On August 28 2012 19:46 EnE wrote:
I think that, if this encourages more people to read the bible, that'd be interesting to see how it raises the number of Atheists in the United States, since, statistically, atheists have obviously read a lot more of the Bible.
@Above: The sad fact is, whether your kid is truly raised by pop culture, etc, comes to factors behind your control. To be frank, as proved by Milgrim's experiments, most human beings are idiots. I.E: We're mostly dumbasses, our society only got this far on the backs of the intelligent ones and in spite of the majority of us.
This is why religion is so prominent and why the political landscape is getting more and more bad and corrupt and mainstream media is becoming more of a bitch. And it won't stop anytime soon, because human beings aren't going to be getting any smarter.
You either defer to authority (and therefore, respond to propaganda) or you're intelligent (the minority of people). And though raising can have a large impact on that, you can't stop propaganda raising kids, you can just hope that your kid is in the top 20%.
Raises an interesting thought. I have thought quite a bit about what the importance of everyone's opinions are.
Ultimately, in short, I think that the opinion of every human being (even if they aren't a genius) is as important as the next. While the people at the top of the pyramid (intelligence-wise) may not follow this advice, it should be respected. The social aspect of being human and respecting others is something that many people (regardless of background) forget a lot of the time usually due to some misguided sense of importance.
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On August 28 2012 19:27 bITt.mAN wrote:ScumbagShow nested quote +BUT FOR THE UNIVERSE'S SAKE (see what I did there?^^), please don't expose children to your "faith".
Don't brainwash and scare kids into believing that stuff. They should be able to decide whether to believe or not and what when they are 18+
Kids watch this stuff and might actually join in your loss of reality.
If this shows airs past 11pm, I don't care. As long a kids get brainwashed and indoctrinated, I will fight this shit with whatever energy I have left. + Show Spoiler [TV indoctrinates you too] +When you believe something is right, and you live accordingly to that, it will show. Obvious. The problem is that no matter what opinion you hold, when you live in that and present that, people will have to interact with that opinion. Take the very topical example of "its ok to do absolutely everything, stupid, yucky, nasty stuff to get money."
We have a scumbag society, that says its neutral, its free, liberal, non-defining, and lets you think whatever you want to think. Its a scumbag society because that isn't actually the case. Lots of people are brought up with lots of TV. TV is not an evil thing in itself, I'm just using it as an example of a prominent source of popular media.
"The TV doesn't teach me what to believe and value, its just there for my entertainment". Nope. Its setting examples for moral values and expectations all over the place; game shows are quite guilty for the above one (even down to silly ones like Fear Factor). TV packages these messages as 'something you want' 'something you need' and 'something that is right and worth watching more of'. When kids are left in front of the TV, THEY ARE "brainwashed and indoctrinated" to accept those values, because the TV teaches them that they are OK. Except you seem to not want to acknowledge it, because the values the TV sprouts are likely also largely your own. They're so 'normal' people don't notice that they are being conformed to believing them.
Our generation had it much more than the last, and I'm quite concerned about the next generation, cause now they haven't only got the TV to rot their brains be their nannys, but they've got all sorts of shit THE INTERNET can offer. They are too young to discern what is good, right, worth seeking, and what is wrong, disgusting, damaging and potentially scarring. That is precisely why you have parents and parental guidance, because its the parent's responsibility to raise and guide their kids, to teach them how to tell between those two, to help them grow into wise, discerning adults.
There's no way you could keep a kid off the internet till he's 18+, and I believe the internet has lots of stuff that is so horrid NO ONE should see it. The kid's got to learn how to think for themselves, and to recognize when something is seriously wrong and screwed up, and that they should change the channel to not mess themselves up. But with more and more absent parents (TV = nanny) that sort of intensive parenting, and "leading/teaching them to walk in the ways of righteousness" is plummeting. The popular media, with TV as its historic main outlet (but now internet more and more) does the job of parenting instead. IT teaches them what is a good value, and what is wrong.
OK, there have been lots of 'Christians' with a track record of being too overbearing, and teaching/enforcing rules (legalism) rather than really growing people and developping them (relationship [with God]). You're scarred by that; it’s also a pretty big stereotype, but my experience in the US, sadly it is still a notable reality.
What I'm trying to demonstrate is that regardless, ([y]our) kids will be taught by someone. Don't be deluded, [y]our kids will be "brainwashed and indoctrinated" i.e. raised. Someone or something will teach them what to value, what to seek, what it is that gives satisfaction. The TV already does that indoctrination (into today’s culture) to lots of kids. What I'm saying is I refuse to leave it up to [insert moral authority, e.g. for me ‘Pop culture’] to teach my kids what's right and wrong, I won't let it pump my kids full of the crap it worships. This may sound like I’m on the precisely opposite, but parallel, side of the dichotomy. Scumbag you sound like the sort of person who would blanket insert a vague and ill-defined ‘religion’ into that space.Hypothetically in the future when I must choose a TV show to watch with the kids, I will at least make sure to put on something that doesn’t shove misguided, foolish values down our throats. The point is, discern the values that it promotes and teaches, be it secular or not. You wouldn’t want a kids cartoon to have an episode about lying, and how its fun to lie (or steal, or be really greedy etc) and how that’s all OK. That would be teaching them bad stuff. If I had to pick a game show to watch as a family, I would pick one that teaches/supports/lives by ‘good stuff’ (not saying all TV teaches that, but the idea is 'chose which values to tolerate in your relaxation entertainment'). To me, setting the example of ‘giving the winnings away’ is setting (and teaching) a good example. I’m not some crazy fundyy who would go “OMG ‘Bible’, we’ve GOT to watch this” (actually, if it’s on mainstream TV, absolutely q: ) , but from what I’ve read and researched this show teaches good values. It can still have benefit as far as the values it promotes, even if it is a ~Christian~ show. Ironically the liberals wouldn’t be nearly as frisked if it was on Buddhism or something. And also, please seriously consider if your allegations about the extent this show forces THA BIBLE OMG JESUS JESUS onto you. Its really not that bad, its a family comedy show for Pete’s sake.
Religion doesn't have a monopoly on morals.
What religion does have is a license to switch off your brain and swallow/believe everything they feed you.
Also it just scares kids into believing. "You have to believe in god and be good, or else you will end up in hell."
Of course you shouldn't let your kids watch "Mad Max" when they're little. The majority of kids TV shows have a moral at the end, which is a good thing. As long as this show doesn't limit morals to religion.
I might have overreacted in terms of this one show, because I didn't see it yet and I just assumed it was portraying the bible as the one answer to everything (and this assumption is not too far fetched, as the majority of religious shows etc. promote this kind of thinking [or rather this kind of not thinking]). If it doesn't do any of that stuff and just treats the bible as the badly written fiction it is, I'm fine with it.
Your post - which between the lines says "as long as my kids learn good values I don't give a shit what nonsense they believe" - is pretty much the opposite of how I think about religion.
However, I don't think this is the thread to talk about that. If you want to know more about why it is so very important to shield our kids from faith shoot me a PM. I can give you a ton of good book recommendations, links and documentaries (and I'm not talking about the 0815 Dawkins/Hitchens stuff).
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