Who are we allowing to lead our thoughts and motivate our actions? We are surrounded by media, we have 24/7 access to more TV shows and movies than we can possible watch in a lifetime. The new fad in TV is the idea of binge watching. The act of sitting in front of the television for a day at a time and watching every episode of a TV show. I can admit that I enjoy this habit very much. To just sit and turn off the brain and be entertained. I wonder though when I do it what it costs my mind and my intellect? At the same time we all sit and absorb massive amounts of media, we are telling ourselves that we, as a society, as a planet, as humans, are smarter, more refined and tolerant than we ever have been in the past.
The problem with that belief is that it isn't actually true. The majority of the planet sits and absorbs information told to them by invisible people behind the media. We do not know their values, their beliefs, their qualifications, well wait, we do know their beliefs and values and we know they are not ours, but we sit and watch anyway because they present to us a compelling story. They are story tellers of the finest caliber. They present a story to us so entertaining that we ignore the fact that it is wrapped in sin and speaks against what God would want for our lives.
What are the primary qualities that make for a good television show or movie? Pride, Greed, Lust, Anger, Gluttony, Envy, Sloth. How many shows have you seen that present their main characters with these qualities and yet somehow simultaneously present them as enduring and lovable. Their sin is a personality quirk that makes for entertaining TV. Also how often are their Contrary virtues Humility, Liberality, Chastity, Meekness, Temperance, Brotherly Love, Diligence, presented as the punchline?
We have come to the point where most people have given up on intellect and reason all together. We are all to happy to be lead down whatever road the media chooses to lead us. The more we immerse ourselves in the media the faster we allow ourselves to be lead. The recent turmoil over gay marriage and the rapid public opinion shift is further evidence or this. In just a few short years we have gone from the the majority of Americans disagreeing with gay marriage, to the the majority supporting it. In fact in the same time those of us who do oppose it have been painted as ignorant and bigots standing in the way of true love. If we continue on this road it is my prediction that within a couple of years at most we will have seen the supreme court call the Catholic church a promoter of hate crimes for opposing the practice.
We need to hold fast to our intellect and that will mean disconnecting ourselves from the constant stream of information that is contrary to basic thought. It is time to go out and look for ourselves. I am not suggesting total abstinence from things like the internet. Certainly it can be a valuable tool for acquiring needed information. For example all of the documents published directly by the Vatican. What we need to be cautious of however is allowing others to interpret the source information and feed us fiction as fact. Even in regard to TV shows, which we should know are obvious fiction, we find that the facts they present, as to how family life should be lived, how men and women should interact, what we should consider important, all slowly erode away our intellect until we are left thinking that those things seem logical.
Eventually what this leads to is a desire to learn more but the process has become to tedious, we are too accustomed to the news outlets, sit coms, dramatic TV series, internet sites; all providing our ideas for us. So it becomes more and more difficult to abandon those things that have so long kept our minds at a minimal functioning level, and convinced us because we are mass consumers of false information that we are in fact brilliant with an IQ far and above the average person.
It is time to stick our heads above the water and look around. In the constant onslaught of information, TV, internet there is one prevalent theme, it is mostly, very, anti-Christian and anti-Catholic. It is cleverly disguised, and the stories they tell are very entertaining, but how much are we willing to sacrifice for the sake of a good story? How much are we willing to let go of?
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