MTV is now 30 years old and Keith Ablow has some really interesting comments about the network and about the culture it has formed over the last 30 years. He believes it has killed our imagination, added to our addictive culture, and is toxic to the brain.
Because MTV, more than any network, has ultimately traveled a path of removing Americans from introspection, empathy and reality. The mission to combine computer graphics with highly-produced, high-impact, rapid-fire minutes of video—an Uzi of synthesized entertainment—was, perhaps, too much like disseminating a drug. Perhaps the network got hooked and its viewers got hooked on anything easy on the eyes that could pump up the ego and provide a refuge from the complexities of life, from tough news, from real drama—ultimately, from truth.
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Matt, your post reminded me of a Frontline program awhile back titled “The Merchants of Cool”, which enters the world of MTV and dissects the beast from the inside. It does a phenomenal job of exposing the ways which MTV attempts to make itself relevant and influential in the lives of youth, which is of course market/money driven. Here is the website, including the link to watch the full episode (link is found on the right side of the page):
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/
I highly recommend this program. In a church context, it is a great lead-in discussion (especially among teens/young people) for some of the themes found in the book of Revelation (e.g. the pulling back of the curtain to see how things really work, especially through the influence of evil working in the world).
– Ray
Thanks for the link Ray…I will check it out.
Matt, didn’t know who Keith Ablow was so I did a little research. Here is a very interesting article on marriage by him.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/05/06/dr-keith-ablow-cameron-diaz-right-4-reasons-marriage-dying-institution/
That is an interesting article…I thought this comment was interesting,
“To go further, I would venture that 90 percent of the married patients I speak with would rank their marriages in the top two stressors in their lives, while only 10 percent would rank their marriages as one of the top two sources of strength in their lives.
As a healer, I can’t help looking askance at anything that depletes energy, optimism, mood and passion to the extent that marriage does. It is, without a doubt, one of the leading causes of major depression in the nation.
Read more: https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/05/06/dr-keith-ablow-cameron-diaz-right-4-reasons-marriage-dying-institution/#ixzz1UCfO6z7n
He is a psychiatrist who people come to who have major life problems and severe mental illness. Of course a high percentage of the married who come to him will have stressful marriages!