reply to post by BBobb
While I appreciate the thought you put into your thesis, there's a general problem with your logic. So Miley Cyrus was a Disney youth; like Britney
Spears before her, Christina Aguilera and others, she began her career as a teenie bopper conforming to the moral behaviors expected for a girl of
that age, and, upon reaching adulthood, let loose her sexual side. Now, you seem to be arguing that Disney is behind all this. Seeing Disney has only
produced a handfull of pop-stars, they're obviously not engineering this cultural shift: the pop stars they do produce merely follow whats already
popular. Ok, so lets say Disney with a host of other media corporations is deliberately widening the cultural envelope, allowing what had been
"repressed" to become expressed. How is one to understand this?
In your opinion, this is a...
willful and purposeful design of malfeasance
So, are you saying these people are Satanists? Or, rather, from your perspective, it is "malfeasance", whereas from their perspective, it may just be
a difference in philosophy?
This is part of the problem we have between conservatives and liberals: we attribute false intentions to the other. Liberals are "trying to corrupt"
our youth, implying that they are trying to cause harm, instead of meaning to enhance the natural joys of living by challenging cultural premises
which aren't that morally obvious i.e. the need to bridle sexuality.
At the same time, I can find sympathy with your view; I think there is a "thin line" between the allowances we see today, and outright decadence. And
it's very easy to cross over to the other side.
The guise of innocence worn by these teen idols in the genesis of their careers is actually a Trojan Horse by which parents swing wide the gates and
allow complete entry into the homes and hearts of innocence found in the living and bedrooms of their susceptible and easily influenced children.
Yeah, that's simply not true. Kids who grew up watching Hanna Montana would be drawn into the mainstream culture
regardless of Miley Cyrus. The
allure already exists; there are thousands of other vectors which could entangle the minds of youths. It's not necessary to assume that Miley Cyrus is
somehow a stratagem of Disney to corrupt youth. Simply turn on the radio station, put it to MTV, or watch the plethora of possible TV shows, from
gossip girls, to pretty little liars, to who knows what else.
that resonates in their lives as a sort of “super-school” experience, where everyone marvels after the “it” girl and follows her comings and
goings as if scripture.
There is something nefarious about this. I find it ironic that while we work so hard to end bullying in schools, we have TV shows like 'pretty little
liars' and movies ad nauseum, that depict and damn near glorify the awesomeness of being popular.
So, we caught in the thicket, you could say. A Christian morality which is innately conservative and "iffy" and "tight-assed" about so many things,
would probably do a better job producing a child who would be more sensitive to kids in school, whereas this pagan ethic of lets have it both ways,
perhaps makes matters a bit ambivalent, a bit complicated, for our youth.
I'm not saying It can't be done. I personally like a little trash talk, nonsense, and debauchery once in awhile, but If I knew for certain that it was
causing more harm than good, it would be necessary for me to reign it in a little.
This cultural shift appears to me to be informed by Eastern philosophy; the dissolution of the ego - if that remains our highest concern - can allow
us to enjoy bits and pieces of both worlds. Miley Cyrus pre-puberty should be playful, goofy, sarcastic, silly - but not raunchy. That time of her
life, as for all kids growing up, should be a period of innocence. On the other hand, when we grow up, we begin experiencing our own innate sexuality.
Should we contain it? This is what the Hebrew scriptures advise.
As said, eastern spirituality seems to underlie much of the west's thinking with regard to our cultural evolution. The thinking may go like this: all
things physical can negative affect you; but if you become mindful of what you're doing, you can experience the energy of the physical without losing
awareness of the eternal now. If, for example, we raise a generation with this sort of cosmic awareness, morality would survive. Awareness of contexts
would help people determine what the right course of action would be; a TV show, a song on the radio - they're there for pumping you up, to make you
feel alive. But they needn't undermine your sense of right and wrong. A kid in school being constantly reminded by teachers and parents that bullying
is wrong, will have the awareness to resist the urge to bully. Hence, there will come a time when teaching awareness (whether that be through Yoga, or
some integralist system) will be a central tenet of our educational systems
edit on 29-8-2013 by Astrocyte because: (no reason given)