Recent study shows that kiddy and grownup television shows, as well as Facebook, Youtube and Twitter,  are now teaching us it is more important to be famous and rich than to be kind and selfless.

On a years long study of kids 9-11 years of age, fame jumped from number 15 in both 1987 and 1997 to Numero Uno in 2007.

Benevolence, which was #2 in 1997 dropped to 13th place.  Community feeling went from #1 to 11th.

Why is this? Because instead of watching Andy Griffith, the Waltons, or any of Michael Landon’s series, they now watch American Idol, Survivor, and Hannah Montana.

Narcissism is now the new Benevolence.  Sadly, parents are often involved in this too, as they push their kids into intense sports or music programs at school, in hopes the kid will be at the center of attention.

Recently, a small child told me that the only hot dogs he’ll eat are Hebrew National.  Now, I grant I also like the brand. But he absolutely refused to eat the decent hot dogs I offered to him.  Has television and the events of the 21st century caused our kids to go so far off the deep end that they not only want the best, but believe it should be delivered to them on a silver  gold platter?

“The top five values in 2007 were fame, achievement, popularity, image and financial success. In 1997, the top five were community feeling, benevolence (being kind and helping others), image, tradition and self-acceptance….

“Their growth parallels the rise in narcissism and the drop in empathy among college students in the United States, as other research has shown. We don’t think this is a coincidence. Changes we have seen in narcissism and empathy are being reflected on television. In the past, children had their home, community and school; now they have thousands of ‘friends’ who look at their photos and their posts and comment on them. The growth of social media gives children access to an audience beyond the school grounds.”

“Even when parents are an active presence in their children’s lives, peers and media go hand in hand, and peers can be more influential than parents,” said Uhls (the researcher), who has an 11-year-old daughter. “Teens and tweens have the ability to talk with their friends 24/7. The ability for an average person to access an audience is new. Technology has given kids pathways to reach an audience as never before, and they are able to use the technology at a young age.

Perhaps the only thing we can do to fight this trend is turn off the television, take away the cell phone and the IPad, turn off today’s society, and force feed our kids on serving others at the soup kitchen…

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110712094237.htm

I’ve posted my version of the lesson 29 for the  New Testament Gospel Doctrine class.  Remember, if you quote it during your regular Sunday School class and a General Authority is present, I know nothing about it!  😉

Seriously, read it at the link, comment here!  I do go off on some tangents regarding the early Christian church, the ancient temple, and the concept of Elohim and his divine sons.  I also discuss Simon Magus more in depth, and quote Eusebius regarding him.

Lesson 29

I watch Morning Joe as I prepare for work everyday, because I think they cover both sides of the story fairly well.  However, I do not listen to MSNBC’s evening programs because I cannot follow the lack of brains most of their hosts have on the far liberal side.

We’ve spent more money than at any time since WWII on recovering this economy. Liberals are wanting to ignore the problem of deficits and risking destroying our dollar’s global strength, and want to increase our spending for more “stimulus.”  Yet, we’ve seen that while the stimulus we have done has saved 2.4 million jobs (at least in the short term), it did it very inefficiently. It cost $278,000 for each of those jobs!  Had we cut checks for $50,000, we could have taken care of 5 times as many people and still saved tens of billions of dollars.

Retirees love Medicare.  And it works well for them. However, it also wastes hundreds of billions of dollars every year.  Federal government is inefficient. For every inefficient dollar it wastes, it has taken a dollar out of the economy that small and big businesses could have used to create real and efficient growth.

Continue reading →

Lesson 28 is now online at my personal blog:

http://joelsmonastery.blogspot.com/2011/07/new-testament-gospel-doctrine-lesson-28.html

Read there, comment here!

A new Rasmussen poll shows George Washington as our greatest Founding Father, up 11% from last year to 43%.  He is followed by Thomas Jefferson (24%), Benjamin Franklin (16%), with John Adams and James Madison each at 5%.

Americans still are strong believers in the foundations of our American Republic.

Data released earlier shows that Americans continue to strongly believe in the nation’s founding ideals articulated in the Declaration of Independence.  While most believe that governments derive their only just authority from the consent of the governed, only 23% believe the federal government today has such consent.

In fact,  45% believe that the gap between Americans who want to govern themselves and politicians who want to rule over them is now as big as the gap between the American colonies and England during the 18th  Century.

I find it refreshing that most Americans still honor the Founding Fathers, not as perfect beings, but as inspirations that began the movement of freedom that has expanded to include women, blacks, and others seeking freedom and basic God given rights.

Still, it is somewhat disturbing that 77% of Americans believe that the government has gone beyond the bounds of the consent of the governed. Hopefully our federal government can catch the spark that seems to still be in the vast majority of Americans.

We are, as Pres Reagan noted, the “city on the hill”, even the beacon of freedom for all the world.

And as Pres Lincoln noted: America is the “last best hope on earth” for freedom.  No other revolution for freedom up to the time of Lincoln had succeeded.  The French revolution failed.  The revolutions in Latin America had replaced Spain with despots of their own.  Only America offered true freedom to the world.

And I hope that ours will not be the last generation to enjoy that freedom. Let us pray we do not extinguish the “last best hope on earth.”

Rasmussen Poll