Sinful Content in Western Entertainment and Media Industries

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I have become convinced that just about everything that can be viewed on TV has sinful content and themes. I strongly feel that 99% of westerners, or at least americans, carelessly watch this type of entertainment.

In my opinion, even the mainstream media these days is 95% entertainment, 5% newsworthy content, and in my opinion, contains sinful content and should probably be avoided. A perfect example of this is the extreme coverage on the death of Anna Nicole Smith, her affairs, possibility of 3 different fathers, drugs, sex, etcetera Vs. the lack of coverage on events that truly matter like the 4 million plus people that starve to death yearly by preventable hunger - sanctions, lack of aid, etc…

You cant even view “educational” TV channels like the Discovery, History, and Science channels anymore without opening yourself to viewing some form of sinful content.

How should I deal with this? Is watching this stuff on TV sinful even if you can mentally differentiate which parts are sin and which are not? I mean, certain television shows, movies and other media would always be sinful to watch any of them but what about borderline media/entertainment?

I am having alot of difficulty knowing what I can watch, what I cannot, etc. I am trying to be the best christian I can possibly be and do not want to offend God in any possible way. I have been a great sinner for most of my lifetime (I would say a greater sinner than even Saints Augustine, Fransis, or even Paul), and I desperately want to change my life and become a person that God can be proud of, instead of offended by.

Any help or advice on this would be welcome and links to article/website/documentation on this subject would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely Yours and God Bless You,

Steve

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P.S. Please Pray for Me as I am Having a Hard Time in Resisting Against All The Temptations that the devil has been throwing at me.
 
Steve,

My name is Steve too. You hit on a subject I alluded to in a recent thread I started here: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=133111

I agree with you to a large extent. We, in the West, have become a comedy-obsessed and entertainment-obsessed culture. The most popular “virtual societies” on the Internet are websites like YouTube and MySpace that are dominated by this culture. The most popular forms of music are quite tasteless and lack true artistry, while presenting no hope, and strangely enough, aimed mostly at young kids. The virtues of Humility, Simplicity, Holy Sobriety, Patience, Contemplation, Hope, Charity, etc. etc. are virtually absent while at the same time we exhalt self-glorification through arrogance, pride, dishonesty, showmanship, rivalry, vice, cruelty, and wickedness. Should I hide under a rock? Of course not. Am I pessimistic of life or of the future? Absolutely not! I’m very hopeful. I believe truth will prevail. Despite the devil’s constant reinventions to turn man away from God, man will see all the faults of each lie and forever be pulling toward the true light, God. It’s our responsiblity to make the presiding Light of all Truth known to man, we cannot be so selfish as to praise God on our own. As Plato says in Allegory of the Cave (I recommend the full version), “once enlightened [by the light of the sun], the freed prisoner of the cave would want to return to the cave to free ‘his fellow bondsmen’ from their darkness”. Therefore, no “hiding under rocks”. 😉

I will pray for you. Please pray for me.
 
There are several devout Catholics, some on this forum, who choose to throw out their televisions or use it only for movies that they feel are acceptable to watch. I do not share this opinion and probably will never give up my television or the shows I watch. However, if you feel this way about television and you have some valid points, perhaps this is the best option for you. Then you can devote your time to more spiritual things and what is important to being closer to God and a faithful Catholic. Everyone has their own ways to do this though. As I said, I personally am decensitized enough to the content on tv where it doesn’t bother me and I can legitimately defend why I can still watch what I do. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t think that a person can probably be much more spirtual and devout with more time focused on what matters in life if they elminate television.
 
I suggest you give up television for Lent, and then after Lent is over, reconsider what you should do about this problem. You may come to feel that you can be perfectly happy without at TV. 🙂
 
Haven’t watched TV for 6 years. Pulled the cable. Don’t miss is.

Anything I want on EWTN is available on the internet.
 
See, I believe that people are being decieved through the media and entertainment industry. I do not believe we have a truly free press. I believe that the vast majority of westerners, americans, catholics, etc are blind to the truth of what is going on in todays world.

For example, the official 9/11 theory is totally false and anyone who does just the slightest amount of research on it can figure it out. But they are blind.

Watch Loose Change 2E and
911 Mysteries

Now I am aware that I will be flamed for this view, but people can watch those videos and still remain blind. Or they blindly just follow what is told to them. It is truly scary.

Go ahead and flame me and remain blind. I do not admit to be able to see, as I am blind myself to the truth, but what we were told is a lie.

Dissagree with me? Get a million bucks then. Refute the physics involved in this billiard ball theory or prove the collapses could have been caused without explosives and win 1 of several million dollar challenges. These go unclaimed because basic physics cannot explain the collapses without them. Amazing that the US can slingshot satelites and spacecraft with the same physics around the moon or planets but noone can explain this.

Anyway…
 
I’m not going to flame you, but I will not stand by silently when it comes to this disgusting work entitled Loose Change. These people are liars who are profiting off of creating a false conspiracy theory and furthermore using the deaths of thousands to profit. It is disgusting, and I will not pretend to contain my contempt for it. Many, many claims that their video makes have been refuted. I doubt you hold a degree in physics, and I am sure the people who made these movies don’t hold one either. I don’t think they are architects or engineers either, so I really take no stock in what they say. Finally, it appears that you are the one holding preconceived notions that anyone who flames you (and therefore this idea) is blind. I am glad that you assume that you hold the definitive truth in the matter. Certainly that bias wouldn’t blind you at all. However, this has nothing to do with the subject at hand.

I think the you might just want to get rid of everything but basic cable. Also, I still think it would be helpful to give up TV over Lent.
 
good news you can live perfectly well without TV as I do for 6 months of the year in blissful peace and quiet when the TV addicts leave and take the set with them. you can get all the news and info you need elsewhere, like a computer with a good internet filter. From time to time I browse thru the TV listings on PPV offerings and movie channels for recent movies, and I have yet to see one I would pay for through satellite, let alone get in my car, drive to a cineplex, pay $12 and sit in a sticky seat for. I see perhaps one movie a year in a cinema–last was the Nativity Story.

As a parent, I strongly feel that if you bring this garbage into your home and expose your children to it you are guilty of child abuse. As Catholics, if we support the obscentity and lies of MSM by viewing it and supporting its sponsors, we are part of the problem and share the moral guilt of purveying it.

we have another thread on the conspiracy theory, could the loonies please stay over there.
 
As Christians we cannot just simply rely on getting nourishment from the media surrounding us. It’s the other way around: we are supposed to be the salt and light to the world. So instead of being pushed around passively and getting polluted by lousy media, we should be pushing back and influence the world around us. How? by insisting on our rights to decent shows and being critical of the programs fed by our cable TV and local stations. This is called consumer advocacy or lobbying or whatever is applicable. I’m sure there are NGOs in your every area- join them. Write your TV stations, advertising oversight agencies and local papers to tell them they’re doing a lousy job.
 
I agree with both Steves. I personally find that even while watching the few news/shows that are acceptable to me, the commercials are extremely pornographic and sinful. For a while now I’ve been watching almost exclusively EWTN. Sometimes I will watch the History Channel, like when they were showing Jesus of Nazareth for Christmas, and once in a while I’ll watch Foxnews, but the commercials make me sick.

I don’t know what we can do except keeping this garbage out of our homes.
 
Well…

Any one of the posters here (myself excluded) can exercise one of our great freedoms as Americans…
Freedom of Choice.

If you don’t like the programming - there’s a little button marked “ON/OFF” on your TV set. One push/twist, it’s ON, another push/twist it’s OFF.

Nobody is holding a gun to your head forcing you to watch the set. On the flip-side… nobody has appointed you as director of programming to the masses!

If you want news, subscribe to a daily paper. For the errant foul weather alert, spend $20 at Radio Shack for a weather alert radio.

The producers are airing what sells. TV is a business. The only exception is PBS - their budget comes from corporate sponsorship & public donation.
 
Jay2 said:
Well…

Any one of the posters here (myself excluded) can exercise one of our great freedoms as Americans…
Freedom of Choice.

If you don’t like the programming - there’s a little button marked “ON/OFF” on your TV set. One push/twist, it’s ON, another push/twist it’s OFF.

Nobody is holding a gun to your head forcing you to watch the set. On the flip-side… nobody has appointed you as director of programming to the masses!

If you want news, subscribe to a daily paper. For the errant foul weather alert, spend $20 at Radio Shack for a weather alert radio.

The producers are airing what sells. TV is a business. The only exception is PBS - their budget comes from corporate sponsorship & public donation.
Click to expand...
I completely agree with you. I, personally, love a lot of the modern tv shows. Desperate Housewives, Wife Swap, Grey’s Anatomy, Las Vegas, American Idol, etc. In fact, I think this is one of the better seasons yet!
 
I’ve been considering this myself. I barely watch anything, my TV viewing consists almost entirely of Fox News, unless I am ill. (I then end up laying on the couch with my family watching TV. I may be getting mono, if they turn on Friends, I can only pray that I will be able to muster the strength to stand up, walk to the next room, and get to the other couch. Watching Fox News, we’ve had Anna Nicole Smith, and PETA demonstrators stripping, over the past two days. The commercials on Animal Planet and Discovery channel are awful, those weight loss commercials… My family has Everybody Loves Raymond on, if they wouldn’t take the Lord’s name in vain multiple times an episode, I’d love it.
 
The only show that I really watch is Boston Legal. I know it promotes liberal propaganda, but I can’t resist Bill Shatner. He’s simply halarious (and the lone Republican!).
 
Jay2 said:
Well…

Any one of the posters here (myself excluded) can exercise one of our great freedoms as Americans…
Freedom of Choice.

If you don’t like the programming - there’s a little button marked “ON/OFF” on your TV set. One push/twist, it’s ON, another push/twist it’s OFF.

Nobody is holding a gun to your head forcing you to watch the set. On the flip-side… nobody has appointed you as director of programming to the masses!

If you want news, subscribe to a daily paper. For the errant foul weather alert, spend $20 at Radio Shack for a weather alert radio.

The producers are airing what sells. TV is a business. The only exception is PBS - their budget comes from corporate sponsorship & public donation.
Click to expand...
Freedom of choice does not limit us to the remote control buttons. We also have the choice to let our opinions be heard. The evils in this world stay there partly because no one bothered.
 
I agree, it’s disgusting. I cannot watch TV without the remote in hand, ready in case they get vulgar or dirty or too graphic or whatever my teens and preteens do not need to see or hear. It is hard to find programs that are not appealing to the lowest elements.

And this is part of our society’s growing away from its roots, from religion, from Chistianity, growing more secular, more leftleaning. I note that the March for Life, while attracting over 100,000 marchers got scant coverage, while the sparsely attended antiwar march got major space and news time. The leftish media is antiChristian, which is why Christians lean more and more right.
 
Freedom of choice does not limit us to the remote control buttons. We also have the choice to let our opinions be heard. The evils in this world stay there partly because no one bothered.
Click to expand...
You are correct… that is another of our freedoms…but I’ll re-state the fact that 99.9% of Television is a business, not a public service. They will air what gets viewership, and thus sells commercial sponsor spots.

With the myriad of “public access” & Cable/Satellite opportunities, why not start your own show/programming?

(There’s a disfunctional father & sons team that built a motorcycle - got some attention, and are now millionaires… Orange County Choppers)
 
Ahh, the old throw out the tv, its evil and everyone should live without it cause I am thread - #576 😃

The only station I would ban IS PBS, cuz I am tired of fund raising drives without me being allowed to vote for programming content, while CEOS of PBS stations get paid over $300,000 a year. Drop that figure to about $60 - 70,000, let me stop reading about PBS bigwigs misappropiating funds and one day I may take them seriously and make a donation…until then, I watch (when something good is on) guilt free because my tax dollars already go to fund it
 
CathCentrist said:
Ahh, the old throw out the tv, its evil and everyone should live without it cause I am thread - #576 😃
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You’ve noticed, huh? 😃 😃 And you only joined this forum five months ago!

There are plenty of shows without sinful content, but you have to know where to look for them. Being glued to the network channels won’t help. I haven’t regularly watched network TV in over 20 years. Most of the shows I watch could be called G-rated.
 
Jay2 said:
You are correct… that is another of our freedoms…but I’ll re-state the fact that 99.9% of Television is a business, not a public service. They will air what gets viewership, and thus sells commercial sponsor spots.

With the myriad of “public access” & Cable/Satellite opportunities, why not start your own show/programming?

(There’s a disfunctional father & sons team that built a motorcycle - got some attention, and are now millionaires… Orange County Choppers)
Click to expand...
LOL on that. I agree.
But let me just add on the issue about media being a business undertaking and not public service. All business depend on marketing studies that show who their customers are. They do anything to please this crowd and will stop doing anything that displeases them. We Christians are also customers. Therefore, all we need to do is be heard too and the rest will follow. One thing about America that is definitely world-class - the strength of public opinion to shape public policy and business strategy. Let’s use it.
 
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