by Jack Lee
The United States crime rate has been dropping and so has the world’s crime, however the demographers that track such things aren’t ready to assign a reason just yet. Sometimes stats change for no definitive reason, but I think overall it’s probably because of our rise in education and global awareness thanks to the… media???
When it comes to violent crimes and in particular homicide, I believe our entertainment industry has a great deal of influence on us. And oddly enough they’ve been helping in this one area. Current trends in video gaming, movies and TV show the good guys as a sort of super heroes pitted against the mega-monstrously bad guys and good wins in the end. In not so subtle ways this influences how we think and it establishes a new moral line for the up and coming generations.
This is why I believe our perception of good and evil is probably defined as much now by our entertainment media as anything else, even our religion. in fact entertainment is the new religion for many of us.
Too bad our entertainment industry has contributed to a sharp decline in other areas of our society including, but not limited to exploitation of women and of course those pesky situational ethics that allow bad things to be done in the name of good.
Our entertainment industry has exposed us to things that would have made Nero or Caligula blush. We’ve lost our innocence – but, we’ve created a giant money making porn industry! So, when it comes to helping us be a healthier, more inclusive and cohesive society, Hollywood gets mixed reviews.
Speaking of a cohesive society, how many movies have you seen where exploiting white racism has been turned into a money maker of a movie? Hollywood loves to sell this message because it fits into their political agenda…a very far left, liberal political agenda. Hollywood takes the most ugly events from our past, enhances them and weaves them into today’s movies…. and it sells. It’s just another version of “if it bleeds it leads”. The downside is, it obviously creates a perception that is far from true and it incites anger that causes more racial division. We don’t need that!
Let’s hope 2012 is the year for bringing back truth, good character, where the good guys really do win, and where films stop with this exploitation of our problems and start recognizing and extolling our virtues. Maybe they could turn around sagging box office receipts if they did? I know I could sure use a break from the “I hate America” film makers club, how about you?