Anyways, I’m not here to bash people but to simply be a part of a process which brings enlightenment. I may @ times blur the lines as I tend to get upset regarding the direction our world is going in (I’m only human just like you) -and the influence it is having on children who don’t have the necessary perspective, life-experience, proper guardianship to distinguish various messages coming out of our world these days. It doesn’t take much to condition (convince) a child that something very wrong isn’t, or isn’t “that bad” as long as… especially if it brings pleasure and other positive emotions (how can it be wrong, or bad)*.
*I envision a future, where people are engaging in same-sex intercourse not because of feelings stirred within them from a very early age, but because of the examples being set by the adults around them. Gangs, drug-abuse, alcohol consumption (we live in a world that demands rigorous coping and life skills -humans are often predispositioned, if not conditioned to seek an easy way out. Or worse yet, where a lack of adequate skills and defenses are evident -people will latch on to whatever happens to be available around them (whether they just happen to be their, or are purposefully put there @ a price… or based upon some other hidden agenda). ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE PASSED ON FROM GENERATION-TO-GENERATION. In fact, the drug dealers are counting on it, the cigarette industry is counting on it, and the alcohol industry is counting on it. Most people consume alcohol while only 10% are alcoholics -they do so for the aforementioned reasons which I will reiterate here**:
•Conditioning
•Peer pressure
•Social Lubricant
•Americana (a part of the cultural landscape)
•Escape
•Coping tool…
**And you can replace alcohol with any number of things, food, credit cards, cocaine, sex with your dog… and no offense Daisy, work…***
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You know, if I was the head of a multi-million dollar industry that I knew was causing great great harm to millions of people… And don’t give me that shit about people being responsible for their own choices (for some people the worst thing that can happen to them is too much freedom; and a close second is… too much money!)… while spending millions of dollars in campaigns to push your product. And in the back your mind, or the forefront of it, “today’s child observing their parents, and all-the-while being continually bombarded by ads (glamourizing)… are tomorrow’s (next) best customers!” Whatever you put in front of a child, a certain percentage will gravitate to it -or be affected by it in other areas of their decision-making.
I’m fairly certain there’s rock solid empirical evidence regarding influences on children -historical as well as contemporary! And I’m quite sure I’m not alone in my concerns! A lot of people are not gonna like what has to be said here – But as it was once stated in the movie “Class Action” “You’re probably gonna beat him Maggie -and we both know that. But at least he’ll go down knowing he was on the right side.” DITTO