This is something that has really been in my mind lately, a lot. My husband delights in watching reality shows . . . by the hour. He likes things like the Fox Reality Channel's "The Academy" and Fox's "Hell's Kitchen." He never misses Judge Joe Brown or Judge Judy. Realize that my husband disagrees with me completely, but I believe we have become a society that rejoices in the denigration of other human beings.
Even more so, on Bill O'Reilly's talk show he had video of a school dance in Florida. The teenagers were "dancing", or rather, they were mimicking having sex on the gym floor. Not just one or two teenagers, but a large group. The teachers and chaperons just stood there watching, doing absolutely nothing. Not only did the children have so little respect for themselves, the teachers and chaperons saw no problem with what they were doing.
It seems as if there are no teachers or mentors anymore, there are simply men and women accepting outrageous behavior as the norm, OR they are screaming at the top of their lungs every foul, demeaning and hurtful thing that comes to mind. Completely unrestrained and unchecked behavior has become as normal as America's apple pie used to be. Rather, it is more entertaining to exercise no self-control at all and to utterly destroy the one you are supposed to be teaching.
When I discussed this with Alvin he asked me how these "students" are supposed to handle pressure and stress if they can't handle someone screaming in their faces? To this I responded, why does the teacher need to destroy them in order to teach them? What is lacking in those instructors that they have to resort to such tactics in order to get their points across? Do they have a dearth of actual teaching skills, so much so that they have to resort to the methods a two-year-old is taught are unacceptable?
Why has it become so entertaining, people laughing and hooting, when some is humiliated beyond all measure on the television? When did it become acceptable to scream, curse with spit flying everywhere, and get into the face of someone you're supposed to be teaching? When did it become acceptable to look at other human beings as being less valuable than yourselves? When did it become acceptable to look around at the people you're supposed to teach and act like a spoiled two-year-old, and yet, expect them to learn something?
Teaching and mentoring is about discerning the needs of the student while teaching the lessons of the instructor. It is about working through the weaknesses, the tough times, and teaching the skills you have while developing them in the student. And pressure? There are plenty of ways to apply pressure without acting like an out-of-control jackass. 10 mile runs. 250 situps. 50 pushups. I don't know, depending on what you're teaching you could come up with something. I see no value of pushing your face within two inches of another human being and screaming at them. Use the brain God gave you for pete's sake.
I can never see the greatest Teacher and Exemplar this world has ever seen behaving in such a way. I can see Him turning out the finest cops, soldiers, chefs, businessmen and women . . . I believe there is nothing Jesus Christ could not teach someone. And He wouldn't resort to the above behavior to do so.
What have we come to as a people? When did such low-down, reprehensible behavior become the norm. Is this really the only way people can be taught now? I don't think so. I don't think it's necessary to lower yourself to the behavior of an out-of-control human being in order to teach something. I don't believe we should accept this behavior as normal, nor should we celebrate it or give these individuals television shows, thereby giving them tacit approval for their completely unacceptable behavior.
And yet, here I am in my home, with my husband watching an "The Academy" marathon. Ugh. Methinks I need to go take a nap!
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Even more so, on Bill O'Reilly's talk show he had video of a school dance in Florida. The teenagers were "dancing", or rather, they were mimicking having sex on the gym floor. Not just one or two teenagers, but a large group. The teachers and chaperons just stood there watching, doing absolutely nothing. Not only did the children have so little respect for themselves, the teachers and chaperons saw no problem with what they were doing.
It seems as if there are no teachers or mentors anymore, there are simply men and women accepting outrageous behavior as the norm, OR they are screaming at the top of their lungs every foul, demeaning and hurtful thing that comes to mind. Completely unrestrained and unchecked behavior has become as normal as America's apple pie used to be. Rather, it is more entertaining to exercise no self-control at all and to utterly destroy the one you are supposed to be teaching.
When I discussed this with Alvin he asked me how these "students" are supposed to handle pressure and stress if they can't handle someone screaming in their faces? To this I responded, why does the teacher need to destroy them in order to teach them? What is lacking in those instructors that they have to resort to such tactics in order to get their points across? Do they have a dearth of actual teaching skills, so much so that they have to resort to the methods a two-year-old is taught are unacceptable?
Why has it become so entertaining, people laughing and hooting, when some is humiliated beyond all measure on the television? When did it become acceptable to scream, curse with spit flying everywhere, and get into the face of someone you're supposed to be teaching? When did it become acceptable to look at other human beings as being less valuable than yourselves? When did it become acceptable to look around at the people you're supposed to teach and act like a spoiled two-year-old, and yet, expect them to learn something?
Teaching and mentoring is about discerning the needs of the student while teaching the lessons of the instructor. It is about working through the weaknesses, the tough times, and teaching the skills you have while developing them in the student. And pressure? There are plenty of ways to apply pressure without acting like an out-of-control jackass. 10 mile runs. 250 situps. 50 pushups. I don't know, depending on what you're teaching you could come up with something. I see no value of pushing your face within two inches of another human being and screaming at them. Use the brain God gave you for pete's sake.
I can never see the greatest Teacher and Exemplar this world has ever seen behaving in such a way. I can see Him turning out the finest cops, soldiers, chefs, businessmen and women . . . I believe there is nothing Jesus Christ could not teach someone. And He wouldn't resort to the above behavior to do so.
What have we come to as a people? When did such low-down, reprehensible behavior become the norm. Is this really the only way people can be taught now? I don't think so. I don't think it's necessary to lower yourself to the behavior of an out-of-control human being in order to teach something. I don't believe we should accept this behavior as normal, nor should we celebrate it or give these individuals television shows, thereby giving them tacit approval for their completely unacceptable behavior.
And yet, here I am in my home, with my husband watching an "The Academy" marathon. Ugh. Methinks I need to go take a nap!
Join the Neighborhood Newsletter . . . Subscriptions are free and joining is easy. Just by signing up and maintaining your subscription to receive the yourLDSneighborhood.com newsletter, you become eligible for our "Thank You" prizes. Our dozens of giveaways range from a trip for two to China, to iPods® (each with a $50 gift certificate for LDS music), cruises, and more.
Learn about our amazing monthly, quarterly, and annual giveaways by clicking here.
Return to the Neighborhood.
What Have We Come To?
![What Have We Come To?]()
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Sunday, June 01, 2008
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Hi Candace,
ReplyDeleteYour post made me think of this scripture:
3 And there was a strict command throughout all the churches that there should be no persecutions among them, that there should be an equality among all men;
4 That they should let no pride nor haughtiness disturb their peace; that every man should esteem his neighbor as himself...
(Book of Mormon | Mosiah 27:3 - 4)
Dan - excellent scripture and very appropriate for what I've been thinking. It's pretty scary, if we take a look at what has become the norm in America, and most possibly, the world. Although I do not watch television from other nations, so I cannot say for a certainty. But we are raising a generation addicted to television who believe this is the norm. I truly fear for our future, on so many levels.
ReplyDeleteThat makes me think of Gordon B. HInckley and his book "Standing for something." He was always so optimistic, even though he recognized the seriousness of these problems. We are all imperfect, so we have no right to tear other people down. We all need to set our standards high and encourage others to do the same. And pray of course, without that we are helpless.
ReplyDelete[And thank you so much for your compliments on my Holocaust essay post! I can't express how much I appreciate it. =)]
Amen Sister. =)
ReplyDeleteI think "reality" TV is simply the American version of the coliseum. And Rome came tumbling down. Scary stuff!
We chaperoned a HS dance once, and DH and I were the only chaperones who actually enforced the rules. The two of us were constantly telling people to tone it down. The other chaperones were just chatting with each other.
ReplyDeletewow, I like your post, really, your thoughts and everything fits so much to what i like, inspirational. Anyways, thank you for dropping by in our site here in Saudi Arabia. Can i copy part of this blog entry? Ill put a source and link. Hope that will be okay. Its just a great post!
ReplyDeleteTiffany - you are an amazing young lady. Thank you dropping by my blog. Your holocaust blog definitely deserved the blog spotlight of the week.
ReplyDeleteKeeley - No kidding!
Jen - It is shocking, isn't it?
Kenji - of course you can quote any part of this blog at any time. Just credit it to me and you're good to go. And dropping by your post in Saudi Arabia is one of my favorite Sunday things to do.
Yeah, you don't have to look very far to see the worst of our soceity. Still, I'm glad to report that all of my kids' schools are very strict about the kids' behavior. And have your husband watch Extreme Makeover, the Home Edition. I watched it today and it made me cry. It's sort of the opposite of all those horrible reality shows because it's one about doing good things for deserving people.
ReplyDeleteI don't watch much TV, but I agree with you. People are treating each other with less and less respect. What truly bothers me is when LDS members tear down others who aren't living LDS standards. We all need to show more repsect and more kindness for each other.
ReplyDeleteHi Janette - happy to hear that common sense is being exercised somewhere. And we do really like Extreme Home Makeover.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. And speaking of reality shows, there's that one (can't remember the name) where people are asked questions about their lives and they take a lie detector test. I watched it once and it seemed that it destroyed a marriage and family. I think that show is just evil.
ReplyDeleteI think it’s called Moment of Truth, but I agreed with you. It’s absolutely evil!
ReplyDelete