What Goes In, Must Come Out: A Commentary On A Slice Of Our Culture

I have never understood haunted houses, or the desire to be scared in general. To me, fear is the most awful feeling in the history of the world. It is paralyzing and torturous and awful so I have no idea why anyone would pay to experience it. Life is scary enough without people in god awful masks chasing you with hacksaws in jest. The only memory (terrible, horrifying, rechid), memory I have of a haunted house was the last one I was talked into attending. I was about 17 and this particular haunted house is very well known and particularly terrifying. I went in with my boyfriend and my best friend at the time and peed myself. No, literally, I urinated in my clothes. Not enough that I had to face complete humiliation but there was pee in there. Haha, I know, lets all get the laughing out.
All that to say, I am writing this blog because it has always bothered me that we are a culture that is entertained by such horrible things. We stand in line and pay to see people dressed as though they have been brutally murdered and tormented. We line up the theaters to watch the same stuff at the movies. We tune in for prime time shows like Criminal Minds (which is really mild comparatively), and are "entertained" by stories of people having been raped and murdered. I understand we all love a a good "who-dun-it", but everything is SO extreme now. What does it say about us? Don't get me wrong, Walking Dead is my favorite show of all time and I have NO plan to stop watching it but the reality is, its gruesome and sad. People are struggling to survive and turning against each other and dying brutal deaths.
I think what this says about us is that we are completely and utterly desensitized to pretty much everything. I mean, on shows like Law and Order the story lines involve things like child molestation, child rape and child murder. These are the worst offenses any of us could ever dream of and we are watching fictional stories about them on purpose. It is not normal. Well, it is normal and that is the problem. I don't mean to get all Jesus on you and make you feel convicted about Law and Order but I am pretty sure God is up there tonight thinking to himself, "Brooks, seriously? You are more excited to watch the premier of Walking Dead than you were to go to church this morning? Something bout that just ain't right sister." I am just proposing we all think a little bit harder about what we allow in our minds and hearts and spirits because like it or not, it will effect what comes out of them.