I’ve been thinking more on my experience with television and other media since my last message. The funny thing is, the stuff that’s presented as blatantly false by the media is usually harmless. Ideas of dragons, zombies, flying sharks propelled by tornadoes and such has never misled and done harm to myself or anyone I know. You may enjoy these ideas but you sure as hell won’t believe in them.
However ideas presented as normal that TV shows and movies don’t question, but simply leave as part of the background, can be very damaging. Some examples of such includes: all bad guys will lose and be punished somehow. The guy will always get the girl. All women are good natured and helpless. Everyone is equal and the same no matter what – except for certain minorities such as gay or black people, who are probably morally superior (can’t remember the last time, if ever, I’ve seen a black or gay villain on TV or in a movie. They are rare if they exist).
To use an example, I dated a certain girl long ago. When I told her that I rented a condo I owned out to a gay couple who had a dog, she immediately responded, “they sound like good people.” That statement surprised me. The girl has never met the couple and I have told her no other details about them except for what was listed above. For her to automatically think of them as morally good, it has to mean that she considers either owning dogs, or gayness as a sign of moral superiority. Knowing that the same girl has complained to me of neighbors who owned dogs that attacked her family’s cats, it pretty much eliminated dog ownership as a sign of moral uprightness in her worldview. So somehow to her, the idea that homosexuality indicates moral superiority got inside her head.
Funny thing is the gay couple who rented my condo turned out to have an unstable relationship. One broke the lease fairly early on and move out like a rat jumping off of a sinking ship. The other remained, but would down the line miss out on paying several months worth of rent, destroy the carpeting in the condo and eventually skip town without telling me or pay for any of the damages or late rent.
Advertising also have ideas from them that can rub off on you. Health insurance ads, with gentle guitar music playing, scenes of children running on grass and such. Car commercials too. Next thing you know, you’re convinced in your mind that there’s only one way to live a happy life, and that’s with a wife, three kids, and a big house with the perfect lawn in the suburbs. Oh, and you’re not a real man unless you own a Jeep.
The worst I’ve seen is one idea presented by sitcoms. For example the Simpsons. The family in the show may win the lottery or through some other happenstance become very rich. A series of misadventures would ensue, and the family would always lose every penny they’ve earned, but learn the value of family and each other. They never hold on to the money, and would always go back to the status quo. While this is fine in a TV show as it lets the show continue on the way it is, it’s a horribly poisonous idea to get inside your mind. I’ve known people who are convinced that they will never be rich, and that even if they become rich the money will just be gone anyway. When asked why they think that way, they would not even know, but would state that it’s just how it is. You tell them that they can learn, point them to resources on financial management, and they just look at you helplessly. They’ve somehow given up without even knowing why in part because of little ideas like this from the media that rubbed off on them.
Ideas are alive and contagious. Some are poison. An idea that is repeated to you hundreds of times will probably make it in your head. You’re in trouble when poisonous ideas make their way into your mind as sacred cows that you dare not touch or even know exist.
To further emphasize – “Watch your thoughts. They become words. Watch your words. They become deeds. Watch your deeds. They become habits. Watch your habits. They become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.” – Very nice quote and all. However if the thoughts in your head are not even your own, but just sewage from TV shows and advertising, you’re fucked.
You think you’re a loser? You think it’s normal to work in a job you hate for the rest of your life just like all your favorite sitcom main characters? It’s normal to have a borderline abusive spouse and 3 kids who don’t appreciate you, a little house in the suburbs and an old van? Maybe you don’t even think this, you know without doubt. If you do, then it’s probably what’s waiting for you. But aren’t you lucky? You bumped into this little article just now.
Keep some mental distance from the TV. Put some different ideas in your head. You’re strong. You’re handsome. You can get any shit you want done. Some superstitious and possibly insane fucker rambling about demons on the internet is a millionaire and retired in his early 30s. You can do even BETTER than that fucker.
Temple of Zagan 