Do We Hate Kids?!?

Just a quick question... can someone explain when it became anything less than disturbing to produce movies intended for mass market distribution that include rape scenes of minors? Free speech experts might claim that this is a film, that it is acting and that it is artistic expression... i guess my concern is where have we gone off the path?

i can appreciate trying to tell a good story but what about telling a good story and doing so with good taste? Am i wrong here? Am i missing something? The 12 year old child actress that appears in this film and in particular the rape scene, was actually trotted out in front of an inquiring public and defended not only the specific scene but explained to everyone that what she was actually doing "is called acting"... Huh? Sorry, that's just weird, creepy, disturbing and everything other adjective that would relate to the previous three!

Over the last several days i have heard several reasons why this is really not all that big of a deal. Some would say say in response to other's objections toward this type of material that it is important that adults not shield children from the difficulties of life. On the surface that sounds reasonable but what sane parent would give their child alcoholic beverages with the intent of NOT shielding them from the effects of alcohol? i see this deal with this film and with allowing this 12 year old actress to perform this type of disturbing scene in the same light... it is parenting gone strikingly awry!

i am alright with making the mistake "over protecting" my daughter. Growing up i needed someone to protect me from many of the things that i encountered at way too early an age and was not ready to deal with on an emotional or physical level. If i can protect not just my daughter but my sons also no matter what the cost, i'll do it, no question about it. Even if that means being called "over protective"... i have been called much worse.

Like i said to start with, this is the type of reasonable discussion we should be having about this type of issue in our nation but typically it degenerates into a labeling, name-calling, hostile, yelling match and the discussion never occurs. How sad is that?

What is the answer to this type of situation in our culture? i think part of the deal is that we need to stop using children as props. We need to treasure children for being children and stop seeing them as an impediments, status symbols or trophies. i find myself growing more than a bit weary of seeing children on the laps and in the arms of public figures who seem to be playing the "lets-do-it-(whatever it is) for-the-kids" card.

i love the fact that i have at least three children who are in no particular hurry to grow up! They love to pretend, play with Lego® blocks, have made up stories told to them, play board games & play hide and seek. They just like being children and that is awesome! Seems like we (adults) have come to believe that childhood is the real inconvenient truth.

A film which includes a graphically suggested scene of a 12 year old girl being sexually violated indicates an ominous trend in our culture... children and childhood are really nothing special. How sad is that?

i have a question.... is it just me or is it fairly confusing to be a man in our culture?

i grew up in a home with no "father" and it has pretty much marked me for life so to speak. The really confusing part about that is if i had relied on current culture alone to sort of "father" me, man what a mess i'd truly be (well... i 'm a mess anyway but that's a subject for another blog). Why does our culture continue to send what can only be seen as conflicting messages about this issue?

Does anyone know what i mean by this?

On the one hand we see and hear messages in poular culture that i believe glorify "never growing up" from hip hop culture to just about anything coming out of Hollywood and the entertainment world. i just don't get it. We rarely hear about what it means to be a man, to think as a man, to pass on manhood to other men....why?

Perhaps i am not thinking clearly about this but the one thing i would have loved to know about growing up was what it meant to be ready for manhood. It wasn't ever really a topic of discussion in our home, so that meant that i had to try and find that information from other sources... often not real good sources either. Ultimately i think that led to serious problems in my pre-teen and early teen years.

The message from our culture is confusing, we don't spend a lot (or any) time talking about this in our homes so what do we, what can we do about this issue?

Having conversations that make a difference....

maybe it's just me but it seems like we need to have a conversation about having conversations... it is rare anymore for people to have discussions that enrich our lives.

seems we're quick to spend more of our time arguing instead of really finding common ground that will enrich life!

i'm guilty of it myself i am sure but we really need to make all of that change.

no doubt there are people who love to argue for the sake of arguing and there are others who can't really decide exactly why they believe or think what they believe or think, but for heaven's sake the nastiness needs to stop!

i really have no idea what will come of this blog but i am committed to trying to encourage others to have conversations that give life... so i'll give this a shot and a place on my weekly schedule and see what happens....

peace...