"A general dissolution of the principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy... While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but once they lose their virtue, they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader... If virtue and knowledge are diffused among the people , they will never be enslaved. This will be their great security." ~ Samuel Adams, Patriot of the American Revolution.
The need for ethical leadership is greater today than in 1776!
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If what Samuel Adams said is true, then we are a country that is in a lot of trouble. Emily Post and Miss Manners may have already been dying out in the modern world, but the Internet put the last nails in her coffin. Although this blog is very civilized, I do a lot of cruising through different blogs on the Net and the language and abuse present in so many of these forums is beyond appalling. The worst part is that I suspect many of the worst offenders are children.
ReplyDeleteHollywood has much to do with our culture going down. The entertainment business not only has an anti-Christian stance, fully backed by the Tom Cruise crowd at the Church of Scientology, but the images and music being marketed to the youth of this country are increasingly violent, profane and sexually explicit.
Movies like New Jack City started a wave of films that glorify the criminal/drug trafficker, and demonize the police and other authorities. We have so-called 'gangsta' rap music with the filthiest lyrics imaginable blaring from the windows of young people's cars. Songs that promote violence against society and women. Rape is strongly insinuated in this trash because, as these singers attest, they 'all want it' and if they say no you just have to 'push the point.'
The most pervasive and damaging influence, in my opinion, has been the entertainment industry. Just a few years ago, the TV waves were for the most part somewhat clean. Once the FCC lost control of that, though, it has been open season on morals and manners ever since. I have a close friend who is a psychologist. He traces it to the television show Roseanne which, as he puts it, 'sent the message to America that it was OK to live and behave like common trash.' Good point me makes.
Like Rome in its decline, we are a superpower that is going to be on the way out soon if we don't get a grip on our nation. I never in my life thought I could ever become a proponent of censorship, but when I look at the garbage being pushed as entertainment these days, I have had to change my mind on that one.
In America today, when anyone talks about the need for virtuous ethical leadership, it's like he's "speaking in unknown tongue" that no one understands. Virtue is like a foreign language to an average American child. It is heartbroken to see how fast a nation like ours can quickly diminish in glory and in power simply because of what we chose to promote.
ReplyDeleteI truly agree with the fact that Hollywood and or the entertainment industry is to be blame for these moral decadence. We all know what a powerful tool art (Music/theater) is in promoting culture. Unfortunately, we have chosen to use this tool wrongly in America. Hollywood commands a great crowd in America and its influence could have been channeled towards promoting the old moral excellent society American was known for, but instead Hollywood in America is the center of all moral decadence. They promote anything but the Godly heritage and virtue upon which America was founded. As Pat Buchanan wrote; “America began as a speck on the landscape of civilization, a seemingly god-forsaken people on the edge of the earth, as it were. But our ancestors possessed a secret. They clung tightly to a hidden hope, and a set of values that set them apart from other Europeans of their day. The hardships they faced, the struggles they endured, the sufferings they overcame -- are all known to history. But also known to history is their biblical influenced faith in God, their deeply rooted faith in the God who transplanted, that he would sustain”. The sorrow we share now concerning the moral aberration we are faced with in this country is simply a fulfillment of a biblical prophecy “Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.” (Psalm 16:4).
Individual responsibility is also an issue, but I will not go there; the society at large has a greater responsibility if our national heritage must reflect the kind of virtue we all crave.
The virtue we so claim as our heritage were only possible because our ancestor cherished biblical principles, but today, everything is permissible in America except whatever has the name of God in it. The Ten Commandment is a taboo in our schools. I think it is good that America now has a taste of what a “nation without God” looks like. We can compare the moral status of America prior to Hollywood versus what we now have.
But I pray the good Lord to help us and give us all a change of heart to see how far we have gone away from what is important-God.
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ReplyDeleteIt makes me sad to think about the state of the world by children will be living in. The US used to be the essense of freedom and liberty for the entire world - now I think we are becoming a joke. I also think that the media has a huge role in this. I don't understand why we are constantly placing our bad and humiliating news on national television for the entire world to see. Why don't we keep it inside? Does it make JFK any less of a good leader because he had affairs? Did Monica Lewinsky disrubt President Clinton's schedule? Not until he was plastered on the news and his impeachment was called for.
ReplyDeleteAnd we spend more time fighting over God. The Pledge of Allegiance does not say "One nation under the Christian God." It says "One nation under God." As Americans, we have the right to choose who our God is. That is an amazing gift that our forefathers gave us.
But overall, I think America is in a very scary place right now. Our people don't 100% support our President and the whole world knows. That puts us in danger.
-Sarah C.