June 28,2004 - Tolerance and encouragement of 'sin' in society -

I just read the book 'The Taking' by Dean Koontz and it did what few books manage to do. It changed how I look at the world. For that reason I highly reccommend it, especially for those who like to read my rantings. It's right up your alley.

Anyway, I was reading this book and It made me realize how far society has slipped. We've become tolerant to violence, sex and various other sins, and not only are we tolerant of it, we directly and indirectly encourage it. We are losing our humanity slowly by constantly engaging in the fulfillment of primal desires such as lust, and the need to destroy, and to gain power over others. Now I'm not even really religious, I mean I do somewhat believe in a higher power but I don't believe a whole lot in how the chruch portrays it all. I do however have a moral sense, and when I started thinking about it all, I really was morally offended by how our society functions and even more so at my own part in it all.

Think of what I first mentioned. Violence. So horribly common in the world now an assault or murder happens god knows how many times a day worldwide. I don't know what it is about man but we have this need to destroy everything in creation. Some people's desires to destroy are stronger then others, and some have less control over that desire. Murderers, arsonists and vandalists are consumed by this desire and have to lash out in order to sate their primal savagery.

Now it isn't just that we succomb to the desire to destroy so often now that concerns me. It is the sponsorship of violence and destruction that concerns me. We promote it constantly, we make it look fun and exciting. How many movies came out this year which involved a hero or heroine in bloody battle against evil? We make these promoters of destruction and death hero's, we immortalize their deeds and children look up to them.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not condemning every movie with blood and fighting in it. Their are movies which have morals and messages within them, that try and get the point across while entertaining the masses long enough for them to get the point. I do not condemn the movies like 'Full Metal Jacket', or 'We Were Soldiers'. They show us how wars are, they do not glorify war, they are not propaganda for destruction, they are eye-openers for those innocent of that which takes place within the movies. What I do condemn are those movies and novels and so on, which display wanton violence, death and destruction. A movie like Kill Bill for example. You want an example of how common it is, type in 'death', 'blood', 'murder' or 'kill' in the google search engine and look how many results you get.

Now we have become so used to violence and death, so used to fighting and destruction that when we see it on tv, it's no different then skipping over a cartoon on television. We give a 'hmph' of acknowledgement and move on, unchanged, unaffected by the loss of life or property depicted. Murder has become so common a practice that the average jail term for murder is seven years.

Now moving onto my next point; sex. Sex has been reduced to the point where having sex is nothing more then scratching an itch. There is so much pornography floating around that we now are not content with simply making love. We need it constantly, and it can't be just simple sex anymore, it's gotta be more and more outrageous for it to be satisfying. If you don't believe it, just float around the internet sex sites for 10 minutes. Pornography has become so widespread and so common that it has twisted our sexual desires. A stand up comedian said a while back "Porn messes up your fantasy file. If you don't watch porn and your gf asks 'what's your fantasy' you respond with ' to make passionate love in a flowering pasture... etc. etc.' and it's all sweet and stuff. However, if you do watch porn when she asks your answer is more along the lines of 'Here, stick this banana in your ass.'"

Our society also encourages and promotes some of what the catholics define as sins. Take the seven deadly sins for example;Pride, Lust, Greed, Envy, Sloth, Wrath and Gluttony.

Pride and envy are so widespread in our society that you see them pretty much everywhere you go, and it's encouraged. Workers are encouraged to take pride in their work and be proud of their higher positions which incites envy in the lower ranks. According to the bible, and other religions it is sinful and dishonorable to take such pride in your work; rather you should be humble and simply do the job for the benefit of fellow man.

All of western society is based around greed. Capitalism is a society of greed. Americans work not to benefit others but instead to get more money and more material goods for themselves. That is the basis of capitalism right there. Rather then working for the overall benefit of society, thus enriching your life and the lives of others at the same time, North Americans work for capital and material gain. This breeds power struggles, vindictiveness, envy, pride, deceit, corruption and murder.

So looking at it through a strictly biblical perspective, Communism is more Christian. Ideal communism that is. Yet American propoganda during the seventies declared that it was the duty of the American people to fight the communists, because it was unamerican and thereby unchristian.

I've already discussed lust and wrath so I'll move onto gluttony. Take a look around at the massive amount of obese people in our society and how the number keeps mounting. All you can eat buffets are a fairly common indulgence and I just read this amazingly similar essay in one of my assigned readings for university. The essay, written by Henry Fairlie and named "The Fact of Sin" is a much better written representation of my views and highly reccomend that you read it. So with that I guess this rant's finally finished. Adios.