Swinging Pendulum
When my parents grew up, they watched the Mickey Mouse Club and Howdy Doody. Today’s kids watch MTV and “Sex and the City”. I was watching the MTV Movie Awards and I noticed how much sex and vulgar content it had. The Osbournes have made it cool to curse. Even Gollum got in the act during his acceptance speech with a foul mouth. And the latest band craze, two lesbian Russian girls named TATU performed with schoolgirl stand-ins who stripped to their underwear and kissed each other.
Are we being brain-washed? Each wave pushes further out what is acceptable, and we grow numb to what we hear and see. When I first saw Christina Aguilera’s “Dirrty” video, I was actually shocked to see her thrusting around in panties and chaps. After I got over the shock, I was like, yeh, I can dig this. Another time, I was grooving to an Eminem track I like, and then I decided to listen to the lyrics. Whoa, a little hateful and violent. Is this the right message for kids?
How far do things have to go before the pendulum swings back the other way? Have other civilizations in history become so decadent and then recovered, or have they collapsed? Geez, maybe things aren’t so bad and this is just a sign that I am getting old.