Media and Our Values – The Stakes are Very High
We are currently on the cusp of the old world and a new cultural frontier. The present generation of parents were raised with the old values that led Americans and Canadians to the forefront of modern civilization. But are we currently going backwards as a culture and a civilization? The effect of media on our values is increasing and not for the better.
It seems that we are thoroughly corrupted by our profit-driven popular culture because of the values that we learned when popular culture wasn’t so ubiquitous or powerful. But what will happen currently when our kids’ values are corrupted by greed and other unhealthy values?
How can we instill popular values in our children while living in a culture where the value messages are so destructive? Future generations of children have only one hope and that is that we take a stand and say ‘NO’ to popular culture. We have to take steps to teach our kids healthy values that are based on intrinsic values which are not dependent on externalities.
What we need to do as parents is to start a counter-cultural revolution where what is fed to us and our kids through the media isn’t taken so seriously. We need to distinguish ourselves from the media and the many messages that it keeps pumping in to our kids. And we must become role models of proper behavior.
One good way to become proper role models for our kids is to show them that the media is not as truthful as it appears. And we need to show this through our actions. We should resist being tempted and manipulated by the media since if parents are manipulated by the media, our kids will also be manipulated in the same way.
We should show reflection and forbearance. We should show our kids that we don’t need media messages for us to know what is good for us. We don’t need to go out and buy designer clothes just because the media is telling us to do it. We don’t need to buy a particular product to be happy, because happiness doesn’t come from the things or products that we could buy. Happiness comes from within, and the media cannot offer us happiness.
If we, as parents, instill such a revolution, our kids futures will be improved and turned against the destructive fores of the popular media culture. I think we all have a duty to do this before it is too late.
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