WYSIWYG - A Philosophy for Destroying A Society ?

By Ishak Natan


On 16 March 2000 I was asked by the National Research Bureau to give my opinion with five other Auckland residents. They were collecting views in regard to censorship for discrete rating / classification of videos and films. There were 14 film clips to be evaluated.

To my amazement, all of the participants were almost in one accord that most of the film should be banned from public audiences.

Some of the titles shown were: Cruel Intention, Basic Instinct, Scream, Very Bad Thing, Matrix, Living Las Vegas, Romance, Bride of Chucky, Mafia.

The content ranged from foul language, sexual violence, obscene idiom, bloody fighting to committing suicide before little children. It was filled with horror, filthiness, witchcraft, evil appearances that could make the onlooker vomit.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe - a German Poet once said:
Sow a thought through the window of your eyes long enough, and you are going to reap an action; sow the action in repetition mode and you will reap a habit; which eventually become a character; and will end up in destiny.
Recently parents and educators began to talk how to build up kids in their character with eternal values. It was aroused lately in public because many parents and educators are very concern about the direction of this tiny nation.
Many parents are not fully aware that What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) has contributed a significant damage to our society. Everything is hinged on the content of the message. Bad examples reproduce bad behaviour.

The ugly trend of nowadays' youth role models is unstoppable. Garbage in is the main menu of our entertainment industry and garbage out is the fruit of our youth's behaviour today. Alive unto sin and dead unto God. Are we destroying ourselves from within ?

We must determined if there is inherent high values in videos and films.
As the proverb says: "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." 1