Modern culture is psychological war.
Addiction to entertainment keeps one in a consistently altered state of reality, where minds are preoccupied with symbols and abstract concepts such as fame, greed, hyperviolence, sexual obsession, and so on, to the point where for most people it replaces practical information and sources of actual happiness in terms of importance, such as eating good, real food for one's diet, having genuine and trustworthy friends... And so on.
Instead we're in a culture where we're desensitized to death, decadence, and decay to the point where many worship it. People even form identities, tribes, and associate based on the type of death worship and / or deviance they prefer... FPS games, gangsta rap, heavy metal, horror movies, sitcoms with racist subtexts, reality TV, pop music, and so on.
I admit I like video games, violent movies, and loud music as well. But only in moderation... I realized how powerful the subconscious is. Doesn't mean that a movie can necessarily make a person shoot up a school... But constantly being surrounded by images of death, sexual deviance, sociopathy... It warps the perception of reality.
On top of everything else that's also warped... Shady politics, manipulated media, an economic system based on debt... And the main escapes that are offered are into darkness, that gets dumbed down each year. To the point where people begin to prefer the earlier darkness that was just as self-destructive, but more masterfully crafted.
The Western world is a dystopia. I'm choosing to unplug from a culture that teaches us to look up to people who are deeply fukked up, and instead build my long term future and appreciate things like health and nature.
Might watch a modern film and listen to an explicit album here and there, as a catharsis. But that's not what gives meaning to my life. It's not my identity.
