The Great Decline

Entertainment is one of the things that gives us joy as human beings. It can be fun, educational, and thoroughly engaging. Music is one of the most popular forms of entertainment, especially with the teen and young adult generation. Unfortunately, most of music you hear today glorifies doing things one's way, not listening to authority and getting down with parties, drinking and the like. Many will write it off as not harmful since it's "just entertainment." Is it however "just entertainment?"

Cartoons are probably the most popular form of entertainment for the younger generation. A young one's mind is more susceptible to being fried than an adult's, and then there's the problem. Kids, even with the advent of the internet, are still watching lots of television. A lot of parents pay little mind to what their kids are watching, thinking that since it's a cartoon, there's no problem with them watching it. This is a grave mistake, and sadly the major companies feed into this, broadcasting programs with little to no well thought-out writing.

Why do they do this? Because kids today will generally watch just about anything that is bright and crude. The companies realize this, so they don't bother delivering quality writing and storytelling. Why go the extra mile when you could give kids a pretty mindless show that they'll always watch, giving the company high ratings and more $? It appears that's pretty much the thought process. And then when there are good shows, the company cancels them or puts them in spots when most kids won't be able to watch them.

"But wait a second writer" you say, "who says cartoons have to have meaning or a kid to learn something?" "Can't they just be entertaining?" Sure, there's nothing wrong with a little mindless non-crude entertainment, but the channels are over-saturated with it. If kids aren't shown alternatives or taught why these cartoons are dumb, then nothing can be accomplished. Interestingly, while there are strict guidelines when it comes to what can and can't be shown on a TV-Y and TV-Y7 program, boundaries in movies are quckly fading. Saying the "f" word in a PG-13 film was unheard of 20 years ago; it would automatically earn you an R rating. But nowadays it's totally normal to have that and other swearing in a PG-13 film. If one is constantly witness to mindless adventures, crude humor, and language, I'm inclined to believe that they too will begin to act mindless themselves and display terrible behavior in their daily activities.

Right now in theaters there's a movie called "Fifty Shades of Grey." One can defend it all they like, but what cannot be defended is the fact that the primary reason it's selling tickets is because of sexual appeal, especially to the young adult generation. This is a major problem, because this generation already struggles greatly with purity. I personally don't know what's more scary: the fact there are people who have said "Let's make this movie" or that thousands of people have watched it opening weekend. Some might stop reading right now and say, "There's nothing wrong with watching these things." But there is. The more stuff we allow ourselves to absorb, the more our minds become corrupted. We then allow ourselves to think its okay to watch a film with excessive things. Films like Fifty Shades and "Piranha 3D" play upon those beliefs. The people involved in making these movies knows there's an audience, and that fact alone is pretty sad.

We need to start thinking about what we are watching and what our kids are watching. What kind of person supports a film with blatant nudity as the selling point? What kind of parent allows their kid to constantly watch mindless crude humor? We need to bring morality back into Hollywood and good writing into the TV screen. I won't stand with a culture that glorifies anti-purity, anti-Godliness, and anti-morality. And you shouldn't either. Take a stand. Stand up for what's right.