CHANGES

CHANGES

(Entertainment propaganda, youth and the church)

Written by Damein Williams

I wrote this in frustration to the way of the world ,the spiritual war that goes on in the everyday lives of our young parents and our youth and the propaganda of the deceitful entertainment industry.

People either do believe in God , don’t believe in God, or know that there is a God and have been taught about him and choose disbelief. I am a religious man but I am but a man still and fall victim to my own temptations just like anyone else and in my journey to righteousness this speech to those that will listen was placed upon me heart. I can no longer live my life and continue to know that there is good and evil, to know the difference from right and wrong and to know that people are destroying their lives and being mislead by these material desires and forces that spread lies to everyone and how they should live. A misleading truth that upsets my soul and not do anything about it.

I strongly believe that music has the most powerful influence than any type of media. Our youth today is subjected to this music in every form down to the clothes we wear. Money is a much need commodity and a motivator too many but this should not be the only thing we look too for survival. In today’s music we hear that if we don’t have the nice car, the big house , the most beautiful woman and people envying us for what we have, we are worthless. This I say is not true . Who are these people to say that we are what we wear, where we live and what we do. At one time drug dealing was look upon as being something evil and only the lowest people of the earth would be involved in such things. But now they are lifted by everyone and every media. You can turn on the radio and here songs about selling dope to make a profit and pimping women and killing for respect. Not only are the children believing this but also the adults it upsets me to see a 40 year old man wearing is pants to his ankles with a tilted baseball cap, just to fit in today’s society and be respected by our youth. Where does this end? Who knows but I can tell you were it begins. It begins with these Major record labels and film companies seeking to make a profit from anything they can get there hands on. Even if that means releasing music that is completely destroying our world today. People are more worried about the war that is being fought overseas and not focusing on the war that is being fought on our streets everyday. I can not describe how much it upsets me when I open the newspaper and see another senseless death or murder or tragedy that could have been averted. We mourn more over a celebrity than we do are own neighbors.

There is no pride in selling drugs , there is no pride in shooting down another man , there is no pride in thinking only for oneself. Yes the realization of preservation for yourself and your family is very true and much needed but if you are doing well and you neighbor is not, where will that lead us? Into a torn society. Which leads to theft and murder for material things., the things that you possess. Your car, your house and even your wife or husband. Nothing is truly safe, of this world. We are lead to believe that if we do not have this unsatisfied greed we will starve and die. Get what you can when you can get it and don’t miss out. But what are we really missing out on? More problems, more eyes watching our every movement. More hatred directed towards us for what we want, people to envy us. Now it is a good thing to be hated “ “Brush these hata’s off!” is what they tell us in these songs. “Cooking dope in the trap house” can make you a rich man, but It can make you a dead man. These music companies have no shame in promoting these rappers that promote selling drugs that destroy peoples lives. The rappers defends themselves by saying that is the way they grew up and that is what everyone does to make money where they’re from and they had no choice to pick the gun and start selling drugs or die. That is not true, we all have choices it’s the difference in making the right one is what truly makes us who we are. I have friends that sell drugs and I don’t wish anything bad to happen to them but it will. What is born of evil will die of evil, if the right choices are not made. The money goes as quick as it comes because it is easy money. I always say that I may be at the bottom but I have nowhere to go but up. These people at are at the top have a long way to fall and will hit the ground hard. I bet the people that run these record labels and film companies would be very upset and embarrassed if the child was caught doing or selling these drugs their artist boast about making money from. What are these rappers doing to give back to the community? To actually help the world? I watch their interviews and they complain about the grief of fortune and fame, “ More money ,More problems” and how hard they work for their money , touring and being in the studio to cut there new album that requires as much thought and talent as using the toilet. And what is really sad is that people actually by this so called music. The consumer actually by into this propaganda of money, sex and drugs. I know that this combination has been going on since the beginning of time but at least there was some regulation to the exposure of such things. I remember in the 1990’s rap music was being attacked from all sides. The infamous 2 Pac court cases and the 2 live crew courts cases and the band for the music and I admit I was a fan of the music but at that time hip hop was a different entity then, about rising to a different occasion of self awareness, police brutality and raise ourselves as a community. And the government continuously attacked these rap artist about there music. But where is the government now to intercede. I remember when you wouldn’t hear the words bitch or ass or even the notion of drug selling on a song playing on the radio. But now you can’t turn on the radio without hearing it. When Elvis Presley performed on the Ed Sullivan Show they only camera angels they showed was from is waist up because of his hip gyrated dance moves and now you can’t turn on the T.V. with out someone on the corner with a pocket full of money talking about shooting anyone trying to take theirs, with a half naked girl grinding his leg or celebrities showing off their “Cribs” and all the thing they possess and the commercials between the songs and T.V. shows are no better.

Your too fat buy these diet pills, your too skinny, buy this value meal. Your too depressed, you NEED this medication that may give you side affects that will probably put you in a worse condition than you already are. Get the purse that your favorite actress is wearing, so what even if it cost $4,000.00 DO WHAT YOU MUST TO GET WHAT YOU WANT!!!!!!!!!! What about what you need?

So your elders say “you need Jesus” which is the truest thing any man can say but where are we to look? The church? And if so what one? That is more easier said than done.

What happened to the church that welcomed you with open arms. People ask why aren’t the youth attracted to the church like they should be . Well I believe that the church don’t provide the answers that today’s youth are looking for. They want to know why the man on the corner is making more money than his father going to work everyday from 9 to 5. They want to know why, If drug dealing is so bad why can they turn on the T.V. and see there favorite rapper starring in movies and collecting awards for the music they put out and are not in jail and being punished for what there elders consider evil?. Our parents today are getting younger and younger every year and are subjecting their children to this form of entertainment so where are they to learn about God and the values that he wants us all to have in terms to where they can apply it in a evolutionized society? What I mean by an evolutionized society is that this generation we live in now is a product of what every generation before us have done and are youth have evolved into a new generation with a new way of thinking, loving and hating. There is apathy in us unlike ever before and this spreads to our old by the actions of our youth. Just being in church and sitting in the pews every Sunday doesn’t make us holy. Knowing the bible from beginning to end doesn’t make us holy, but following a righteous path and knowing right from wrong, seeking guidance from God and then making the correct choices can make us holy and only then can we be able to answer those questions.

I find myself sitting in church waiting for the pastor to begin preaching about things that relate to my problems of my generation but he never gets there . I guess they figure if they have a youth program that choreographs a praise dance and yearly plays for Easter and Christmas then they are helping our youth. The truth is, being of this generation our youth needs to be helped about the everyday situations they face and what they witness going on the corners of their neighborhoods, in there schools and at their work place. I believe that these church youth programs are outdated and not up to the challenges of today. Creating a Boys and Girls club type atmosphere is great for children but what about the teens and the young parents? Youth programs should stop at a certain age it should begin as our youth as a Christian, an infant in Christ. I’m not knocking the youth programs but as I watch these and smile at the little boy that is just off half a step to the music I can’t help but wonder what will happen when that boy gets older and goes to school everyday watching other kids practice the latest dance move from MTV and reciting the lyrics about selling drugs and being the hardest gangsta that ever lived. The thought of that is very depressing because the amount of money and time these major companies put in to brainwashing the masses greatly out number those few hours the church spend on creating a new play or praise dance or bible study to bring a positive message to that boys life. The behavior of the church scares away our youth. From pastors segregating his own ministry into the haves and have nots. And according to his sermon everyone can gain from Christ but only if you give to this church. He is thieving from his own followers to bring wealth to his home. The people that work in his office, that does the taxes and knows where the money is going are no better than the pastor himself. The members of that church that give big just to stay in good favor of this pastor are no better than him. “ All they want is my money’ is what the none goers say and I agree, but there are some churches that stay to their roots of being a foundation for spiritual regeneration , enlightenment and fulfillment, but they are smothered by these cookie cutter establishments and must be sought after diligently.

In Closing,

These times we live in now, remind me of the year of 1968 when the world was being torn by war and politics and here on our very land we fought each other. Being at the height of the Vietnam war, the assignation of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and JFK. The search for a new leader to take us out of this weakened state of being, as a nation. The political uprising of the common man being sick and tired of being trodden by the very government that promises peace and prosperity but all is just headed in a downward spiral , a means to an end. So I ask you, where do you stand in within yourself? And would you stand for a complete stranger? Will you stand for the youth of our nation? Will you stand for the truth and fight to bring that truth to everyone else? Or will you stand by yourself and for only yourself, like this propaganda wants you to? Because it is easier for the enemy to defeat us all alone than together as one. Let us raise our fist in the likes of John Carlos and Tommie Smith after winning the gold medial in the Mexico City Olympic games but not just against racism of color but a racism against a social hierarchy spread from the television , to our homes, to the street corners and into our very church and minds.