an eye opener...

I have always listened on skeptically to those talking heads who suggest that all the violence that is in the movies and on TV is changing our societal tolerance towards violence. That was until today.

A buddy of mine and I went to see the new thriller "European Secret" which is about the Russian mob in America. I will not give the story away (even though this movie was a real disappointment and you should not waste your time) but there is one scene in which there is a very bloody and violent knife fight in a steam room. At one point the "lesser" bad guy shoves a knife into the another bad guy's eye. I was pretty much blown away by the fact that many people in the theatre started whooping it up and laughing at the scene of this guy having blood poor out onto the floor. It was not even like the winner of the battle was even the hero of the movie - we just knew a little bit more about him than the other guy.

I was really stunned in how excited these people got at something so depraved. Now I love a good fight scene and "manly" flicks like the next guy but I have never looked at them as a laughing matter or something to be celebrated. The sad part is that I know without a doubt that most of the hormonally charged male students in my class would be laughing and calling out the loudest if they had been there to see it.

It is scary to think in what we have become in a society that finds humor in something like this. It is hard to hold kids responsible for their growing aggression towards each other when they are becoming "educated" in this type of violence everywhere they turn.