During a live stream session on storytelling, the speaker said, “Entertainment is made to manipulate us.”
Funny way to put it… If your goal is to change the world and you create something worth spreading… does that make you manipulative? I don’t care for using the word manipulative, it feels negative. I imagine some cunning pervert with thick dark bags under his eyes pulling strings on the puppets of humanity. The light casting up onto his face producing menacing shadows. He cackles and touches himself in a grotesque manner. Ok, let’s get back on track…
What’s the positive spin on that? A changemaker? A visionary? A leader? Depending on the words you can skew the maker’s intent from nefarious to noble. How about a guide? Guide has less of that villainous undertone. Maybe one could say, “As storytellers, we guide people.” Where we guide them and the moral paths our stories take… that’s up to the creator.
I believe storytellers and entertainers need to recognize that we are all guiding people — and with that comes incredible responsibility. When we set out to create art, music, film, blogs, Instagram posts, whatever have you… it should be with the intent to inspire the way to love. Or in the case, it catches on, Alaza.
Clearly, that’s not always the case.
Our creative outputs should be about people helping people, friendships, the left hand vs the right hand, good and evil, always pointing toward the truth of love, the path of non-violence, wellness, and peace. The truth is that we need these nudges and course corrections all around us.
Art that fails to do this is lazy and lacks purpose. Art that is created and put out for personal gains of fame or greed surely has a purpose, but it’s missing the point. Art that manipulates people to move and feel and act in the opposite direction is a sincerely sinister ambition and should be recognized as a crime. It’s disheartening to know that money propels these ideas, and it seems that more often than not we get expressions of art that bring us down selfish, senseless, and disturbing paths.
What we create and put into the world matters. Responsible storytellers, musicians, and creators… need to learn to blend their talents and gifts with a meaning that gives value to humanity. To use their passions as friendly reminders to love. To inspire innovative ways of cultural progress and new ways of thinking.
Expressions of darkness should only be justified if we’re able to hold it up into the light in contrast to see the insanity, injustice, or nonsense from it. Is that too much censorship and stripping of freedom of speech? Does it defy human rights? But why do we call them human rights, if they lead other humans to wrong? Is it your human right to take a shit on society? Rather than dropping trou and dumping your dark side on the world, you should see it as your human duty to bring light — to express what shines within and remind people of the truth and the way. And if you’re in a shroud of darkness, here’s a friendly reminder to know that this too shall pass.
Why?
Why should you do that?
How about for whatever reason you can think of? Make it up. Believe in something. Whip up your own why. Find something that makes sense for you. Feel free.
Perhaps, there is a need for more ways to incentivize the creation of things that lead humans down the path of love (ahem, Alaza). How can we reward truth, peace, and honesty? While it’s up to us as individuals on the daily to choose a path of integrity, having the incentive to do so… well that would be nice. It sure would be easier to justify.
But even before we entertain, we need to be educated about love. And not the romantic comedy kind of love, where the happy ending is the couple finally waking up nude in bed together. Alaza/love is an infinite pursuit, a new beginning in every moment. A constant path to grow and act in a way that serves the world around us.
We must have a solid fundamental understanding of what this love is before we are able to express it. But that love I refer to is a concept not unanimously understood, it exists trapped in a word with approximately 39 other meanings.
Where can we learn to love? Do we rely on families to teach their children? (Seems unreliable) Do we let it become discovered as fragmented bits and pieces of wisdom within the myths and religions? Or do we adapt our global education systems?
Where will we learn to love? How do we teach it?