a big-time football fan, as are lots of American Dads. So unfortunately, advertisers stick commercials for their shows into the commercial slot for any grown-up show, whether football, or American Idol.

The frustrating thing is that little children don't know when to turn their eyes. And if nobody is watching the TV, and it's still on Daddy's game, and a commercial comes on, showing a man getting shot, this image will be burnt into the child's mind forever, and it will not only terrify him, but also corrupt him.

I cannot say much about violence in movies, as I have not seen many. Even TV shows, I cannot see many (none, to be exact) ones that have violence. But commercials are terrible. They show the violent parts. And we have to be careful, because you never know what little eyes may be watching. And this is sin #1.

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So what can you do about this? There is not much you can do to stop it. It is a corrupt thing, and as long as Satan is loose, America will demand these things. But you can make a difference. Many people have gone to the resource of not watching any bad movies in theaters. Yes, this is good to do, but then if you have pledged yourself to it, then you must also remember not to rent bad movies, as movie makers keep up with which movies you rent,

Though you can't stop this sin from happening, what you can do, and what I suggest that you do is this: I suggest that you guard your heart from these four things, these four perversities of American culture. For language, I would suggest that you practice listening to things only clean, and not listening to cursing. I myself hear cursing, and it can't be helped. But it's good to practice not watching things that have unclean words, or getting a box that bleeps out the swearing.

For the crassness, I suggest the same thing as swearing, as they have similar effects. Watch what you're watching, and watch pure shows.

As to immodesty, I suggest that if you are a young man, that you turn your head. I have had to do this many times, and will for the rest of my life.

As for violence in commercials, I have found the off button on remotes is quite handy. Switch the channel, or turn off the TV when a violent commercial comes on. It's not just you you're protecting, but your younger siblings, too.

One last thing that you can do... is pray for our nation. Our nation needs prayer, and God hears your prayers. Pray for America. That's about the most you can do.

Thank you for reading this long, long post. I appreciate your support. Sorry, Sam. I know you were rooting for Kristy. But I had to write about this.

One last thing... I have added links to Legochristian, Striker, and Sam. Please visit their sites!

Thanks again for reading this post!

~Nick

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• Feb. 29, 2008 - So very sad..............

Posted by legochristian

This is sadder than your first post that I read, It's rather sad. :-(. Once again, thanks for getting my name out.