America's Cultural Degradation

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That is an annoying thing, how so many of the films and shows today try to portray evil heroes and righteous villains.

Yes, these days the criminal is sometimes portrayed sympathetically. He sometimes was in movies before 1930 too. But from 1930-1968 there was an industry standard in effect called the Hayes Code that prohibited, among other things, showing criminals in a positive way. This was because moral watchdogs were outraged by what they called the moral degeneracy of Hollywood movies so far. Pre-1930 movies were pretty wild and I think wonderful. I'm glad the Hayes Code was abandoned so that movies could go back to being wild and wonderful.

The Production Code was promulgated by Hollywood studios in 1930 but it really was not enforced until the creation of the Breen Office in mid-1934. There was quite a bit of sympathy for gangsters in the early '30s movies as there was quite a bit of sympathy for them as things were falling apart. Gangsterism in many respects is a reaction to a dog-eat-dog situation, a free for all, a mess, and this marked the '20s and the period after the collapse. Sometimes the gangsters are able to grab moral authority from the establishment, claiming to be the defenders of the community and the defender of the little guy.

Even today some of the gangs claim to represent and defend their communities but it seems that the legitimation of greed and the acquisition of power for power's sake has caused any powerful people, be they tycoons or gangsters, to be more honest about their true nature.

The Production Code by the way also prohibited characterising the police as being corrupt - this was a problem too in real life, the corruption.

In the '30s I think there was a real attempt to try to restore honour to government work, to say that this is in fact real work - I mean the ethics of today really honour the gangster above the government worker. The gangster is a creator of wealth, an entrepreneur, we are told, the government worker is a leech who should obey the dictates of the 'wealth creators' - big business and yes, even the gangsters!

Disregarding philosophy, crime is a problem. Cultures which manifest because of bad economic preconditions and promote crime are problems. Those preconditions must be eliminated and so must the culture that will remain. No gangster, no problem.

And of course those culturally gifted white guys in Wall Street who damn near destroyed the world economy by playing games with worthless products were not only not considered gangsters, they were rewarded with billions upon billions of public money. That's what the right culture does for some people.

This is one reason why some people have sympathy for gangsters as they see respectable people like those on Wall Street cause far more damage and get away with it. They ask why people would pick on these gangsters, if they do pick on them it's because they aren't insiders and that there are other gangsters who are insiders who get a free pass... it casts doubt on the legitimacy of institutions.

I never said I endorse "going along with the rest of the world".

That sounds a lot like going along with what the world wants than what the nation wants. Bandwagon ideology. However, whether or not you sided as a nationalist or an internationalist, you'd be going along with some sort of bandwagon. Anyway to the crux of the matter; will WORLD unity ever happen? Has it ever happened before? Why or why not?

It happened on New Years 2000. It lasted for 24 hours- the amount of time it took for the stroke of midnight to occur in every time zone. It was a beautiful world party. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen or been part of. It was a beautiful moment of international peace and partying. It only lasted 24 hours, but that shows it is possible.

I personally support the dissolvement of nations altogether, so there would be no "going along with" other nations.
Although it is important to note that nations do not have wants- their leaders have wants, and they convince the people of it's merits through propaganda.

World unity will happen if we want it to, like anything else.

It's never happened before because most of our history was spent on far-flung continents, wondering if we were the only people in the world. But I'm sure you know your world history.

On an added note its global cultural degradation. We're far from having a monopoly.

Truth!

(Matthew 24:7,8) For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another. All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress.

(2 Timothy 3:1-5) But know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up [with pride], lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power; and from these turn away.

(Luke 21:25-28) Also, there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth anguish of nations, not knowing the way out because of the roaring of the sea and [its] agitation, while men become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But as these things start to occur, raise yourselves erect and lift YOUR heads up, because YOUR deliverance is getting near.

Why?

(John 5:19) We know we originate with God, but the whole world is lying in the [power of the] wicked one.

(Revelation 12:12) "Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to YOU, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.”

The effects of Satan the Devil is LITERALLY unfolding before our eyes. We can't see it these days because we're living in this time, but if you ask any elderly person, say age 80 and higher, if conditions are worsening, they'll tell you YES! I've seen it. It's like taking a lobster and putting it in a pot of water, then you slowly turn up the heat. The lobster doesn't even realize its conditions are worsening before it's too late.

Who would've ever thought a global war on terrorism would exist? Or many earthquakes would hit Australia? Or there would be two world wars? Or man would create a variety of weapons capable of not only destroying us but the planet itself? This stuff didn't happen prior to 1914. The world is going to get worse before it gets better.

And then as it says at 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 "For YOU yourselves know quite well that Jehovah’s day is coming exactly as a thief in the night. Whenever it is that they are saying: “Peace and security!” then sudden destruction is to be instantly upon them just as the pang of distress upon a pregnant woman; and they will by no means escape."

I'm not going to say that political leaders today saying "peace and security" is the precursor, or that this will happen tomorrow -- no one knows but Jehovah -- but it is interesting to note that for the first time in history, the whole world is united for peace. They want peace and security. But they're achieving it is an illusion. They will never be able to achieve it no matter how much they try. Jeremiah 10:23 says "I well know, O Jehovah, that to earthling man his way does not belong. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step."

And then they'll snap:

Revelation 17:15: And he says to me: "The waters that you saw, where the harlot is sitting, mean peoples and crowds and nations and tongues."

This is the world wide empire of false religion. The water is a metaphor for all the people who give their worship to the empire.

Revelation 17:16: And the ten horns that you saw, and the wild beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her devastated and naked, and will eat up her fleshy parts and will completely burn her with fire

The woman and the harlot is the world wide empire of false religion as a metaphor in the form of harlot or a prostitute. And this is where they'll snap:

Revelation 17:17: For God put [it] into their hearts to carry out his thought, even to carry out [their] one thought by giving their kingdom to the wild beast, until the words of God will have been accomplished.

In other words God is going to cause some sort of madness to come over the leaders of the world. When this happens the governments of the earth are going to go after every religion on the planet, and destroy them (the great harlot) with a level of hatred the world has never seen. And then the rest of the people will join in...

How does this all happen? Daniel 11:44 says "But there will be reports that will disturb him, out of the sunrising and out of the north, and he will certainly go forth in a great rage in order to annihilate and to devote many to destruction." The many is the great harlot of Revelation.

Something to think about...

Last edited by kxmode on 17 Sep 2010, 9:15 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Destroying the religions of the world would be a Blessing to mankind.

Religion has brought about violence, war, hatred, division and tyranny.

ruveyn

It's a divine retribution for EVERYTHING false religion has brought upon mankind. Collectively (false Christendom, Islam, Hindu, Judaism, etc... all of them) they are so blood-guilty it is interesting that in the opening salvo of Armageddon they are the first to be annihilated.

G-d created the world (maybe) but man invented religions (for sure).

ruveyn

Many. Not the Bible. 2 Timothy 3:16 says "All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness." How do we know all scriptures are inspired by God? John 14:26 says "But the helper, the holy spirit, which the Father will send in my name, that one will teach YOU all things and bring back to YOUR minds all the things I told YOU." and in 2 Peter 1:21 it reads, "For prophecy was at no time brought by man’s will, but men spoke from God as they were borne along by holy spirit." In other words none of these men wrote down these events in great detail until many years after they occurred. And they didn't have access to sophisticated storage means like we do today. The only way they could have done what they did was by means of God's Holy Spirit (or his active force). Yes, Jehovah God is the author of the Bible, he just used faithful servants to write his words down. And like all great authors the Bible has a central theme from beginning to end. It is basically about two things: Jehovah God's Kingdom and the vindication of his universal sovereignty. It was Satan, a once powerful angel (likely a seraphs or a cherub; second only to Jesus in rank and title) who challenged God's authority by trying to make himself a god when he deceived Eve in the garden of Eden. To that extent he achieved his goals when it says in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that Satan is the "god of this system of things." But his time as this system's god is coming to an end very soon. And then the meek ones will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5; Psalms 37 beginning part of verse 11) and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace. (Pslams 37 later part of verse 11).