Sunday, July 31, 2011

Mock and Awe - It's a Mistake

Not long ago, the screenplay writer who wrote Gilligan's Island, Happy Days, and the Brady Bunch had passed away. He had brought quite a wonderful thing to American society, and injected good values in all of his writings. It seemed there was a lesson in every single episode. Then things changed, and we went into the era of nastier sitcoms, and the writers had changed too, instead of lessons involved in the shows, it was all about who could cut the other person down, and get in the last laugh.

What's unfortunate about this is that people imitate what they see on TV.

We all know that television has had a profound effect on American society, and globally as well. Often, the television has been used for good things, but in the case of situational comedies it has detracted from the family unit, pulled people apart, created animosity, and all of that has played out in the real world. We see it today with negative political attack ads, in Internet forums, and there are a lot of folks with hurt feelings. Running around mocking your fellow citizen is not wise, and it also Institutes the revenge factor.

"Mock and Awe"

Mocking another human being, a friend, an associate, or someone in your office at work is not a wise thing to do. Yes, the individual who gets the last laugh, or creates the greatest put-down is often admired by others, but I would suggest and submit to you that people didn't like it when that was done to them in high school, and they still don't enjoy being mocked in adulthood. When we look around on TV, and this latest era of reality TV shows, all we see is more of the same.

Indeed, it's all been a terrible mistake, and it's far too late to go around and blame the screen writers Guild in Hollywood, or the directors that put forth the movies and TV shows which people mimic in the real world. Rather, I would suggest to you that it's time to change this nonsense, bring a little humility, respect, and courtesy back to our society, and that goes for online social networks as well. We hear all the time people complain about bullying, but where does it all start?

They say that sticks and stones will not break your bones, and names will never hurt you, but apparently that isn't true. It seems people are quite upset these days, and now are calling for anti-bullying laws online, and trying to dictate people's free speech, reduce the hostility, and mean-spirited comments online. Yes, it would be nice if people controlled themselves, but race baiting after all these years of "mock and awe" doesn't seem appropriate either. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 24,222 articles by July 22, 2011 at 2:22 PM is going to be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now...


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