We don’t always know why certain thoughts plant themselves in our consciousness, but lately for some reason one particular question keeps popping into mind: Just because we can, does it mean we should?
Think about it. Just because we have the freedom and the resources to do something, does it mean that we should do it?
The answer to that is a resounding “No.” Just because I can stand in the middle of an expressway doesn’t mean I should. Just because I can put some unknown substance into my mouth doesn’t mean I should. Just because I can blast myself with ear-drum destroying decibels doesn’t mean I should.
Yet, there is an endless list of things we do that run totally contrary to logic. We should not stand in an expressway yet we take terrible risks when we drive. We would not eat unknown substances yet we scarf down convenience foods and GMO products that are proven to cause obesity, high blood pressure, gastrointestinal irritation, cancer, and more. We do any number of things that permanently cause hearing loss.
These are among the more obvious things we do that are harmful. There are endless other subtle behavioral choices that do us great harm yet we do them anyway.
I was fussing with a small mending project in the family room one evening and tapped the remote for the television in hopes there might be something to watch while I worked. I was looking down at my task as one program concluded and another began. Then, idly, I glanced up just as someone dressed in medical scrubs described a person’s serious injuries as three or four others in similar hospital apparel, all gathered around the prone patient who was prepped for surgery. The person who had just outlined the situation, hidden behind a surgical mask, said “Let’s get started….scalpel please….”
I glanced down, then back at the screen expecting the team to be working in unison to save a life. But to my shock and absolute horror, the person with the scalpel was suddenly slaughtering everyone in the room. Bright red blood flowed across gleaming tile as sliced bodies lay twisted on the floor.
My reaction was sudden and intense as I began to cry, shaken to the core as I reached for the remote and shut the television off entirely.
This was prime time viewing on CBS, a major network channel. It was also not the old-days of “Bang bang you’re dead.” Fall to the ground. Spot of fake blood. Good guys arrive. Bad guy is caught.
This was not a pretend world of space aliens or action heroes. It was anywhere, any hospital USA. It was vivid, it was terrifying. It was as sick as sick can be and what was especially terrifying was that someone already experiencing warped cravings to harm others, someone with certain types of mental illness, or young, innocent children might have seen those seconds of horror.
Many people witnessing such portrayals cannot distinguish fact from fiction. Their minds are sponges and the media and ‘entertainment’ are using those minds to soak up poison.
During the night that night, my husband had to stir me from nightmares that gripped my mind and body.
But the worst horror of all is that supposedly educated, professional, responsible human beings choose to create this garbage and call it “entertainment.” They claim that because we live in a free country they have the right to do this and they are only doing it because we the people say we want it. But do we? Or have we become so mind-numbed, so conditioned to this filth that it takes more and more horror, disgust and detail to reach us emotionally? That too is frightening.
Just because we can create this does it mean we should? Absolutely not.
Just because we can watch it, does it mean we should. No.
Periodically, CBS airs its little touch-your-heart commercial accompanied by the sweet little message about how “CBS Cares.”
CBS cares all right. About ratings, about profit. And other major networks have the same motives right along with them.
Just because I can watch this garbage doesn’t mean I should. And I don’t.
Jan Corey Arnett©2017