Part One: Culture Crap

I have said it before and I'll say it again: "they" are out to turn "us" all into mind-controlled zombies, through TV, print media, movies, vidoes, radio, art, music, books, Internet--you name it. "They" are the behavioral theorists, behavioral scientitsts, and psycho-shrinks in the service to the power elites--whether it be governments, the arts or the entertainment industry (beginning with Tavistock and sensitivity training. See this article).

But just who the hell is "us"?

This is the "us" I refer to: anyone who is allowing themselves to be controlled this way. Unfortunately, most folks in Western culture (folks in Third World cultures have other things to worry about, like surviving to the next meal!) are in this group. This "us" doesn't have to be controlled but"we" want to be, because the alternative--shunning and ostracism ("What? You're 12 and you don't listen to rock music? What a geek!"--yep, my 12-year-old son was told this!)--is untenable and unthinkable. After all, most folks have never been shunned. Most folks have conformed to something, some group or other, in order not to be some kind of outcast or other, left behind, outside the box.

Most folks blame Hollywood, the fashion industry, the advertizing industry, Washington D.C. and the East (and West) Coast culture elites (and their helpmates in academia) for the crap in our culture. The thing is, though it usually starts there, it doesn't have to end "here", in the hearts and minds of the masses, the proverbial "us". What starts in Hollyweird can end there, if only folks had the chutzpah (my Jewish readers: did I spell this correctly?), the "things between a man's legs" to say no or at least monitor and critique that crap that comes into our homes?

Also, BTW, the "anti-crap". For instance, about a year or so ago all sorts of Christians for profit (guys like Jerry Falwell, for instance) were railing on about the Harry Potter books, about how "Satanic" they were. Good God, the creep almost had me convinced! Then I ran into a Christian homeschooling mother while we were watching the kids in a karate tournament who had first screened the first Potter book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, then, deciding it was not Satanic but fun to read, let her kids read it. Yeh, she heard all those pronouncements about the evil Potter as well, but instead of letting those moral-majority-superior-dance-types tell her what to do, she actually thought for herself. It turns out the Potter books are no more Satanic than CS Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series--sold in Christian bookstores everywhere!

Well, folks, that's what we need more of--critical thinking (the real kind, not the Benjamine Bloome-politically correct kind)--to defeat the culture crappers on the left and right, the sanctimonious as well as the sin-spinners.

All folks, just because they live, for goodness sakes, have to put up with some kind of peer pressure. But the folks who have lived at least a part of their lives saying "no" to conformity tend to adjust better to not having the herd dictate to them what entertainment and culture they imbibe.

You young folks: do you just have to love N'Sync? (My kids call them N'Stink.) I will never forget, having screamed my head off at the Beatles just like everyone else my age back in 1964-65, being so damned disappointed that the Fab Four were never what they were cracked up to be--I can think of many, many rock bands with far more talent and better music--and, God bless 'em, a lot less bullshit activism--than those idiots from Liverpool, who couldn't play their instruments, couldn't sing, and couldn't write music for years after they made it (Don't believe it? Then read this article). And what's the big deal about Britney Spears? Madonna, and, yes, Marilyn Monroe, had it and have all over this little ass-pusher on steriods--NOT!

You couch potatoes: while there is very little hope for you Homer Simpson types (and yes, The Simpsons is one of my fave shows), I have some suggestions: get another job in the evenings, play sports with your kids instead of watching them (pretend you have your own little XFL or your own "survivor" show--no, your own "temptation island" won't work here!), say "D'oh!" a thousand times until you are sick of hearing it, play a board game or have a "Family Game night" (no, Milton Bradley is not paying me to say that!), get some pet poop together in a ball and pretend you have your own Mr. Hankey (okay, okay, don't do this!)...the possibilities are endless.

You teenage girls who think you are "too fat": Considering starving yourself or binging, then vomiting? Then let's discuss or chat about it by clicking here. As one who used to be bulimic, I must say DON'T DO IT! Don't let the likes of Calista Flockhart fool you into thinking that not having breasts or menstrual periods or that a bony but hairy body is cool.

You boys who wanna be rock stars: Well, if you feel like dying at age 25 or living to be 50 but feeling like 80 (seen Mick Jagger lately? He looks 100!), then be my guest. Guess what? All that money you'll have isn't really yours, and if it is, you still can't take it with you when you die prematurely.

You folks who HATE because it's "okay": So, it's "in" to hate Christians, heterosexuals, white men, traditionalist women, Boy Scouts, conservatives, people of faith (including Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Buddhists, etc.), Southerners, private property owners, free-thinkers, non-conformists and the rest of us politically incorrect? Then read my editorial in this issue! PLEASE!

More next time! In the meantime, take responsibility for your entertainment!