@sneakypete , @libertybele , @DiogenesLamp
Great discussion.
There's one other factor that us older types tend to overlook - the globally connected world and the ability and tendency of all of us to stay with what we feel comfortable with. There are fewer and fewer opportunities to interact with people who have different beliefs and values. And, most of us tend to shy away from things we don't like.
I remember sometime back reading about one of those cannibal cases - I think it was some German who was looking for and found someone willing to be the cannibalized. The article revealed that there were places online where people of that bent could go to find like-minded individuals. Good God! Before our successful de-Babelization of the world, someone who thought like that would probably never get beyond a few sick thoughts about it. They would probably never meet anyone who thought like they did and encouraged them to explore their sickness. Now, every little niche and narcissistic impulse can be affirmed on the internet. Heck, one can find people sicker and more warped than you ever imagined possible!
I don't know how you break through that. TV used to be 3 channels and maybe the local channel. Pretty easy to get a particular piece of information or disinformation out there.
You are making a point that I attempt to make when I discuss the influence of Television and mass communications. It spreads decadence and sickness in numerous and sundry ways.
I recall reading that when Thomas Edison invented movies, he thought they would be used for wonderful and educational purposes. They quickly turned to the sleazy decadence of the "Roaring 20s." When Philo Farnsworth invented Television, he too thought it would be a great and wonderful educational device. It took a little longer, but it eventually became "That vast Wasteland" that Newton Minow called it in the 1960s.
The sickness of big city depravity soon became spread all across the nation and eventually all across the Western world. We could watch dystopia every evening on the television screen, and because people could see it every day, they eventually regarded the abnormal as normal.
Even if Television (and now Computer screens) were not completely under Liberal control, I think over time they would eventually become so, because a form of instant gratification is inherent in their usage.
To many people, television is more interesting than real life, and as a result it steals real life from people.
This is part of what we have to fight. Also, fake lives on television affect real opinions in reality. People literally emulate the nonsense they see on television.