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Were you listening to me Neo, or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?
– Morpheus [The Matrix (1999)]
In prior articles I have likened the present societal engineering, the machine with which we find ourselves at odds, as an engine. Carrying this analogy (within an analogy) further, one could liken the industry of Arts and Entertainment as the pistons, forcefully driving the agendas of the powers-that-be into the realm of societal discourse and redefining our views on various issues.
One would be hard-pressed to deny with any legitimacy the assertion that our entertainment influences and directs our perspectives on a myriad of social, legal, moral and even religious matters. It’s perplexing when you really think about it; how does writing a catchy three minute tune or reciting lines written by someone else qualify one to exert inordinate influence on a whole nation? Did we somehow slip into an alternate reality?
The truth is that we are being constantly bombarded with illusion – illusions of glamour, success, wealth and fame. Seriously, we now have celebrities who are famous simply for being famous. In order for these so-called celebrities to exert the amount of influence over us that they do, they must first receive our agreement and permission. Interestingly, this is one of the principle tenants of “lesser magic”… maybe that’s why they named the premier origin of this illusion “Hollywood”.
In last weeks article, I likened our current societal trajectory to that of the dystopian technocracy described in George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. The role of entertainment in the engineering of this manifestation is to serve as both a distraction and as influence and direction for the enthralled masses. It is, for all intents and purposes, the “woman in the red dress”.
It is apropos that the prior clip ends where it does. In one moment, Neo is ogling a beautiful woman and in the next, staring down an instrument of destruction. Throughout the film, we see in the methodology of the Agents and, in accordance with the statements Morpheus makes within this scene, the two are effectively one and the same.
There is no singular cultural mountain which is immune to the overarching – and overreaching – influence of the entertainment industry, and as we have seen, this influence has been overwhelmingly negative and downright subversive in nature. The real question is why?
I’m sure they all just utilize the same photography studio right? This seeming obsession with one-eye symbolism couldn’t mean anything… it’s all just one big coincidence and those who believe otherwise probably sleep with tinfoil hats.
Furthermore, look how considerate so many within the entertainment industry have been to let us know that everything is a-okay!
Never-mind that there’s an alternative interpretation of this gesture – there’s nothing to see here folks. It’s just a gesture that happens to get made over and over by nearly every single actor, musician, politician and celebrity for the last several decades at a minimum, because they apparently really, really want us to know everything is okay.
“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from brambles. The good person out of the good treasury of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasury produces evil, for his mouth speaks from what fills his heart.”
Luke 6:43 – 45
Of course, the rational approach would be to look at the proverbial fruit of the industry as a whole, and ascertain from the evidence, whether or not it is a detractor or benefactor… and from the degradation of moral father-figures and dissolution of family, to the progressive objectification of women as sex objects, to the normalization of sexual immorality, divorce and the proliferation of homosexuality, the entertainment industry has proven itself a tree bearing overwhelmingly bad fruit.
I could go on but honestly, it would be tedious. This addresses one of the most widely discussed aspects of cultural influence there is. Whole careers have been built on simply observing and commenting on current events within the entertainment industry; be it movies, music or games and the agendas pushed through the narratives endorsed. The hand of manipulation here is blatant and obvious.
Honestly, if you can’t see this you are being willfully ignorant. If however, you wish to pursue the subject further, there are a number of content creators and researchers who have delved, to varying degrees of detail into the issue of the entertainment industry and it’s flagrantly anti-biblical agendas. Such can be found with minimal effort even on platforms so biased as Youtube.
Suffice it to say that entertainment has truly become the universal opiate of the masses – not only keeping them from paying attention to matters of immediate consequence, but driving their perceptions and behaviors as well. This trend however, has begun shifting as of late. Many have awakened or are awakening from the mass hypnosis of entertainment and have begun to see the world as it truly is, at least in some measure. Some for the first time. It is a trend I hope to see continue.
As a final thought on the matter, I posited previously that “so what?” can be a useful question to ask when considering such matters, but only when we actually pursue the answer…
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If then your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
Matthew 6:22 – 23
Until next time,
שלום עליכם – Shalom Aleichem – Peace Be Upon You