I recently counted the sexual predators who have been exposed over the past three months who are associated with the mainstream media and the movie and television industries. All of them are men. The number of men who have been outed over the past three months exceeds three dozen.

One of the men who was exposed by the woman he abused is Matthew Weiner, the creator of the award-winning television series, Mad Men. The show premiered in 2007 and ended in 2015, after seven seasons and 92 episodes. During that time, the show won numerous awards, including Golden Globes and Emmys, for its “historical authenticity” and “visual style.”

Mad Men was known as a “period show,” and was based in the early 1960s. The show was about a group of Madison Avenue advertising men. Even though the story line of Mad Men took place in the 1960s, the primary content of the show was centered on adulterous and licentious behavior.

In 2010, I watched one episode of Mad Men and it was obvious to me that like a majority of the modern-day movies and television shows, the men in the show routinely found themselves in situations where they met beautiful young women and then ended up in bed with them the same day they met.

Like the other men who create and produce these types of shows, the creator of Mad Men produced shows that were centered on his own fantasies. He simply had actors play out those fantasies on television.

With the outing of the more than three dozen men in media, television, and the movies, it should be no surprise to anyone that they were simply living out the fantasies that that wrote about — fantasies that always showed men engaging in one-night stands with beautiful young women whom they had only known for a matter of hours.

But the men who got caught went too far. They became animals who used power, intimidation, and force to get their way with women. They should all be charged with crimes and, if convicted, they should be put in prison.

Because there are a lot of boys who watch the shows and movies that are written and produced by these types of men, these boys come to believe that what is depicted in the shows and movies is normal and happens on a regular basis. Watching such behavior encourages the boys to fantasize about engaging in that type of sinful behavior.

All of this is the result of the ban on teaching about God and the Ten Commandments in the public schools that took place during the 1960s. By diabolical design, it just so happened that God and His commandments were removed from the public classrooms at the same time that the sexual revolution was occurring in America.

One of the beliefs that was promoted during the 1960s was that it was okay to engage in sex as a recreational activity, rather than as a sacred union between a man and his wife. Within a generation, a large share of our population went from a morality-based sexual code of conduct to a consent-based sexual code of conduct.

When the moral boundaries that were associated with sex were removed, the public school system, the media, the television industry, and the men in Hollywood teamed up to promote the belief that people have the right to freely engage in sexual activity as long as the activity is consensual.

Men were told that as long as they had the consent of the women they desired, they were free to engage in sex, regardless of their marital status or the marital status of the women they were involved with.

All a man had to do was convince a woman to consent, and he was free to do what he wanted to do with her. The end result was that the responsibility for any sexual encounter was ultimately placed upon the woman who was giving her consent, while the man who was asking for or insisting on the consent, did not bear any responsibility for his own behavior.

Because we live in a culture where the sexual code of conduct is now based on consent rather than on a moral code, we have to be careful not to be seduced by the beliefs of the people and institutions who have no regard for Almighty God and His code of conduct.

As devout Catholics, we need to resist the temptation to watch the movies and shows that promote this particular belief system. If we watch these movies and shows, we will (1) gradually be desensitized to the gravely sinful behavior that is depicted, (2) telegraph to our children and grandchildren that viewing these types of movies and shows is acceptable, and (3) engrave in our imaginations the images and scenes that will later occupy our thoughts when we should be entertaining thoughts related to virtuous activity. 

These movies and shows are especially harmful to men because what they see conditions them to accept and subconsciously believe that women are simply objects to be used for their own pleasure.

The human soul was designed by God to be renewed and perfected. Because of our fallen human nature, we need the sacraments, such as Baptism, Confession, and Holy Communion, to assist with the renewal process, and we need prayer and sacrifice to assist us in our journey toward perfection.

The renewal and perfection of our souls is a delicate process that comes under attack each time we allow ourselves to view images and situations that cast sinful behavior in an acceptable or favorable light. Because our eyes are the windows to our hearts and souls, we need to exercise extreme caution and self-restraint when it comes to what we allow our eyes to view and absorb.

We have to constantly be on guard against anything that can potentially soften our resistance to the moral decay that has become entrenched in our culture.

Whether we realize it or not, the viewing of the types of movies and shows that are currently being produced will, over time, not only cause grave harm to our souls, but will also alter our own beliefs and behavior.

We need to exercise vigilance in protecting and shielding our hearts and souls from the harmful images and scenes we are constantly being exposed to on our televisions, at the movie theaters, and on our electronic devices.

Our eternal salvation depends on it.

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