Pop Culture vs Real Culture

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, orgin and culture is like a tree without roots.” Marcus Garvey

When Warner Brothers announced Ben Affleck would be playing Batman in Henry Cavill’s sequel to “Man of Steel,” chaos broke out over the Internet. Many people believe that Ben Affleck would not be a good batman and became extremely vocal about it. Thousands of people even signed a petition to the White House. Everyone seemed to have a strong opinion on the matter or at least were up to date on all the Batman news. I personally enjoy pop culture. I worked in the film industry for many years and love movies, television and music. Entertainment is a great way to relax and escape from everyday life. The key word here is “Escape” and the danger lies in how much escapism we are engaging in as a society.

The passion behind Affleck playing Batman is very real and many Americans were extremely upset about this. Just for my own personal amusement, I asked some folks if they had any opinions on Syria. The majority of them had very little knowledge on the matter and weren’t interested in talking about it. When did pop culture become so dominant that we lost interest in real culture? Isn’t what’s happening in our world more interesting than that of fantasyland? Isn’t it more rewarding to be educated about our history and values as a people? I guess it isn’t anymore and unfortunately this affects family life and the future of our country.

I understand the temptation to turn off your mind and turn on the TV. I believe mindless activity is okay in moderation. However, extreme laziness and the abuse of entertainment can cause great damage to yourself, your family and society as a whole.  We have an incredible amount of information available to us. Lets take advantage of that easily accessible knowledge. Let us revisit our history, our origin, and our values.  Let us unite and fight against the dumbing down of society.