| Morals Anyone? [message #91996] |
Sat, 30 May 2020 19:16  |
Azuri
Messages: 315
Registered: November 2012
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Grand Master |
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Not to get too deep or philosophical, but do you think morals come into play with music? When I was growing up, the old timers used to say that "today's music" didn't have any morals to it like theirs did (30's and 40's). Or that it was a bad example for kids who were just learning what morals were.
I thought they were just being old codgers, but now I'm thinking along those same lines. That the music we listened to back in our day (60's and 70's) reflected more of a moral structure than what we hear these days.
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| Re: Morals Anyone? [message #91997 is a reply to message #91996] |
Sun, 31 May 2020 12:34  |
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Wayne Parham
Messages: 18783
Registered: January 2001
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Illuminati (33rd Degree) |
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I've heard the same complaint about sexually suggestive and/or violent movies, television and video games.
Which begs the question, do sexually suggestive lyrics, videos and games create promiscuous people? Do gay scenes in movies and television create homosexuals? Do violent movies, games and music create violent behaviors? Do they give influences that push people towards said behaviors? Or is it maybe that people that already have a predisposition to certain behaviors are attracted to music, movies and games with those behaviors in them?
I personally think it's a little bit of both. I don't think any of these influences create the behaviors, but I think they might reduce inhibitions. I also think they can generate endorphins that increase sexual and/or violent urges, even in well-adjusted people. That's what the sexually or emotionally charged lyrics and/or scenes are there for - to create an emotional reaction.
People naturally have sexual arousal, they naturally have anger and they naturally have fear. Those are physical responses to certain stimuli. They can even be responses to internal thoughts. So in my opinion, each of these three feelings are natural and good. Our sex drive pushes us to find the right mate. Our fears move us to a safer place. And our angers push us to fix something in our lives that isn't working.
But I think it's really easy to get stuck in those three particular emotions. An obsession with arousal can cause a person to be stuck in an unhealthy pattern, to not be able to let go of a relationship that isn't healthy, or even to get them into date-rape situations. An obsession with fear becomes a phobia, and a person can become paralyzed and never approach the feared thing to solve it, or maybe even never leave the house. An obsession with anger becomes a resentment, and the resentful person tends to hate the world or some aspect of it. They forget how to be grateful for life, have joy and experience love.
I find that when I'm in a "good place," little disturbances don't affect me. I walk through them, so to speak, and easily brush off slight irritations. In that mental place, I'm not particularly interested in hearing any angry music or being around any person or environment that is negatively charged.
But if I have something difficult in my life, perhaps the loss of a loved one that makes me grieve or the loss of health or income in my life of the life of a loved one, then I feel fear and perhaps anger. There are lots of things that can make me feel fear or anger, and I know that time will take care of those things if I "walk through" them and resolve the situation. Sometimes it's just a matter of time. In those cases, I find I just have to accept the situation and wait for time to heal. Other times, I need to take action to resolve the situation. Often times, it's a little of both.
During those times - when I'm uncomfortable, angry or afraid - I find myself more attracted to angry music. It's time to break out some Tool, Metallica or Limp Bizkit. I'm sort of expressing an internal rage through the music. But I usually get sick of it after a while and calm back into a more mellow musical selection. I find it funny, sort of laughing at myself, for my lack of acceptance in those minutes. It's a part of a grieving process, I think.
I could easily get stuck there though, especially if I think someone else has wronged me. I can look at politicians and think how stupid they are. I can get angry at how people look like they follow stupid things blindly. The world looks ugly and dark and stupid. When really, most of what I'm looking at is through the filter or my own inner dialog. And I know that. So that keeps me from getting stuck there. But sometimes I linger a while. 
OK, I've been way too philosophical. How 'bout this for some levity:
Now we return to our regularly scheduled programming.
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