Popular culture is a
funhouse mirror reflection of society, distorted but real. When the most prominent people in society like the politicians and the Wall Street bankers have contempt for human life and dignity, that will bounce right back at us from popular culture. And children will listen.
This, by the way, is why Superman now breaks people's necks.
Look at the superheroes, at least in the movies. They used to reestablish
order in an orderly society. Now they're just trying to stave off utter
disaster in a collapsing society — the X-Men, Watchmen, the Dark Knight, the Lone
Ranger, Man of Steel, Pacific Rim, not to mention all the other films like World War Z and White House Down.
Matt Mattingly said, “I’m waiting for the trailer for a new video game called ‘Stand Your Ground’ where you follow unarmed black teenagers around and shoot them if they have a problem with it.”
This is also why American popular culture, like the reality shows, teaches that the way to get ahead is to seduce and betray people, and that the most common occupations are assassin and prostitute. It's another symptom of a culture in severe ethical erosion.
The cultural product we have an oversupply of right now, on all levels, is despair. What we need is credible, human hope, and by that I do not mean some politician's vague campaign slogan meant not to provide hope, but to cynically exploit ordinary Americans' desperate need for it.
Matt Mattingly said, “I’m waiting for the trailer for a new video game called ‘Stand Your Ground’ where you follow unarmed black teenagers around and shoot them if they have a problem with it.”
This is also why American popular culture, like the reality shows, teaches that the way to get ahead is to seduce and betray people, and that the most common occupations are assassin and prostitute. It's another symptom of a culture in severe ethical erosion.
The cultural product we have an oversupply of right now, on all levels, is despair. What we need is credible, human hope, and by that I do not mean some politician's vague campaign slogan meant not to provide hope, but to cynically exploit ordinary Americans' desperate need for it.
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