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Entertainment is a core part of existence. Without it, the world will be too depressed and boring. In the stone ages, people found a way to entertain themselves back in the day either through stories/moonlight tales, music and dance which could be made possible by use of sticks gotten from tree branches and drums made from hides and skin. In every ethnicity around the world, each of their ancestors entertained each themselves in similar and even different ways that were unique to every culture.
Overtime, entertainment divided into different branches which is why we have musicians, actors, comedians, beat makers (producers), film producers and directors, reality tv stars, etc. As much as the work these people do worldwide ought to be admired being that they have all contributed to the growth in entertainment industry there’s one argument a lot might not grasp. It’s the argument of entertainers just doing what they are doing or whether they seek to influence the society especially the future generations positively or negatively through entertainment.
This is where I’ll further buttress my point about the impact of imagery on the human mind. You see, no matter how boring or interesting something seems to be looking at an image constantly creates impressions in your brain. Your brain is trying to interprete what is in the image. When it comes to understanding and watching objects, images and videos, there is what is known as the conscious. Your conscious mind wants to watch or play with something for fun without anything educative attached to it. The second one is known as the subconscious which is not known physically to person but is being absorbed by the mind. Constant exposure to videos, films, music or tv programs that depict negativity and crime will build negativity around the subconscious of its viewers causing it to be normalized. Yes, I know people will think I’m reaching but have you asked yourself why certain bad behaviors and abnormalities even though they existed in the past, now happen more frequently than before and worst of all, are even celebrated so shamelessly?
This is one of the reasons and while, you try to let people understand the motives of the brains behind these poisons being fed to people through the tv, some people constantly argue about the shows being made purely for the purpose of entertainment meanwhile the people behind these poisons, smile to the bank at the expense of lives, both young and old but especially the young. Why the young? Because they are the future and these people understand that when you go after the younger generation, you collapse the society automatically.
The music we listen to and the movies we watch are very relatable and interesting but overtime have become poisonous of which the major factors are poverty and greed. You hear people being encouraged to do yahoo (scam people on the internet) instead of doing something genuine, you hear your artistes glorifying whoredom and insulting the poor all for the purpose of self glorification. Since people claim it’s for entertainment, why can’t these artistes sing about doing the right thing then? Why can’t they talk about the opposite of why they are doing now? Why must it be the bad ones? Why do the storylines in movies these days justify bloodshed and evil without the culprit suffering the consequences? Why do the reality tv shows only become interesting when people behave ratchet, fight and insult themselves? Worst of all, the most dramatic contestant ends up becoming the winner and you ask yourself, what is the motive of their sponsors or organizers? What of the female rappers or celebrities in general? Why are they always unclad even through the men standing beside them on the red carpets are completely clad. Why are they always twerking and rapping about their private parts when they can rap about how to be better thinking women, mothers, aunties who are focused. Why do the men rap about drugs, sex, murder and not the opposite? Why do they choose degeneracy to market their art if it’s “just” entertainment?
The concept of duality applies in this situation. Yes, life is not always black and white because the world is mysterious therefore anything can happen for whatever reason. There can be in-between situations a couple of time but most times, the universe functions in such a way that if someone does not stand for something good, the person stands for evil completely. Some minor situations are different but in this case, one is either for good or not. Even in cases where there are “in-betweens”,the people directly involved in the situation always strive to be either on the positive or negative side of the situation before life shows them that it has twists and turns like a brilliant novelist. This is what makes life unpredictable. Please let me know your thoughts on this particular area so that we can rub minds, thank you.
At the end of the day, everyone has where they stand. The sad truth is that a lot of entertainers and media personalities stand on the wrong side with which their major motive is monetary gain. As much as that is not bad, placing that above the love of the art and the positive contributions it brings it brings to the society will cause damage in the long run. People will also argue that as much as some entertainers may have wished to do that, but the business side of entertainment would suffer, meaning they won’t make as much as they make. First of all, entertainment is business asides it being an art or hobby. Someone will have to have the talent which has been gifted to them naturally by God, before signing a record deal and churning out songs, albums, movies, etc.
I mentioned earlier on how there were certain things that weren’t being done in the society that are now done even very frequently, not only at an alarming rate but being praised. Let’s take Nigeria for example. Bad Leadership in Nigeria didn’t start in the 2010s or even early 2000s. It started many years ago, even as far back as the 60s, corrupt politicians existed in Nigerian political spaces which is why if you listen to old songs from late Afrobeat legend, Fela Kuti, you’ll notice he called out evil in Nigerian government as far back as the 70s. Evil things happened behind closed doors but the difference between them and now is that people were ashamed then while in this current times, shame has vanished gradually.
Entertainment isn’t just business but social engineering. I won’t deny the fact that bad leaders have a hand in societal downfall but as long as other human beings in the same society have ulterior motives, we can’t fault politicians entirely for the downgrade in our society. Contrary to what we have now, there used to be a time when music and tv shows in Nigeria always had moral lessons for the viewers. Even the lyrics of the music always taught children to be good, respectful, obey their parents, being good leaders of tomorrow, etc. Even in primary school, we used to march to songs that reformed our minds positively and if it wasn’t so important and just “mere” singing as long as the children can march, why not carry out an experiment and have them march to songs where they are glorifying drug use, sex, abuse, theft, murder and every vice and watch their behaviours in the school in a few weeks. Of course, it doesn’t even need to be carried out because we have already seen the negative results from our entertainment space in our society, so we really need no further damage, trust me on that. I remember the beautiful marching songs I sang in primary school of which the most memorable to me goes like this “parents listen to your children…and..we are the leaders of tomorrow,so!!!….try to pay our school fees, and give us a sound education, yes!!!” I’m sure some of you reading this definitely sang this right? Beautiful nostalgia!!
I know I’ve ranted enough but trust me if you read up to this point that means you understand the necessity and great importance of his topic and why I had to pen it down from the bottom of my heart. My parting quote “When it comes to societal reformation, nobody stands on the fence, you’re either for reformation or destruction”. Make do with this whatever you will!!!
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