Open Minds

I cannot recall those years with horror, loathing, and heartache. I killed people in war, summoned others to duels in order to kill them, gambled at cards; I devoured the fruits of the peasants labor and punished them; I fornicated and practiced deceit. Lying, thieving, and promiscuity of all kinds, drunkenness, violence, murder … there was not a crime I did not commit, and yet I was praised for it all and my contemporaries considered, and still consider me, a relatively moral man.

For 10 years I lived in this fashion. During this time I began to write out of vanity, self interest, and pride. In my writing I did the same as I did in life. In order to achieve the fame and fortune for which I wrote I had to conceal what was good in myself and display what was bad. And this is what I did.  Time and again I would contrive in my writings to conceal under the guise of indifference, or even of lightheartedness, those strivings for goodness which lent meaning to my life. And I succeeded and was praised.

When was the last time you really saw an example of a good or moral person in mass media? Is this because good people make others feel guilty, and guilty viewers change the channel?