WHY NOT BAN THE BIBLE?
CENSORSHIP ISSUES
By Karin Pekarcik
E-mail:
karinjulia@earthlink.netMay 4, 1999
Censorship is impacting us on all fronts. The Littleton, Colorado murders have forced all of us to seriously look at issues that have brought us to this violent state of our culture.
Everyone is pointing the finger at those they feel are responsible for these violent acts. The main targets are:
There is a call for more government regulation on all of these issues. The federal government is only too willing to listen to our cries for more censorship and regulations. But increased censorship is not the solution.
We are always looking for someone to blame. Instead of taking responsibility for the actions of ourselves and our children, we place blame on the institutions that we thought were here to protect us.
Yet look at these institutions. The three main institutions that shape our culture —
education, politics, and religion — are basically and intrinsically separative. There is the attitude of "me against them". We set ourselves apart as special and different, and we are proud of this fact. "My country is the best. My religion is the only true religion." We have constructed a competitive culture that prides itself on being more valuable than other persons, races, and nations.The sportsmen's attitude portrays the current state of our culture —
Win at all costs. Winning is the most important point of the game. Who cares about the loses? They are defeated and forgotten. The heroes are those who have overcome the odds and placed themselves above others. Not to say that the basics of this competitive attitude is wrong, but the glorification and adulteration of the winning athletic mentality is deplorable. Competition is highly praised above cooperation.Additional censorship is not the answer to our problems. If we tried to get rid of everything that triggered people to kill, then we would have to ban the
Bible. Placing the blame on these scapegoats is not going to solve the problem. Just as it is ridiculous to ban the Bible, so too our call to ban what we consider violent and objectionable material showing up in various forms of media.President Clinton is calling for a one day conference on May 10th to unite all the various segments of the industries against school violence. President and Mrs. Clinton and Mr. and Mrs. Al Gore along with representatives from the entertainment industry, religious community, education, gun advocates, and gun control advocates will meet to discuss these issues.
In this emotional time of tragedy, President Clinton is using this opportunity to take over the role as First Father. This role is very questionable in regards to his own immorality (what kind of role model is he portraying with his immoral personal and professional behavior — is this the message we want to convey to our children and young adults?)
The significant question to ask is not who to blame, but how do we take responsibility and work together to instill a sense of self-worth, values, and unity in our children.
There has been a gradual changing of human consciousness that encompasses more and more violence in our culture. We must reevaluate our personal and social responsibility and accept the challenge to build our family and community life into one of cooperation and unity. We also must understand that
what we do and say affects others. We are living examples for our children and the society at large. If we traditionally react in violent speech and manners, then we are broadcasting the message that it is acceptable behavior for our young ones. The attitude of do as I say and not as I do is not appropriate behavior for any of us.We have built a society around glamorized violence. The movie and music industries portray the view that killing is cool, sexy, and/or funny. Thus, this is the message that is impacting young minds still trying to find their place in society.
Video games are geared around adrenaline rushes. The video game manufacturers have discovered that making someone think they are going to die will raise the adrenaline. And that's what game-playing is all about. The body and brain become fully involved, our pupils dilate, our blink rate slows down, and dopamine, a neurotransmitter which is an addiction indicator is produced. This build the addition to violence behavior.
Our entire culture, and most specifically the Hollywood culture, must take responsibility for the shaping of the psyche of our children and young adults. We must not glamorize or distort truth and portray violence as a macho-type hip culture. We have glamorized a violent culture and that is the direction we are moving toward.
In 1996 the late screenwriter and playwright Steve Teslch said that the audience has become violence junkies, and the movie industry is giving them what they want. What has come first, the actual acts of violence or violence portrayed on the movie screen and video games? Sort of like the chicken and the egg. Does it matter? What matters is that we make an effort to change this violent trend. We are the ones that dictate what we want to view in the movies. By our choices we determine the trend of the industry. Attending violent movies, playing violent video games, and listening to violent music sets the tone for the media. If we no longer welcomed violent matter in our movies, then the industry would adjust themselves accordingly. They are just following the trend that we have set.
Jung's theory of the collective unconsciousness is so true today. We are what we think, see, hear, and do. Why not plant the seeds of positive values and behaviors within our young, instead of the negative separatist attitudes that tend to be all too prevalent in the mass media wherever we turn? By the choices we make we can instill the attitudes of unity, community, group consciousness, and the sense of helping one another in our daily lives.
Yoda the Zen Master of Star Wars says in the latest
Star Wars I — The Phantom Menace —"Fear is the path of the Dark side. Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering."
Why not have a Good News program? So much of our news is focused on fear, anger, violence, disruption, and the sorry side of life. Why not focus on uplifting and positive stories that happened in our neighborhoods? Surely something good has transpired in our part of the country.
So what's it going to be? More violence…. Or a focus on the positive values that are our heritage? The choice is always ours.
Karin Pekarcik is a free-lance writer living in Anaheim, California. Feel free to e-mail Karin at:
karinjulia@earthlink.net