This was a paper I had to write for a literature class a while back based on the the following quote from Charles Krauthammer....
“The ultimate effect on our mass culture is to make children older than their years, to turn them into the knowing, cynical pseudo-adult that is by now the model kid of the TV Sitcom. It is a crime against children to make them older than their years. And it won’t do for the purveyors of cynicism to hide behind the First Amendment. Of course they have the right to publish and peddle this trash to kids. But they should have the decency not to. Let us therefore take a pledge, a stand, a covenant, against such rubbish, and recommit ourselves to the great civilizing impulse that gave rise to such things as libraries”. -- Charles Krauthammer
Charles Krauthammer had a point when he said that. Why would you want to throw away your childhood? You’d be missing a critical point in your life. Childhood is a precious thing… once you grow too old you cannot continue being a child.
If kids decide they want to become more grown up, that’s fine. There is nothing wrong with maturing. But, as Krauthammer said, media and modern entertainment are turning kids into doubting, counterfeit “adults” who are skeptical about everything they see, and do not trust their own family and friends. They are suddenly uninterested in doing things others do, unless it looks nifty and popular. They want to be older and more “up to date” and don’t want any advice in their lifestyles.
Furthermore, kids can’t learn from childhood mistakes if they grow up too quickly. Everyone makes mistakes, but when you’re younger, you can learn a lot more when you are humble enough to receive direction from your parents and elders when you make mistakes. When you believe you are old enough not to need help, you could get stuck very easily.
The modern television shows’ producers do have the right to put out their piece, but sometimes it may cause doubt and mistrust in the minds of young people. They become entranced with the main character’s nature, and want to be exactly like them, no matter what.
In Krauthammer’s own words, “…recommit ourselves to the great civilizing impulse that gave rise to such things as libraries”. In my opinion, he was meaning that when libraries and public places were founded, they were meant to nurture and help the kids mature in a good and godly way that didn’t push things.
You may be thinking that I am saying modern media and maturing is a bad thing. I am not. Personally I think that those things are fine, and sometimes even good, but not when they are filled with immoral, ungodly things; in other words, when they twist things around to be corrupt but say they are encouraging maturity.
The sky isn’t the limit… God is, as He is in everything.