Only Entertainment
Only Entertainment was included on Bad Religion's album Generator (released in 1992 but recorded in 1991). The song takes a considerable, nasty swipe at the news media, which even left-leaning Bad Religion considered a complete farce at the time. Anytime I hear someone getting worked up about something political or whatever is big in the news right now (NFL players and the National Anthem, whatever Trump said, climate change blather, someone's emails, etc.), I'm reminded of this inscrutable fact: it is only entertainment.
While the song ends by taking a swing at the FCC, its ferocity is mainly directed at the mainstream news media. I maintain that anyone who gets their information from mainstream sources (all the alphabet soups, including PBS) is not wise. If you regard it as simple entertainment, you will do well. It is designed to draw you into the fray of left versus right, them versus us, blue versus red, etc. It is divisive. It peddles misinformation, disinformation, and outright lies. Consider how worked up people get over the Black Lives Matter thing. Of course black lives matter. End of discussion. But that's not how it happens. Saying black lives matter is akin to starting WWIII. And that's by design. Step back from that. Don't embroil yourself in those fights. They want us fighting each other. Divide and conquer.
Another mantra I've found to be true: truth in movies, lies on the news. The elite hide their agenda (to supposedly rid themselves of karmic guilt, as in, don't say we didn't warn ya) in what most of us consider entertainment (books, movies, television, etc.), while they plaster outright lies all over the news. And then they surely laugh at us who take it all in and discuss it as if it were truth. If you don't play that game, you are an outlier and a sort of speckled bird, forever picked on for not playing the game. But, as Christians, that's not our game. We are, after all, God's speckled bird (Jeremiah 12:9).
Some have commented over the years on Greg Graffin's singing. He emphases syllables in uncommon ways, ever playing with innuendo and often achieving some degree of tongue in cheek. As a word nerd, I always appreciated the way he sang and how he played with words, bending them to his needs and not the other way around. We are, of course, masters of our words. They should not rule us. Similar to how Graffin manipulates words to fit music, the elite of this world manipulate our vision of reality to suit their needs. The next time you watch or read a news story, just remember, this is what they want you to believe. It's up to you to decide whether or not to accept it as truth. Though what we see and hear are often masterful and sometimes artful manipulations of reality, it does not benefit us to believe in their alternate reality.
Thirty years ago when this album was conceived, screens were limited in number. There were still too many, but we could always turn them off and walk away. Now, screens are literally everywhere, and most in my country carry one with them wherever they go. I like to leave mine behind these days, though I do devote a considerable amount of time to Tumblr. I was listening to a conversation of two men who are very much in the know about how society has been transformed, and they mentioned the dangers of too much screen time for developing minds. But what about the rest of us? Do we ever get to the point where staring at a screen is okay? It's a highly unnatural thing, when you think about it, staring at a screen. Human beings developed as social creatures. We need human interactions. We need feedback, not a passive watching experience. Even spectators sitting in stands at ballgames are partaking in passive entertainment (go and throw a ball around with your kids), and when you're passive, especially when subjected to the right wavelength, the infamous they can preach right into your subconscious, essentially programming you. Years ago when the creators of the television were deciding which wavelength to use, they decided to use the most powerful one to the subconscious mind, which was not an accident. And that is partly why watching screens is bad. It bypasses our intellect. But my point is, if Bad Religion was decrying how bad the news media was 30 years ago, how much worse is it now?
Another thought about this is how isolating it is watching screens, but it is now normal, and that was before the crown virus/kobe plandemic. One of the most egregiously abusive things you can do to a human is separate them from other humans. And that's what we did with the crown virus. And then there are all the kids who come from abusive homes who are stuck with those people and can't go anywhere, which only increased their despair. But we accepted the way the powers that be told us to handle this, even though it felt wrong (and caused many to commit suicide). So that's on us. We can't complain about what we accept. A line that stands out in this song is "the man behind the weather map, the editor in chief, they control two worlds: power and disease." Consider that for a moment. We are being endlessly lied to about this whole plandemic thing. People die. It's what they do. A hard look at the data tells us we were manipulated in a very sadistic way. Those who reaped billions of dollars from this thing are the clear instigators, or at least had foreknowledge. They are, as the Bible calls them, the rich men of the earth. Why should we listen to them or give them more money (psst, much of it comes from selling your data)?
Generator is a particularly melancholic album, even by Bad Religion standards. But that's because the songwriters had no hope. Hope does not come from the secular realm. Hope is a spiritual gift from God. Often I feel defeated when I discover a new truth, and I mention this in an upcoming blog post, and that's okay for a while. Too much doom and gloom is simply that. I used to say you have to balance your research into what is going on in the world with reading the Bible, but now I don't know what to say. It feels like it's over for us. But I know they propagandize for a reason. If it was all sown up, why would they continue to propagandize us? It tells me there is still hope, that we can still wake up God's people and get them to humble themselves, to pray and seek God's face, and to turn from their wicked ways. It tells me revival is still possible, though it won't happen without repentance. So let's keep praying for that. When the devil does his worst, God does His best. But just as Isaiah answered God's voice, someone needs to say, "Here I am. Send me." Thank you for reading. God bless.
The lyrics are below:
It's your window to the outside
A melancholy dream
A medium upon which you build reality
This episodic currency
That everybody needs
Somebody's delivery lulls you to sleep
The editor in chief
They control two worlds
Power and disease
And you cannot suppress your curiosity
But see it's only entertainment
Poster board mentality
Only entertainment
Tightly constrained
The buzz that remains
Is the story of how we run our lives
Many are the people poor and suffering
From the transmission beam
And if it ever gets there
You'll be offended too
'cause you cannot distinguish
Chicanery from truth
See it's only entertainment
A superficial episode
As life continues to unfold
Only entertainment
Controlled and copied
They've planted the seed
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