Thinking about values

Many people continue to believe that they have the knowledge to differentiate between right and wrong. The act of selecting between right and wrong wholly depends on the understanding of values and ethics. Reading through the first chapter, “ Thinking about values”, I realized that concepts of ethics and values stretch beyond what majority of people think. The primary reading on Love’s knowledge proved to me that conveyance of moral point is more than just the philosophical examples that the majority understand. As an individual, the Love’s knowledge reading raises an important question, “ How do the contemporary films, especially the Hollywood affect the morality of an individual?”
From the reading, there are various points touching on morality, values, and ethics on the basis of fictions or films that have become rampant within the contemporary society. One of the points from the story is that the human life is brief or short. As a result, the brevity of human life requires more that experiencing every action in order to learn more about moral issues. In this perspective, the second point is that for human to understand moral issues there is need to include novels, short stories, dramas, and other forms of fictions, which provide emotional lessons. Is this the main reason why there are many films and movies? Are the films and movies especially in the contemporary society aimed at teaching moral issues in the society? These and many more are questions that arise on the basis of the information from Love’s knowledge.
There is no doubt that as human beings we have a short life thus difficult to experience every action and activity, which will help us judge the morals, immoral actions, valuables, and the invaluable actions. In our everyday life we encounter concepts of good and evil throughout the media as well as other forms of entertainment. There are characters within comic movies that are attributed to either evil or good. For instance, Dr. Evil in Austin Powers is an evil character who enjoys doing evil actions. Does this mean that as human beings we should enjoy doing evil as well? The reading it is clear that human beings cannot experience everything in order to learn about moral issues. Instead, the human life should be augmented with fictions, novels, and dramas in order to learn more about moral issues. When we see different characters within the films and movies we watch enjoy being evil, does that teach anything to do with morality and values? What will become of the next generations that continuously watch such films?
As a person, how am I influenced by the films, dramas, fictional stories, and novels in respect to morality and values? Have the films, dramas, fictional stories, and novels negatively affected my morality and perception of values? Contemporary individuals continue to rely significantly on reading and watching in order to understand the society. My perception about values and morality is sometimes shaken especially when I read or watch some dramas. In fact, my parents in the contemporary world are crying foul of the media for having encouraged immorality and lack of value amongst their children. Governments of various nations as well as different stakeholders continue to cry foul of the media for its impact on morality and values.
Therefore, as a final submission, I wish to reiterate that even though reading and watching provide extensive knowledge for us to understand things that we could not have otherwise experienced, it is clear that serious caution has to be taken in encouraging such move. This is because the media have significantly changed the perception of many in regard to morals and values in a society.