Cock-fighting is crazy.
Gladiator battles are ancient history.
Public hangings got the noose.
We look back at history and think "those guys were a bunch of crazies. They went to these events for fun? This was their entertainment? We're so much more civilized now."
But are we? I read an article this morning about a new superhero movie coming out next year. The author and interviewees were praising it for being "filthy, comical, hyper-violent fun." The author mourned the fact that this film has taken years to get going because the main character was so "filthy, he's so nasty." So much so that studios have refused to make it before now. But what changed their mind? A short clip featuring only a small portion of the violence described was leaked to the Internet and we, the people, screamed for more.
This time we can't blame the studios for producing trash. It wasn't them. They tried to stop it. But the voice of the fans called for blood. And like Pontius Pilate, they have the people what they wanted.
Have we really progessed so little as a society? Why do we wonder that teens and youth are taking up arms and mowing down their peers without a thought? Why are we surprised when a person's response to a policeman's arrival is to shoot and run? Why are we surprised when our children bully at the playground?
Is it anyone's fault but our own?
We no longer fill arenas to watch slaves fight each other to the death. But we still find entertainment in watching "heroes" with foul mouths destroy henchmen en masse without a care. We laugh as the police are evaded, hindered, and mocked. We cheer when the villain meets his demise.
"But it's not real," we say. "They're just actors."
The morals taught are real. The lessons learned are real. The attitudes accepted are real. Art imitates life, and life imitates art.
Have we truly become more civilized? Or do we just tell ourselves so to make ourselves feel better.
Or are we still barbaric?
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