The Marketing of Evil -- Synopsis, Part III - Selling Sex & Rebellion to Your Children

Welcome to number three in a series of blogs providing a synopsis of David Kupelian's book, "The Marketing of Evil", 2005. This segment is on the topic of "Who's Selling Sex & Rebellion to Your Children" -- chapter 3 in David's 'must read' book. Here are just a few of the highlights:

* Kupelian starts the chapter off with an excellent example of peer pressure exerted on his own son. Well worth the read. Many can identify with it. How he handled it is also very special.

* He defines 'hip-hop' as "a multimillion-dollar music industry filled with 'the powerful political and sexual images of rap'". His detailed expose of it is eye-opening.

* He names the corporations that literally send spies to infiltrate young people's social settings to gather intelligence on what they can induce these children to buy next. He exposes MTV and Howard Stern's world for what it truly is, pushing the world of the 'mook' for boys and the 'midriff' for girls. You'll want to check both these terms out with reference to the program "The Merchants of Cool" as found on Google.

* In that same program, Mark Crispen-Miller, a NYU communications professor has this to say about how kids are taught to think of you: "It's part of the official rock world view, it's part of the official advertising world view, that your parents are creeps, teachers are nerds and idiots, authority figures are laughable, nobody can really understand kids except the corporate sponsor" of the shows kids watch (MTV being the leaders). Wow.

* In this chapter, there's a section on the idea of "no limits" especially when it comes to sexual behavior where I learned so much -- stuff I never dreamed of nor wanted to learn about. Find out what "suspension" is all about -- and no it was nothing to do with "school" -- it's a sexual fantasy and more. And then, just when you thought you had it all figured out, you learn about the two ultimate thrills -- splitting your tongue, and wait there's more -- the thrill of living for the chase -- yes, that's right, people who chase the bug. No, not a Volkswagen -- the HIV bug. There are men who spend their lives pursuing getting the HIV virus through the right sexual partners. Kupelian quotes one author who writes, "HIV-infected semen is treated like liquid gold." Motivation, you ask? Well, it's all about doing something thrilling that others see as crazy. Great.

* Kupelian points to a desire or a love with death. For example, self-mutilators are said to pursue their specialty due to one or both of the following: A feeling of mental disintegration, of inability to think, and secondly, "a rage that can't be expressed, or even consciously perceived, toward a powerful figure (or figures) in their life, usually a parent." Got it. It's payback time for us folks. To many, physical pain can be a cure for emotional pain. But wait, there is hope -- at least, hope in understanding this. Read on . . .

* Kupelian suggests that all these pursuits are basically as a result of millions of people who have been "freed" by trauma (drugs, illicit sex, bodily mutilation, and so on) from the pain of their own conscience. Or said another way, he writes, "freed from God and the divine law written deep down in every person's heart. Why? Same reason as always: so they can be their own gods and make up their own rules."

* Now here comes the hope. He writes that parents need to understand this: "Your being any way other than genuinely virtuous -- not perfect, mind you, but honestly and diligently seeking to do the right thing at all times -- will tend to drive your children crazy. Here's how the craziness unfolds. Children deserve and desperately need firmness, patience, fairness, limits, kindness, insight, and a good, non-hypocritical example. In other words, they need genuine parental love and guidance. If they don't get this, they will resent you. Even if you can't see it, even if they can't see it, and deny it, they will resent you for failing to give them real love." That's the first step, but here's what happens with this in mind . . .

* It is that resentment (discussed above) that turns into suppressed rage. "It makes children feel compelled to rebel against you and against all authority out of revenge for your having failed them." Hard words. Everything forbidden looks like a road to freedom. They now embrace what they before avoided in a more innocent time. And all of this usually occurs below the level of consciousness.

* Kupelian does end this chapter with two positive thoughts. The first is, if you still have time, to consider counter-acting all the negative influences with home-schooling, a growing practice around the world and one that is driving secular government educators to try and get the courts to make it illegal. The second positive thought is that even if your kids don't come around, "your honest self-examination and confession as a parent will free you from your own guilts and past sins.

My own thought is that maybe we cannot redeem the entire American or North American culture from its current state, but we may be able to redeem our own children from it, or at the very least, ourselves. I say this because I feel as I look around that those who are baby boomers and younger have much to blame on themselves.

Again, the book is a 'must read'. In the next blog in this series, I'll give you a synopsis of Kupelian's thoughts on the "Multicultural Madness". In the meantime, please share this blog with your friends and do subscribe to free notifications on future blogs from Epistoli.

-- Ken Godevenos, We Inform, so You can do Your thing.

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