Not a Spiritual Influence

As always, it’s more complex than we want to recognize. It’s easier to pin it all on this or that one thing and make it our crusade to end that thing. And I could easily take you down a false path that would lead you to simplistic conclusions as to why we demand simplistic conclusions.

While some folks are fully aware of how it works, I tend to think it was by accident that we are hypnotized by moving video. The effects weren’t recognized until after the medium was firmly established in our culture. What is not accidental is how certain agencies in our world have struggled to suppress that knowledge, and have done everything possible to take advantage of the effects. Meanwhile, a great many involved in the industry are both unaware and unconcerned about it, determined to make the most of their artistic and earning opportunities.

There are multiple follow-on effects from other kinds of media and cultural objects that both enhance the hypnotic power and harvest the profits of video. There are a mixed bag of government programs and private influence peddling that participates, both with sinister knowledge and simply taking advantage of what is.

How many Jesus films do we have? It’s just like church programming in general, for example. I am fully aware that some people are spiritually born in such activities, but Scripture denies that spiritual birth comes by such things, because regeneration is by no means a human choice. Spiritual birth is entirely the initiative of God. Silly questions about whether God can use something like video hypnotism to convert lost souls blatantly ignores too many fundamental truths bluntly stated in Scripture. Spiritual birth is a miracle and it has happened to plenty of folks spontaneously without any church or video inputs, so whatever part they play, it’s entirely incidental. It’s quite true on some level that God brings people into His Kingdom in spite of churches and misguided Christian manipulative “soul-winning” efforts.

But a fully developed spiritual awareness, a properly trained moral discernment, will make you irritable about that hypnotic effect from videos. It doesn’t turn that effect off; we remain human and fallen in this world. However, discernment can make you aware of how that medium abuses your soul and you won’t like it. In my mind, it’s a sign of good spiritual development that you be so aware. If you lack the awareness, you aren’t stupid, but it would make me doubt the power of your faith. It’s essential that we be alert and on guard to the portals of our souls in this fallen world.

The effect is pervasive on Western society. Almost all the complaints about broad moral failures, particularly in the US, can be partially traced to the hypnotic conditioning from TV and video. If I read on Slashdot about how the average computer user is mindless about their own system security, I already know why they can’t be taught differently. It’s the video hypnotism complex of effects that make people generally mindless about everything. Why do people need whole books on romance sanity? Because of the pervasive influence of romantic TV and movies filled with bullshit about human nature.

It also helps explain why organized religion has become so perverted. Our “normal” is deeply abnormal; we have no sense of what ought to be. Too much of our good impulse to independent thinking is curtailed by closure of vast areas of creativity. Some folks making TV and movies are fully aware of the effect and strive mightily to wash out of our minds such individuality. The medium of video is itself inherently bad for you, but when a broad program of conditioning is built up around it, we should be surprised when anyone escapes it.

I realize what a massive uphill battle it is. Much of what I’d like to read on the Net is only in video format because the people who are doing the research can’t imagine organizing and writing it up with skill; it’s just too easy to ramble through a video and post it on some popular site. The expression of individual genius is itself homogenized and blunted by pervasive norms. And telling your kids “no more TV or video”? It tends to be worse than cold turkey from powerful addictive drugs, because it’s more addictive than almost any chemical substance. Yes, I feel your pain, but I will gently remind you from time to time that if you indulge yourself in TV and video, you’ll never be as free and morally discerning as you could be. I don’t suggest absolute abstinence on this, just a developing awareness. Stop telling yourself this or that favorite presentation isn’t harmful; all of them are harmful.

Oddly enough, it was a scene from a movie that said it best: “There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who are addicted to [this stuff] and those who haven’t tried it.”