(Note: I do not endorse globaldemoracy(dot)com… But, applaud their posting of this video)
I enjoy going to the grocery store with my wife and young children. I appreciate the opportunity of teaching them the value of a dollar.
I hate waiting in the check-out line. Not because I hate waiting. I hate the images on the magazines surrounding my family in the checkout isle. We live in what I call a ‘Photoshop Culture‘ where almost every image we see is airbrushed, manipulated and/or enhanced. When we’re waiting in the checkout line, my little daughter does not realize she is looking at a complete LIE. Neither does my young son.
It begs the question; What kind of impact do these images have on the minds of our children?
After all, these photos are not real, they are pixels that have been manipulated and marketed to us as ‘beautiful’. This has been going on for years but, someone finally created a good video that shows you how its done.
Counterfeit Reality:
A couple months ago, I wrote a post called ‘Life Has Surface Noise‘. In it, I made the following statement:
“As a cultural, we hold up a fashion magazine with an image of a woman with a perfect face and perfect body. Culture’s message is clear, “This is the image WE value! If your daughter, wife or sister does not look like this image, she is worthless!”
The problem is that the image of perfection on the magazine that we uphold is counterfeit. That image of the ‘perfect’ woman has been clinically manipulated and airbrushed by an artist with a computer. So, its a lie… each square millimeter of the image has been scrubbed of all humanness.”
Dealing with Deception:
Here’s the bottom line. We’ve all been deceived! You’ve been made aware of the deception and we’ve shined the light of truth on a lie.
So, what are you going to do about it?
So true. I know you probably won’t like this approach, but this is one place where the government and regulations are needed. Just like cigarettes, I think there should be warnings about how the images have been manipulated.
At some level, the ads are psychological warfare. One ad is nothing but the cummulative effect of them across time is seriously damaging to the priorities and mental well-being of our society.
I personally choose to remove myself from the equation as much as possible. I cancelled my cable, only watch movies and television shows with the advertisements cut out, don’t listen to the radio and use the Ad Block extension on my internet browser. It’s definitely not 100% but it cuts out probably 70-80% of the junk and almost all of the worst offenders.
Great article.
I agree that some warning text should be applied to doctored images. And I admit that it would take a government regulation to do that. I would add that our laws reflect our cultural values. Until ‘we the people’ uphold truth, morals and ethical standards in our homes and families, the sources that create such images will continue to ‘counterfeit freedom’ which is really ‘license’. It’s a form of bondage masquerading as ‘freedom’. Think about it, if our daughters or wives believe that doctored images of the ‘perfect’ woman are what our culture values, they fall into a psychological bondage of trying to live up to images (which are visual lies).
“True freedom, the freedom that liberates, is grounded in truth and
ordered to truth and, therefore, to virtue. A free person is enslaved
neither to the sheer will of another nor to his own appetites and
passions. A free person lives uprightly, fulfilling his obligations to
family, community, nation and God. By contrast, a person given over to
his appetites and passions, a person who scoffs at truth and chooses to
live, whether openly or secretly, in defiance of the moral law is not
free. He is simply a different kind of slave. The counterfeit of
freedom consists in the idea of personal and communal liberation from
morality, responsibility and truth. It is what our nation’s founders
expressly distinguished from liberty and condemned as “license.” The
so-called freedom celebrated today by so many of our opinion-shaping
elites in education, entertainment and the media is simply the license
to do whatever one pleases. This false conception of freedom – false
because disordered, disordered because detached from moral truth and
civic responsibility – shackles those in its grip no less powerfully
than did the chattel slavery of old.” Robert P. George
Kat and I got rid of cable TV about 8 months ago. We use ROKU instead and couldn’t be more pleased. More and more, I see folks unplug from the garbage produced by the media. Another reason why I ‘read’ my news instead of ‘watch’ my news. The former is active while the latter is passive… thanks Jesse for your thoughts!
Lance, I had seen this video on Facebook a month or so ago and was amazed. Not having had a TV my entire life, I have not been privy to these types of things, but do know they are “out there”. I feel your comments below to Jesse Brede say it concisely and I probably couldn’t add more, however I will add a few.
Our society has tried to commercialize everything so much so that people don’t know what reality is. They expect to be happy and have everything, including a false pretense of a good life and a good body.
Until our society wishes to be real, to be honest, to no longer be deceived, to be happy with who they are as God made them and not be looking for the bigger or better thing, this will continue. Until people are willing to love not based on status, looks, and ability we will never change the world.
Each of us have the opportunity to be that person to someone and be different. I applaud you and Kat for your friendship with me and love for people! Keep up the good work sir.
Misty, thanks for commenting and the encouragement. I agree. We must be intentional about how we engage a culture that diminishes the intrinsic value of each human. The photoshopped images we see around us are just a symptom of a disease that destroys everything it is to be human. It is a heart issue. It always has been… 😉