The west is dominated by the Christian religion - a religion that teaches, both actively and passively, that acts of violence are preferred over acts of love or pleasure. Not only is this apparent in the bible, where the righteous feel justified in smiting the wicked (and it is actively encouraged by their God), but it is also apparent in everyday life.
Why, for example, is nudity frowned upon so strongly by 'good' Christians? After all, God did not give us clothes, those were only inventions we made for ourselves for protection from the world after God kicked us out of Eden. As far as I can see, nowhere in the bible does it actually state that nudity is bad or immoral or evil. Sure it said that we knew our shame - but what does that really mean, and might it not just be another form of punishment by the vengeful God? Why do parents 'protect' their children from what is natural and wholesome? It makes no sense to me. The human body is beautiful - and even those that aren't so beautiful :) are still natural, far more natural than draping ourselves in polyester, nylon or some other man-made material! This entire 'shameful' thing is largely the cause of our unwholesome attitudes towards nudity and sex when we get older.
Another thing: our society allows acts of great and vicious violence to be shown in movies and on TV. Sure, one can argue that there are ratings to prevent youngsters from viewing them, but how many people really believe that a 10-year old kid has not scene far more acts of bloody, brutal violence than any person need see in their life. So, why is it that such strong violence can be shown on TV or in movies with only an occassional quiet murmur of 'too much violence in entertainment' while a single act of minor nudity (witness the Janet Jackson event at the superbowl) causes mass histeria and shouts of 'disgusting'! And why can scenes of great violence be shown to almost anyone, while there would be a public outcry over showing explicit scenes of love. Why do videos of explicit sex carry much, much higher restrictions than any act of gruesome violence ever filmed? Why do we prefer to show our children acts of destruction over acts of love or pleasure? Why are we more afraid that our children will commit acts of love than acts of violence (would you rather your child get in a fight or make-out with their favourite member of the opposite sex?). Why do we fear pleasure and love more than violence and hate? With the proper education, love and sex can be thought of in a very healthy way, we can teach our children to respect each other and express their healthy feelings of love more contstructively. Instead, we fear it, fear these feelings. We repress them, we teach our children to hide them, to mistrust and fear them until anything healthy is long lost. Therefore, is it any wonder that the world is growing more violent. More violent and new wars and death in the last 6 years (since the return of the right-wing and consequently the religious right in the US) than in a long time before, also, for any who watch, even acts of pleasure (read: pornography) have become more violent during the same period with the rise of particulary hash forms of oral sex.
If there is one truism in the world, it is that violence breeds violence - and we are breeding it like rabbits!
Void Surfer
