Episode 19: Are You What You Eat?

"Would've never gone so far/without someone there to start it/can I truly love the art/when I kinda hate the artist?/but/all my role models are on TV for the wrong reasons."

                                                        -AJR, "Role Models"

  I'm sure of you've all heard the expression "you are what you eat". This is usually used to refer to the actual eating of food, meaning that those who eat healthy foods are healthy, and those who eat unhealthy foods are unhealthy. However, I'm gonna use this expression in a different sense of consumption: entertainment. Many people think that the shows/movies you watch, the games you play, the books you read, etc., will change who you are. While I believe they can, I strongly believe that they more often than not don't. I think I myself am a very good example of this.

Do video games cause violence?

  No. No. Absolutely not. Do not ever suggest this to me. If video games caused violence the streets would just be constantly filled with rage and your kids would never be able to go to school. I have played some horribly violent video games. I have decapitated people in Mortal Kombat, gunned down enemy soldiers in Call of Duty, and slashed down evil government agents with Wolverine's claws.

   And yet, I have no desire to hurt people. I can't imagine killing someone. I can't imagine being violent unless I absolutely had to be. With the games I play, if video games caused violence, I would have quite the bodycount right now.

A Christian, watching a show with demons?!

   I am a Christian and I am very dedicated to my faith. I go to church every Sunday and have a little Bible study with my friends on Monday nights. I even take notes during my uncle's sermons and keep my streak going on the Bible app.

   But, believe it or not, I watch shows with demons in them. Supernatural, Ash vs. Evil Dead, Outcast, and Legends of Tomorrow come to mind. One of my favorite sitcoms, The Good Place, even centers around the afterlife and has a demon as one of the main protagonists. 

   While these shows typically do portray demons as bad and an enemy to be fought, some Christians may oppose me watching these shows because the exposure to them may weaken my faith. However, they haven't. I'd even say my faith has grown stronger over time. Not because of the shows, but the shows didn't do anything to hurt it.

The music you listen to

   If video games and TV shows don't matter in terms of who you are, music doesn't either. I'm not into much crazy music, but some of the nicest people I know have been into hardcore rap/metal music that talk about things like murder, drugs, sex, and the occult. It doesn't mean that they are like that or approve of the things being said, it just means they like the music. Whether it's the beat, the artist's voice, the instrumentals, whatever - it's just music they like.

In Conclusion

  The media you consume can change who you are, but it usually doesn't. And it really is up to you if it does. I will close out this blog with a picture of John Constantine, one of my all-time favorite comic characters. Constantine is a chainsmoking, potty-mouthed, occultist, demonologist, exorcist, and magician.