How much immorality is too much?

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In books, movies, television shows, video games, etc., how much immoral behavior, graphic sex, graphic violence, or blasphemy should be tolerated for the sake of what is good there?

Does it make a difference if the immorality is condemned or supported in the work?

Some examples:
Another thread talked about the Stieg Larrson books of which I think the first one had too much of the “bad stuff” to make me want to read the others in spite of what I liked about it.

My DH likes to watch South Park and Family Guy b/c of the humor in these shows. I find parts of them very funny also, but the blasphemy of the 1st show and the raunchy humor and blasphemy of the 2nd are too much in my opinion to support them.

I do watch and like The Daily Show and the Colbert Report however and see their occasional religious humor as often making a valid point. But sometimes they go too far also, IMO.

What do you all think?
 
smswife said:
In books, movies, television shows, video games, etc., how much immoral behavior, graphic sex, graphic violence, or blasphemy should be tolerated for the sake of what is good there?

Does it make a difference if the immorality is condemned or supported in the work?

Some examples:
Another thread talked about the Stieg Larrson books of which I think the first one had too much of the “bad stuff” to make me want to read the others in spite of what I liked about it.

My DH likes to watch South Park and Family Guy b/c of the humor in these shows. I find parts of them very funny also, but the blasphemy of the 1st show and the raunchy humor and blasphemy of the 2nd are too much in my opinion to support them.

I do watch and like The Daily Show and the Colbert Report however and see their occasional religious humor as often making a valid point. But sometimes they go too far also, IMO.

What do you all think?
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Our family has limited TV time to EWTN. If it isn’t Catholic based we don’t watch it. I have a hard time watching Fox News anymore due to the sexualization of the news.
Once in a while we watch something on the History Channel or Nat Geo, but that is the extent of our TV viewing.
Reading is the same way.
 
smswife said:
In books, movies, television shows, video games, etc., how much immoral behavior, graphic sex, graphic violence, or blasphemy should be tolerated for the sake of what is good there?

Does it make a difference if the immorality is condemned or supported in the work?

Some examples:
Another thread talked about the Stieg Larrson books of which I think the first one had too much of the “bad stuff” to make me want to read the others in spite of what I liked about it.

My DH likes to watch South Park and Family Guy b/c of the humor in these shows. I find parts of them very funny also, but the blasphemy of the 1st show and the raunchy humor and blasphemy of the 2nd are too much in my opinion to support them.

I do watch and like The Daily Show and the Colbert Report however and see their occasional religious humor as often making a valid point. But sometimes they go too far also, IMO.

What do you all think?
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Isn’t that like asking ‘How much poison is too much?’

I think a reasonable person can get a gut feeling whether a classic good-versus-evil story is glamourizing the evil. And that includes an awful lot of what’s out there these days.
 
It’s not a zero sum game where if the slightest thing is offensive you turn it off and run away screaming.

You might feel better about yourself if you do nothing but drink milk and cookies all day singing religious songs, but there is a point where you have to connect with the world, if nothing else, then to be able to talk to other people who may not share your values. No, that doesn’t mean take a bath in the filth and don’t turn anything off thats offensive, but it does mean that you have to be aware of what’s going on in the world, and there is nothing wrong with laughing and having fun.
 
Good question. I find that many network shows I just can’t watch anymore. I was talking about this just this morning with my sister and she said the same thing. We also agreed that we seem to listen more and more to Catholic radio.
 
Enigmaspot said:
Good question. I find that many network shows I just can’t watch anymore. I was talking about this just this morning with my sister and she said the same thing. We also agreed that we seem to listen more and more to Catholic radio.
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EWTN Radio is awesome. 😃
 
Rascalking said:
It’s not a zero sum game where if the slightest thing is offensive you turn it off and run away screaming.

You might feel better about yourself if you do nothing but drink milk and cookies all day singing religious songs, but there is a point where you have to connect with the world, if nothing else, then to be able to talk to other people who may not share your values. No, that doesn’t mean take a bath in the filth and don’t turn anything off thats offensive, but it does mean that you have to be aware of what’s going on in the world, and there is nothing wrong with laughing and having fun.
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I don’t know the average age of people on this forum, butback when this country was a decent and moral nation, you’d have been thrown in jail, and rightfully so, if you dared to air nine-tenths of what passes for entertainment these days.
 
Sailor_Kenshin said:
I don’t know the average age of people on this forum, butback when this country was a decent and moral nation, you’d have been thrown in jail, and rightfully so, if you dared to air nine-tenths of what passes for entertainment these days.
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27 years of age. 😃
 
How much poison is too much?

1950s and 1960s. There were words that could not be said on television. Yes, those words. The same words that George Carlin made a big deal about in his act “Those Words You Can’t Say On Television.”

You would never see a raunchy comedian. There would be no Chris Rock or Cedric the Entertainer or Louis Black or Bill Maher.
  1. Keep your radio tuned to a Catholic station.
  2. Get your news from a newspaper. Generally speaking, you will not be bombarded by sexual material but avoid the advice columns. In a recent Detroit News column, a husband was advised to consider adultery in light of his “loveless” marriage. That’s how bad it’s gotten.
  3. Avoid 99% of what’s on TV. If they are going to make TV shows about lovable serial killers - does that tell you something? (Dexter)
Or how about a show about a semi-attractive female doctor who drinks and picks up a man at a bar for anonymous sex? Where the oddball character is a married woman who has a baby with her own husband! Strange for TV? I know. (Grey’s Anatomy)

And let’s not forget her friend who is 100% lacking in human compassion but is fornicating with a fellow doctor. This in an era of HIV/AIDS. Oh yeah.
  1. Computer games? I was recently shown one where a character pauses to have an off-screen sexual encounter with a woman he just passed. And the purpose of this is what?
  2. Magazines? Anything with a woman wearing next to nothing on the cover. Anything. And if they think it’s OK to put similar images on guitar magazines - dump those too.
For now, Popular Science and Popular Mechanics are OK.
  1. The internet? Hoo boy. Where to start?
  2. Books? Sad to say, I’ve had to throw a few in the trash recently, and I’m a big reader. It seems that it’s OK now to add pointless sexual references to historical books. In one case, about half the book.
Hope this helps,
Ed
 
Oh, and Family Guy. Listen to the words in the opening song about “those values on which we used to rely.” What values? Christian values – which they spit on.

Jesus appears in one episode, is recognized but denies he is Jesus. Then Peter takes Jesus home and Jesus grants a lewd request from Peter. There was another episode where Peter abandons his family after being injected with the ‘gay gene.’

South Park is absolutely terrible. In one episode, a little girl walks up to her teacher and says, “Stay away from my man, *itch!” These programs are not suitable for kids or adults.

God bless,
Ed
 
edwest2 said:
Oh, and Family Guy. Listen to the words in the opening song about “those values on which we used to rely.” What values? Christian values – which they spit on.

Jesus appears in one episode, is recognized but denies he is Jesus. Then Peter takes Jesus home and Jesus grants a lewd request from Peter. There was another episode where Peter abandons his family after being injected with the ‘gay gene.’

South Park is absolutely terrible. In one episode, a little girl walks up to her teacher and says, “Stay away from my man, *itch!” These programs are not suitable for kids or adults.

God bless,
Ed
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Amen to that. 👍
 
Sailor_Kenshin said:
I don’t know the average age of people on this forum, butback when this country was a decent and moral nation, you’d have been thrown in jail, and rightfully so, if you dared to air nine-tenths of what passes for entertainment these days.
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This country is still a decent and moral nation, thank you. If you don’t like it, feel free to move away.

Yes, you can condemn an entire country because of some rubbish that certain people produce. Sorry, doesn’t work that way. It’s still the greatest country in the history of the world.

Instead of all this complaining, why not more creating? Why not more embracing the beauty out there (yes, there is plenty) instead of just saying how good it used to be?

I ask out of genuine interest. I’ve never understood people who complain and then don’t do anything about the situations they complain about.
 
Maybe you should forgo spending money on the luxury of cable as many others do.
 
Rascalking said:
Are you aware your bashing the internet while on…the internet? 😉
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Yep. Like all manmade endeavors, the internet has potential for good and evil. Right now, some people are using it for evil. Catholics should call it like it is.

God bless,
Ed
 
Rascalking said:
This country is still a decent and moral nation, thank you. If you don’t like it, feel free to move away.

Yes, you can condemn an entire country because of some rubbish that certain people produce. Sorry, doesn’t work that way. It’s still the greatest country in the history of the world.

Instead of all this complaining, why not more creating? Why not more embracing the beauty out there (yes, there is plenty) instead of just saying how good it used to be?

I ask out of genuine interest. I’ve never understood people who complain and then don’t do anything about the situations they complain about.
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One thing to do is to complain and explain. There was a time when Christian values were more appreciated and more widely practiced. I lived it. No, this is not to be confused with perfect. I was aware of the crime. The point is, today, the spread of pornography, for example, is considered a serious problem by the Church.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Catholics were taught to be modest in speech and dress, to avoid lewd magazines, and to shun divorce. Today, we have the 180 degree opposite. Pornographers who sold their wares in seedy places and literally person to person decided to open adult bookstore, topless bars and strip clubs in our neighborhoods in the 1970s to convince us to roll in the same mud they did. Oh we complained alright. And what did we get? “Shut up! Mind your own business! We have the First Amendment right and we’ve got high priced lawyers to fight you people!”

Most of my friends are artists and writers. I work for a very creative company and we promote Traditional Family Values by the way.

Peace,
Ed
 
edwest2 said:
One thing to do is to complain and explain. There was a time when Christian values were more appreciated and more widely practiced. I lived it. No, this is not to be confused with perfect. I was aware of the crime. The point is, today, the spread of pornography, for example, is considered a serious problem by the Church.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Catholics were taught to be modest in speech and dress, to avoid lewd magazines, and to shun divorce. Today, we have the 180 degree opposite. Pornographers who sold their wares in seedy places and literally person to person decided to open adult bookstore, topless bars and strip clubs in our neighborhoods in the 1970s to convince us to roll in the same mud they did. Oh we complained alright. And what did we get? “Shut up! Mind your own business! We have the First Amendment right and we’ve got high priced lawyers to fight you people!”

Most of my friends are artists and writers. I work for a very creative company and we promote Traditional Family Values by the way.

Peace,
Ed
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No where in your list of horrors was the outrage of the scandals the faithful endured.
The lack of nuns in the schools.
The lack of Jesuits in Jesuit schools.
The collapse of the church worldwide.
 
edwest2 said:
Most of my friends are artists and writers. I work for a very creative company and we promote Traditional Family Values by the way.

Ed
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Great! That’s fantastic my friend. Alot of my friends are artists of one type or another as well.

And I’ve noticed, you switched your sign off from “God Bless” to “Peace” are you trying to tell me something? 😉
 
Rascalking said:
This country is still a decent and moral nation, thank you. If you don’t like it, feel free to move away.

Yes, you can condemn an entire country because of some rubbish that certain people produce. Sorry, doesn’t work that way. It’s still the greatest country in the history of the world.

Instead of all this complaining, why not more creating? Why not more embracing the beauty out there (yes, there is plenty) instead of just saying how good it used to be?

I ask out of genuine interest. I’ve never understood people who complain and then don’t do anything about the situations they complain about.
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I agree with Rascalking. We have never had more clean, decent, quality movies than we do today. “Secretariat”? Has anybody seen this clean, family-oriented horse racing movie? It’s still showing in theaters. Most of these decent films have to go straight-to-video because they tank at the box office because nobody goes to see them in theaters. Sad.

We’ve never had it so good as we have it today. I’d hate to live in the 1950’s and 1960’s, with the constant fear of “duck and cover” and people dying earlier because there were no vaccines. I’d hate to live in a society where “patriotic” groups like the DAR discriminated against legendary artists. I’d hate to live in a society that had not yet added “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance (it wasn’t always part of the pledge.) Don’t be deceived by the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia: the ‘good old days’ are today, in 2010. 👍
 
I couldn’t tell you what is on network tv. I watch the History Channel and sports. I occasionally watch FOX or the Simpson’s. But I find that TV has become sophmoric and predictable. I tried DWTS and found that boring and gossipy. Even the local news I find grating. My wife is now watching the Hallmark Channel and I’ll sometimes watch it.

kill your TV
 
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