Day: 2/26/08

Been kind of a slow few days for me. I have spent some of my time perusing various online comics, which I have added links to the ones I liked at the bottom of this page. To say there is a lot of unknown talent out there is an understatement. I makes me wonder how these artists and creative forces are so underutilized. I look at Hollywood and the movie and tv companies and think of how little innovation is out there. Remakes, redos, updates, sequels, and rip-offs seem to be what they are interested in making. For example, all these 'reality' shows. What part of reality are they living in? I don't know very many people that live or act on a normal basis in the manner these people portray themselves.

I do enjoy watching the game shows. Wheel of Fortune has been a long time favorite. I recall watching it for many years after school at my grandparents house. It was always fun and interesting to try to guess the puzzle before the contestants did. Another favorite is Jeopardy. Admittedly, I don't often get many right, but I get a few. I take quite a few stabs in the dark at the questions; sometimes I get lucky and get it right. I also use to enjoy Press Your Luck, the Whammy always was a treat to see even though the animations were, by today's standards, lack-luster.

Now, I was watching a newer show, Moment of Truth, this is not so much a game show, its more like a "lets see whose life we can F up this week" kind of deal. The lady that was 'playing' was sort of recently married, and her family and husband were on the show in a kind of 'family room' section. This show hooked the player up to a lie detector and asked a bunch of very personal and potentially damaging questions. Then, they all piled into the studio and the 'player' was reasked the questions in front of everyone and had to match her answers from earlier based on the lie detector results. By the end of her set of questions, she had admitted on tv that she was in love with an ex-boyfriend, thought she was married to the wrong guy, had cheated on her husband, and would leave him in a heartbeat for the ex if he asked. Ok, what part of that was a 'game'? Was the $50,000 worth destroying her marriage, her parent's faith in her, and her friends respect? I felt more like I was watching a sleazy daytime, or very late at night, talk show than a game show.

I had ranted before, elsewhere, about how it seems that today's society has gone to Hell in a handbasket when these kind of shows are considered entertainment. We are bombarded by an onslaught of shows, that degrade and demean people for the sake of money or some other form of 'reward'. In days past, shows had a message, gave life a meaning, or were morally upright in the least. I miss the days of Andy Griffith and Leave it to Beaver. Back in the days when people may fight over something, but in the end they worked out their differences and moved on, not dress up in drag and try to beat each other bloody on network tv. Our daily news is filled with scenes and stories of violent behavior, corruption, and general nastiness the world over. It is rare indeed to see a story of someone doing the right thing or of defusing a situation that could have gotten worse if the participants had not been of more moral character.

Are our standards so low? Do we want this to be how we are remembered when we leave this mortal coil? What kind of message are we sending to our children? We live in a world of violence and lacking in basic civility and morals. People don't seem to care if a few hundred people are killed a year per city. If you do the math out, that is thousands of people killed often for less reason than because they had a nice pair of shoes that someone else wanted but couldn't afford right away. Theft, murder, drugs, prostitution, violence, hatred seem to be what society peddles now. I fear for my own child, growing up in a world like this. How many temptations of wrong doing will he face in his life? How can one family stand against it all so that their children can grow up knowing right and wrong?

I look to what I believe and offer hope that I may pass on to my son understanding, tolerance, and faith so that he will be able to face the world honestly and be able to make decisions that are morally correct and of an upstanding citizen. I know the journey will not be easy, but I look at the stars and think that we will make it through.