Posted February 17, 2004
When will America make the connection? When will the defenders of "anything goes" morality and entertainment realize there is a connection between violent, sexually explicit entertainment and a culture of violence?
The Super Bowl entertainment was nothing less than sexual assault in the name of art. On the same night that America witnessed the baring of Janet Jackson's breast after a throbbing ritual of sexual degradation and assault, another assault was taking place in front of another camera. At a Florida car wash an 11-year-old girl, Carlie Bruschia, was kidnapped by a stranger, taken by the arm and led away to be sexually assaulted, callously murdered and then tossed away as so much refuse. This was "drama" acted out in real life.
When will America make the connection? When will the defenders of "anything goes" morality and entertainment realize there is a connection between violent, sexually explicit entertainment and a culture of violence?
When will we learn that to rip the unborn from the womb breeds indifference and cheapens life to the point where it can be cast aside as garbage? If we treat life so cheaply from its conception, then we shouldn't be surprised that a growing number of people don't see life as having much value at any time.
When will we learn that when music and entertainment are vehicles to attack a woman's value, monsters with uncontrolled animalistic urges prowling the streets will prey on the innocent? When will we learn that there is a connection between people who have no modesty and the immodest actions committed daily?
The "anything-goes" left has pushed the country into a state of catatonic confusion. Unless halted early, it is a terminal disease. As The Wall Street Journal observed, "Forcing the culture to consume acts, sights and words that belong in private is a recipe for social disaster or collision."
We can't just beat up the left, either. The right and capitalism run amok have their own guilt to answer for, also. Notice this excerpt from The Wall Street Journal , Feb. 6,commenting on the pressure which our capitalist system creates:
"Of course Viacom [owner of CBS, which aired the Super Bowl, and MTV, which produced its halftime show] isn't a creature of the Left. It's a product of the world's freest market, and so of the Right. We proponents of the market better come to grips fast with the all-too-evident fact that Big Media's commercial needs are driving the culture in a downward spiral.
"Viacom, the media iceberg currently with its tip exposed, includes CBS, MTV, VH1, BET, Paramount Pictures, Comedy Central, Showtime, Blockbuster and Simon & Schuster. The industries that now constitute much of what is going to be America's economy for the future include TV, music, advertising, fashion, movies, magazines, videogames, digital technology and telecom distribution.
"Commerce follows culture in a country like the U.S., and finally the culture is pulling large segments of the new economy down to its level. Where's the bottom? The imperative to produce revenue growth is driving the media players ever downward to win mass audiences aged 16-30. Authentic creativity can't compete, as desperate managers dive to the culture's lowest common denominator of what sells—and at this level we know what sells.
"The dumbing down of America has been followed by the scuzzing down of America. One might hope that the Super Bowl fiasco would cause media marketers to seek other ways to hit revenue targets without driving the culture into a dying swamp, but that's not likely. The pressure to perform fast [in producing profits] is the strongest force in play here."
In RevelationThe disclosure of God's Word and plan to mankind. In the Bible this refers to making obscure things clear; bringing hidden matters to light; causing especially called individuals to see, hear, perceive, know and understand the things of God; the unveiling of biblical mysteries (Romans 16:25). 18 we find a description of "Babylon" in its glory at the time of the end. This chapter describes a world that even now is forming right before our eyes. Babylon in the end is a city, a culture, a global deception that dominates the whole world. At its heart is religious deception that has turned the truth of God into a lie (2 Thessalonians 2:11). It is a global economic system that controls and influences markets and economies (RevelationThe disclosure of God's Word and plan to mankind. In the Bible this refers to making obscure things clear; bringing hidden matters to light; causing especially called individuals to see, hear, perceive, know and understand the things of God; the unveiling of biblical mysteries (Romans 16:25). 18:3).
This "Babylon" of the end time reaches into every aspect of life. While men clamor for more and more material goods (verses 11-13), it is not money and goods that are the end goal of this system. It is the lives of people. Its ultimate aim is to traffic in "bodies and souls of men" (verse 13).
God goes so far to say that in this Babylon lies the "blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth" (verse 24).
God says to come out of her and not be partaker of her sins (verse 4). We must realize that when we engage with our modern-day "Babylon" and take part in all its prurient, sensual culture we are part of the system.
If we lose our moral ballast and drift with the times our lives will become of little value. We cannot traffic in empty and shameless things that are sin. We cannot traffic in the goods of Babylon while looking to the heavenly Jerusalem. We cannot love this world more than the things of God.
