Garbage In/Garbage Out

For several years I have been intrigued
by the number of otherwise smart,
thoughtful friends
who put CSI in their list of Fav things.

Tonight I accidentally was faced
with the opening scenes of this program.

The newscast ended...
I was busy ...
and neglected to change the channel.

There I am
winding down
from a lovely Sunday
and suddenly
thrust into my line of vision
is a woman
(of course, it is always the women
who are beaten, raped, chopped up)

who has been sawed in half.

Believe me
when I say
that this
is not
a vision
I want
imprinted
into
my brain
as I am preparing
for sleep.

As I hurriedly
pointed the remote
and powered off,
I breathed a frustrated sigh
for the state of our world.
No longer are crime shows
and murder mysteries
simply entertainment,
but too often
are copied
from recent headlines.

When I was in my twenties
I enjoyed mysteries
(they contained very little gore,
actually I didn't even know
who Al was at the time;
but I digress)
Then in my thirties
not too far from where I live
a high school student
was kidnapped
and murdered.

Soon after
the killer kidnapped
a little girl
and murdered her.
By this time
I had a little girl
of my own
and my built in maternal alarms
went off in a big way.

Now
twenty years later
kidnappings,
homicides,
gang shootings,
rapes
are almost common place.
During this same twenty years
violence
(again mostly towards women)
in movies and TV
has escalated
to an alarming terrifying level.

We all know
that there are unstable
persons
out there
who are living
on the edge
until something
pushes them over
into the abyss.

We now occasionally
hear of
unspeakable actions
that were copies of a scene
from a movie
or influenced by
some other media.

Shows like CSI
are using scripts
that were news events
so recently it is shocking
(to my sensitivities)
that the families have either
ok'd this or have it thrust upon them
just as I did.

Ok,
the point I am making is this.
How can intelligent people
not see
the relationship
of violence
breeding violence?
I realize
that some people
have stronger stomachs
than others me.
And, I am thankful
that doctors
and nurses
especially
can handle
blood and gore.

But,
what about
the rest of us?
What about
conditioning,
desensitising
and garbage in/ garbage out?

How many parents
are watching these programs
with a child nearby
who has refused
to go to sleep?
And how many
young women
are watching
with a new love interest,
they barely know?

I love a good mystery,
but in my opinion
this type show
isn't one.

And most of all,
I wonder
how the writers,
directors,
producers,
actors,
TV execs,
and local station managers
sleep at night.

"Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise."

Ephesians 5:15