Your Child and the New Age
Chapter 9:
Television and Mind Manipulation
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Chapter 9: Television and Mind Manipulation
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"Television is first and foremost an educational medium. It is an instrument of persuasion, indoctrination, seduction, propaganda, and mind manipulation - all done in an entertaining way." Marlin Maddoux, host of Point of View
The staggering claim Shirley MacLaine had shouted to the ocean waves was suddenly echoing through America’s homes. The charming star of the New Age was coaching fifty million prime time viewers in self-realization. Her 1987 testimony bore an ominous likeness to Satan’s original lie: just transcend the limits of past religious conditioning and share the journey toward God-ness.
Having affirmed her personal divinity, MacLaine seeks "higher truths" from Hindu Avatars and channeled spirit guides. Etheric beings like "John," "Ramtha," and "Lazaris" seem delighted to teach her their philosophies. Soon she is ready for her next step -- a trip to the Peruvian Andes.
"One condition for the widespread acceptance of the occult is that it must first attain an image of neutrality and innocence. Out on a Limb laid the foundation for that image change overnight. No one seemed to notice that deep cultural and spiritual values had been glibly reversed in the process." Spiritual Counterfeits Project
Near ancient Machu Picchu -- supposedly a favorable climate for UFOs and psychic energies - MacLaine gives a soaring demonstration of astral travel. After rejoining her body, she receives second-hand guidance from "Mayan," a beautiful extraterrestrial. Not only does "Mayan's" wisdom and psychic power outshine any earthling's, but this alien genuinely cares about man's plight and wants to help. So she commissions Shirley to be a New Age teacher to this ignorant world -- an assignment wholeheartedly accepted.
MacLaine's endorsement of mysticism sparked sales of every kind of occult and metaphysical literature -- especially her own books. To thousands of more serious converts, channeling and connecting with "Higher Selves" became household hobbies. But few outside the Christian community recognized her religion for what it really was: ancient occultism wearing an enchantingly beautiful mask.
Energized by the kind of exposure only television could provide, the New Age movement had burst into the mainstream, kindled American imaginations and accelerated the social transformation begun by humanist reformers.Television writers and producers took note of its enticing themes: Be God, take control, don't let out-dated religious values hinder your self-discovery, follow your feelings, wield the Force and create a world of peace and love. Whether subtle or overt, soon all these facets of New Age beliefs had invaded family and children's programs. To understand how it happened, look again at the Lichter and Rothman study in chapter 7. It suggests that men and women who have rejected God and His values now determine what Americans watch on television: Two out of three media leaders "believe that TV entertainment should be a major force for social reform. This is perhaps the single most striking finding in our study. According to television's creators, they are not in it just for the money. They also seek to move their audience toward their own vision of the good society."1
Even news is shown through the filters of media biases. How can we believe what we see, when actors may be used to "show" an action that never was filmed? Or when broadcasters emphasize or cut news items to fit their views?
During the political conventions of 1988, our family waited in front of the television set to hear the views of party leaders. It looked promising. The networks had scheduled several hours of live coverage each day. But after the first evening, we felt betrayed. Instead of firsthand reports, we saw teasing glimpses. In fact, endless discussions of personal observations, interpretation, and opinions blocked our view of the candidates.
What kind of values guide this movement? For networks, squeezed by competition from cable, independent stations, and videos -- whatever sells! During a debate with Donald Wildmon, Gene Mater, a vice president of CBS, exposed his position: "Mr. Wildmon is a minister and has a stated set of values. I am a broadcaster and I don’t."2
Teaching That TransformsNo one disputes television’s power to teach and model godly values and useful skills to generations of children. Experience has proven its effectiveness. For example, in one Happy Days episode, Fonzie gets a library card. Soon afterward, libraries across the country reported a noticeable rise in the number of children requesting cards.
"[Only] the TV machine ... holds such a devastating potential for brainwashing, mass programming, and the destruction of individualism - - with, of course, reinforcement from the other mass media. This threat is every bit as disastrous for the future of mankind as is pollution, overpopulation, or atomic and biological warfare."4 Wilson Bryan Key in Subliminal Seduction
Television wields the same potential for modeling profanity, promiscuity, permissiveness, and counterfeit power. We have seen both the good and the bad, but in the tug of war between two forces, the latter is winning by a landslide.
"It used to be that children didn't understand much of the adult world until they were old enough to read about it m books," observes Dr. William Dietz, chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics Subcommittee on Children and Television. "With the advent of television, children are exposed to more sophisticated messages at earlier ages."3
What then does television teach our children? The spectrum is broad and varied. But let's look at key categories and consider how the media message molds young minds.
Laugh at religion. Whether they like it or not, media leaders can't ignore Christian memorials like Christmas, but they can exclude Christ. By secularizing Christian holidays and laughing at ineffective representatives from the church, they display a lifeless, inept, and materialistic substitute - which is not Christianity at all.
Marlin Maddoux writes, "Humor ... is one of the best ways to get past a person's defenses. Then, when these defenses are down, the 'messages' can be sent straight to the subconscious mind where it will be stored to eventually affect the thinking and lifestyle of the subject."5
If it feels good, do it. Prime-time sitcoms, soaps, miniseries, and mysteries model a passionate medley of yesterday's sexual and spiritual taboos, for this is the "liberated generation" - hopelessly addicted to entertainment.Profanity, crudity, sarcasm, and cynicism spice up the action. Have you noticed how quickly children have added this new peppery flavor to their conversations and humor? Kindness doesn't fit unless it serves self-interest, but impudence is cool. Respect for parents is downright embarrassing, but following your own rules earns peer respect - or at least appreciative laughter.
"Failure to rally around a set of values means that we are turning out highly skilled barbarians." (Dr. Steven Muller, president of Johns Hopkins University)
Experiment with magic.
The bright, beautiful gods and dark, cruel gods both draw power from a single source. So when Papa Smurf conquers evil with magical charms or when Teddy Ruxpin's friends trust in the divining power of crystals, or if the CareBears transform their world with loving vibes, they are all teaching counterfeit spirituality.
Thousands of children watched the young Houdini perform magic not by illusions, but through a force that he learned from a wise, old Indian shaman.
Others saw Hooperman seeking help from a frustrated channeler to solve a murder. The last scene showed the police chief, who at first resented involvement with the supernatural, sneaking a visit to the triumphant psychic.
A Smurf episode shows Mother Earth guiding the forces of nature with her magic wand. When her wand breaks, an earthquake frees a wizard determined to steal the smurf’s eternal-life stone. In the end, good magic conquers evil, the wand is restored, and the earth healed.6Magic, packaged for every age, prepares youngsters to accept occult forces without questioning their source. Appealing to their desire for secret knowledge and power to control their world, the supernatural has infiltrated almost every kind of program - including ads.
Pursue a new world order. With television, mass programming has become a chilling reality. Media spokesmen wield power to censor facts, select information, ridicule vital principles, build illusive expectations, and direct America’s thinking. Today's information glut has produced an audience ill-equipped to argue with the "experts."
Some years ago, the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer spoke at a National Religious Broadcasters' convention. Marlin Maddoux summarized some of his key points:My clear impression, received from Dr. [Francis] Schaeffer's revelations, is that our nation is being systematically conditioned [by the media, public schools, and legislature] to accept a totalitarian, humanistic, elite ruling class. The rationale used for the concept of a one-world, all-powerful ruling class is that it is the only way to save the world from collapsing economically and socially.
This is the reasoning of the self-appointed social "elite" who feel they are the only ones who have the intelligence and power to prevent mankind from destroying itself And, if in the process of saving the world they have to destroy the Constitution of the United States and the personal freedom and dignity of the American people, then so be it! The threat to the Constitution is very real.7
"At the heart of the New Age vision is the conviction that humanity is poised between two ages. The perils of our time are interpreted not as the prelude to apocalyptic disaster [unless the "crisis" can serve as a persuasive tool], but evolutionary transformation." Robert J.L. Burrows, Spiritual Counterfeits Project
Don't hide from the horror. Have Halloween’s ghosts, ghouls, and goblins come to stay all year? It seems that way. "In an overview of three weeks of prime-time movies, not including cable networks, there were thirty-two movies that had either occult or satanic themes," reports Peter Lelonde, publisher of The Omega Letter.
"Just turn it off!" argue network spokesmen, refusing any responsibility for what viewers happen to see. One woman shared her response to this kind of simplistic advice in U.S. News and World Report:
My heart is palpitating. Sweat pops from my forehead. The chair clings to my body. Back-to-back sequences of supernatural carnage unfold before me. Unsuspecting young victims are wrenched with soul-shivering cries into a world of malignant forms, satanic demons, and evil incarnate...
Each day's end brings terrifying commercial for yet another terrifying horror film... Against my will I have become familiar with Jason of Friday the 13th and Freddy of Nightmare on Elm Street. Against my will, I’ve seen the faces of little children placed in the wake of sickness dredged from the depths of adult deviancy...
I do not now, nor will I ever, deny others their right to fright. I am only asking that it not be forced upon me and my small children, who’ve learned to "duck for cover" while we wait for the black horror to pass. I agree to give you the spooky, the scary, the startling. In return, give me back my family viewing hours and let me nestle softly among those I love, free from fright.8
The Effect on Children
How does television influence our children’s view of themselves and their environment? Consider these factors:
- It replaces other activities. By 1984, the average television set was in use seven hours, two minutes each day. (The A.C. Nielsen Company)9 Playing, reading, and studying had become unpleasant distractions to young TV addicts. Family games, reading, conversation, or other forms of social interaction - needed to build caring, responsive, and discriminating individuals - require more initiative and mental energy than many TV families are willing to exert.
- Children cannot test the world they see in the television set. Newspapers and books allow time to stop, ponder, and ask questions. Not television. Since children’s ability to evaluate messages can't keep up with TV's rapid action presentations, their learning is often passive and involves automatic acceptance.
- It produces unreasonable demands and expectations. Commercials and ad cartoons like My Little Pony and G.I. Joe stimulate children's desires, or the advertisers wouldn’t spend millions to persuade them to buy. Young children, unable to differentiate between a show and an ad, receive the exaggerated or deceptive sales pitch with the same trust that they listen to a parent or teacher.
"Television encourages the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco by glamorizing them. The heroes whom children emulate are often shown smoking and drinking beer." American Academy of Pediatrics10
- It gives a distorted view of the world. Since children depend heavily on television to fill in gaps in their experience, they tend to accept what it tells them. The younger the child, the fewer facts he has for evaluating what he sees and hears. Therefore, the images presented on the screen help shape his perception of his world.
"Children up to age seven understand very little of the plot," says Charles Atkins, Telecommunications Professor at Michigan State University. "They identify closely with characters ... and like watching them do things, even though they don’t understand the big picture." In other words, a child might see a burglar break into a home in the first scene, and not connect this crime with the imprisonment shown twenty-five minutes later.11
- It models harmful relationships. Television programs show adolescents how to relate to the opposite sex and produce a perverted consensus in their peer culture. Sexual promiscuity becomes a normal part of life, while the consequences - unwanted pregnancies, incurable sexually transmitted diseases, the inner torment of emotional bondings and breakups - rarely receive fair exposure.
A study by Michigan State University on media, teens, and sex found that "girls watching their favorite TV shows saw 1,500 sexual acts or references per year, boys viewed nearly 1,300. On average, girls watched TV for 5.6 hours a day, including at least two soap operas on weekdays. Boys watched 5.2 hours of TV per day."12
- It models violent behavior. "Studies have linked violence on TV with aggressive behavior in children and adolescents," says pediatrician Victor Straburger, a consultant to the American Academy of Pediatrics Subcommittee on Children and Television. "One can't say for sure that a child will start a fire after watching a drama about arson, but the connection appears consistently throughout all kinds of studies."13
"By the time a child graduates from high school, he will have seen 18,000 killings on television."14 Watching hours of painless "fantasy violence," children learn to view violence as a normal and acceptable way to express anger and handle conflicts. Even sexual violence loses its horror. Some are trapped in its deadly grip, as executed serial killer Ted Bundy testified in an interview with Dr. James Dobson in January 1989:
"The FBI’s own study on serial homicide shows that the most common interest among serial killers is pornography. . . Dangerous impulses are being fueled day in and day out by violence in the media in its various forms, particularly sexualized violence. And what scares and appalls me, Dr. Dobson, is what I see on cable TV. Some of the violence in the movies that come into homes today is stuff that they wouldn't show in X-rated adult theatres thirty years ago. This stuff - I'm telling you from personal experience - is the most graphic violence on screen, particularly as it gets into the homes, to children who may be unattended or unaware that they may be a Ted Bundy who has that vulnerability or predisposition to be influenced by that kind of violence."15
- It produces fear. According to "The Foundation for Child Development," children who are heavy TV watchers were twice as likely to "get scared often."16 No wonder! While violence appears exciting on television, it presents a frightening picture of the world we live in. Children store in their minds vivid images of horrendous possibilities. Families pay a high price for enjoying evil.
- It clouds discernment of right from wrong. The biblical attitudes of trust, obedience, and surrender clash with a world where self reigns and values have turned upside down. Again and again television presents an ominous reversal: Good is bad, and bad is good. In the Gospel message, confessing sin brings cleansing and the Cross sets us free. Yet New Agers reject sin and the Cross as unfit for a new, "progressive" world system.
Oprah Winfrey illustrated this game of opposites in February 1988 when she hosted an unlikely pair: Dr. Aquino, a high priest in the satanic temple of Seth, and Johanna Michaelson who wrote The Beautiful Side of Evil About halfway through the program, Oprah turned to Johanna, saying, "Dr. Aquino has told us that the satanism he represents is good, not evil. Is that possible?"
"Well it is," answered Johanna, "if you come from a frame of mind where left is right, bad is good, black is white, in is out, and upside down is right side up - which is the basic approach of satanism. Everything is backwards. So to him, satanism is good and everything else is bad. That's his perspective. However, he is wrong!"
God warns us about this kind of manipulative make-believe:
"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!" (Isaiah 5:20-21)