Leaderboard

Came across a link relating the akashic records to the bible's Book of Life. Any thoughts?

My grandson was shocked and sorry to hear that the famous wrestler who went by the name "The Undertaker" had died. So were millions of other wrestling fans. The parodized version of this sport enjoys a large enthusiastic following on TV. Why? Because it is a chest-beating, macho exercise in violence, replete with body slams, head locks, fisticuffs and bloody noses. Making it even more compelling is that all of this mayhem is conducted within the context of a good guy versus the bad guy scenario. If this low brow choreographed foolishness isn't vicarious entertainment, then I don't know what is. It certainly makes a case for the impact of empathy To contend that watching and enjoying violence damages our psyche may be true. But to imply that those whose reject "violence as art" sanitize their sensibilities is debateable. People have daily encounters that vex them to the point where they wish they could get away with avenging the slings and arrows they are obliged to silently endure. But opting to repress their violent impulses, and the frustration caused by doing this can gradually manifest itself in other ways that contribute to personality dysfunctions. Women develop tension headaches; men become impotent in the bed. And pity all the poor cats whose owners come home and kick them after a work place humiliation has angered them. Meoooow. Think how much better off these uptight people would be if they'd watch a gangland character in the Boardwalk TV series shoot up a speakeasy! The message sent by the non-violent protests during the civil rights movement was that great sacrifice and will power are required to abstain from the natural desire to strike out at those who are abusing and mistreating you. Not doing so makes your cause noble and notable and brave because it is a sign of strength to refrain from doing what is the normal thing to do. It also exposes the aggressors as being uncivilized. H. Rap Brown, the notorious civil rights radical, once declared that "violence is as American as cherry pie." Indeed, America is a violent power hungry, war mongering nation. Not unlike the dynasties in Game of Thrones.

As with anything like this, there has to be a caveat. Violence in the adolescent mind is a completely different thing. I do agree though that porn, violence in movies and buffets (yep buffets) do satisfy the need to overindulge and that the overindulgence can be cathartic to those who live a day to day existence that doesn't include being creative in some fashion. I think we all have those violent tendencies that become very apparent when we are driving, or on hold with customer service. There is an underlying anger when we are crowded or forced to stand in lines. It's like the cut scene from a film where the person imagines gunning down everyone around them. Does watching these type of things decrease violence? Who knows and it's up for debate, but I think there is a limit to what type of violence is seen. The violence in the Human Caterpillar, Hostile, Saw 3 and on, snuff films, I think are all detrimental to the psyche and can push people over the edge. That type of violence is not the same as the HBO stuff which is comically gratuitous, but not quite horrifying. It is stunning (especially the Red Wedding!) but it is not repulsive and disturbing. HBO does a great job with creating the character and framing the violence in the context of that character.

I agree totally. Funny enough the decline of conscious Hip-Hop is a myth, but it is accepted because the mainstream is dominated by ignorance and party music. I was thinking about what happened in Hip-Hop yesterday and I've chalked it up to the movement to silence the 5%. In the late 80s and early 90s, Hip-Hop was dominated by lyrics founded on 5% philosophy. As the mainstream began to remove the ability for those emcees who brought consciousness to the artform the amount of emcees who are/were 5% decreased dramatically and so did the lyrical content. This is definitely a longer discussion, but I was wondering if anyone else saw this occur? By this I mean, the reduction of 5% in Hip-Hop coinciding with the decline of Hip-Hop. I just reread what I wrote and had to amend what I said a bit. The decline of conscious Hip-Hop is not a myth, it's reality when you compare the number of positive artists in the mainstream in 1990 vs today. I just added this to my social group as well. I'm going to start doing that a lot more and maybe it will improve the search qualities.