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Nobody Knows How to Act Anymore
by Glenda
24 November 2003
Nobody knows how to act anymore because his only teacher is tv. -- Alex Linder
Our own Mr. Linder gave me that opening line, and I had no choice but to say, yes, Alex, you're right again.
I lament the passing of a time characterized by mutually fulfilled social expectations. Translation - you could expect people to act a certain way under certain circumstances which made everyday social interactions run smoothly, all parties involved knowing what was expected of them and doing it.
How did we know this? Our culture, through a million different lessons and cues all our lives, taught us how to act, interact, and react. We learned good from bad, acceptable from unacceptable, right from wrong, moral and just, to immoral and corrupt. The generation gap is becoming ever wider, as the youth of today are inexplicable to some of the older people. Our generational ties to our parents and extended family are more fragile, while choices in identity are falsely offered to our youth as a smorgasbord of oft bizarre "roles." Who knows how to act anymore? This is all part of the deconstruction of our culture. It fits together nicely, feeds upon itself, and hastens the downward spiral.
Now let's look at the loathsome television. Through it our children have been taught that aberrant behavior is acceptable, perhaps funny, from the time they are little tots. They are fed this for hours every week, seeing images of behavior which would be totally unacceptable in "normal" society. Their impressionable minds absorb this fare day after day, week after week, year after year. They see kids being rude, destructive, self-destructive, stupid, coarse, vulgar and out of control and too overtly sexual for their age. These actions and words are glamorized and treated as normal. Kids then take that and act it out, at school and at home. Instead of seeing people doing heroic or noble things, and being admired for it, they see the opposite. Reality TV shows encourage people to "rat" on one another and dupe each other in order to win. This is held up as being smart and desirable, just the thing to practice in real life....how to be a swindler, cheat, and liar. The swindler is thought to be simply smart or talented, JUST LIKE IN REAL-LIFE AMERICA TODAY.
The soaps and the bizarre talk shows focus on aberrant behavior, sexuality, perversions and immorality. Children see this, and often see their zoned-out, drugged-out parents watching it (Prozac, anyone?), which teaches them that it must be important. They see their parents doing things, just like in those programs. And you wonder why they are turning into zombies at best, monsters at worst?
Let me tell you, I have often said that I played by the rules but the rules changed. And they did. A perfect way to worm a culture of deceit into the fabric of our own has been by first being deceitful, teaching by example (deceit and swindling are laudable), congratulating the perpetrators, tearing down everything noble and decent and replacing it with alien standards: if you can get away with it, the bigger the swindle, the better. And if you're caught and you're in our camp, we'll go light and you'll still come out smelling like a rose. A few years later you will donate some of the millions you bilked from working class and middle class whites and have a library, medical building or cultural venue named after you. How nice.
Kids are taught by TV, and parents who don't like their behavior tolerate it, and continue to allow TV access to their children, with no adult supervision, sometimes 24/7. Want your kid watching stuff that's on late at night? Daytime and prime-time television is bad enough, throw in the filth at night, and you have a recipe for kids who are alienated, brain dead, receptive to drugs and indiscriminate sex, confused as to what they are and what they should do. Children of any age require, yes require, supervision and support and guidance. If you count on TV to teach them right from wrong and how to live their lives, you will have the kind of kid who will be confused and ineffective. The fact that your kid is being dumbed down and taught all the wrong things should worry you a great deal. In the end, children need to be shown their place in life, the promise of their future place in life, and given guidance to get there. Your role is to provide those things, including setting an example both in manners and in lifestyle preferences. Kids don't just need guidance, they actually feel more secure having it. They like it. Strong fathers and dependable mothers are the recipe for children with strength of character and decent morals, when warmth and love are thrown in.
I was in a store a couple days ago and heard a toddler, maybe three years old, calling his mother names. The mother told her son not to say those things, but obviously not in a very forceful and serious way because the child kept on doing it. I suspect the kid hears it on television and thinks it's the cool thing to do. Even kids as young as that pick up on attitudes and what is acceptable, and they will push the envelope. They see their parents laughing at things that should be reserved for adults, but the kids are there soaking it up, too.
Television is your worst enemy. It is the nearly PERFECT SINGLE METHOD OF DESTRUCTION OF CULTURAL VALUES AND NORMS! If you give it up you will find yourself realizing that there are better things in life than the fantasy world of television. You will find more and better time to spend with your family and friends. You will be healthier and happier. (Studies have been done demonstrating that, I kid you not.) If TV were controlled by benign forces, you could watch it some of the time, but it's not! It's alien and corrupting. Our men are fixated on the gladiatorial contests between alien peoples, and drugged with that, beer, and a fantasy of easy, implanted blondes. Our women are fixated on idiotic television shows and are literally drugged with Prozac and similar mood-altering products. Result? No one is happy.
Tune it out. Turn your back. Come back to "real life."
GLENDA
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