“Please Don't Turn This Into A Religion.”

By Eric 'Renderking' Fisk - March 31st, 2008

Ren's RantsWhen I was growing up, my mom used to tell me "Please don't make a career out of it" after she told me to do something that shouldn't take too long. The request was for me to pick up the pace and do the task with-in a pre-proscribed about of time. Like cleaning my room shouldn't take more then an hour or so.

I was reminded of the saying when Doug "Webhead73" Palumbo started the thread: Girl Dies After Parents Pray for Healing. This prompted me to get some things off my chest about faith, religion and the cult of pop-culture...  hence the name of the title...

 

There's a trend in American Culture to turn every thing into a "religion" or attribute something from the entertainment world into something worthy of "cult status." People are looking for something new to believe in - something that makes them whole and a part of something greater then themselves. This is one of the reasons why we have The Branch Davidians in Waco Texas, Punch Drinkers in Jonestown or a church where people CONTINUE to go there despite knowing that there is something horribly wrong there but can't put their finger on it...

Our modern culture is too devoid of anything to actually believe in, which is why we either have to make something up or to grant things we enjoy into something that's life-altering and affirming. "My life changed when I saw 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark!' Nirvana! Nirvana! The Rapture in The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull! RAPTURE!" The Fedora Chronicles forum is populated by many people who said: 'You know, I want to be more like Jones,' and did so. Sadly too many other people devote their lives to watching the same movie over and over again frame-by-frame to see if they can spot something nobody's ever posted about. What really we're supposed to don our fedoras and explore... not fuss over the same 4 movies over and over and over again, are we? But sadly - even "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" can be used to drain the lives of it's fans.

It's one of the reasons why some politicians are bestowed a Christ-Like Mantle, or why people like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are to The DNC what Elvis was to music. We want someone to believe in, we want to believe that someone who has taken the national stage actually cares for us and every waking minute they think about how they can make our lives better.

This is all because we fail to look inside ourselves, and forget to put aspects of our lives in the correct prospective. Here's a news flash for those people who put too much into Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of The Rings, Indiana Jones and maybe even the bible: sometimes it's OK to put what you're doing and where you're going FIRST. There's no crime in putting yourself on the top of the list of important people who are doing things worth talking about when the opportunity arises.

 

It's OK to be a little self-centered and write about your own travels and adventures. You're supposed to be inspired by great movies and books, not turn your life over to them. [Those who get this understand what we're about here on The FC... but now I'm preaching to the choir.]

I went to College full time in part because of an episode of The Next Generation "Tapestry" - Picard gets the chance to re-live a period of his life and undo a mistake he made that forever altered his life. Little did he know that this "mistake" was the turning point that brought focus to his life. Message to Star Trek fans who don't have lives - you're supposed to take chances, you're supposed to take risks, and you're supposed to be bold. That was the whole point of life.

I stayed in college because I wanted to be the "Indiana Jones" of something. I won't ever be a world famous archeologist - but now I'm now known as far East as Belgium and as far west as Hong Kong for what I wrote on The Indy Experience, other forums and here on The Fedora Chronicles...

I'm more interested in the people who joined the military or became Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, and explorers because of Star Trek or Star Wars then someone who is the Captain of The Steamship "Dishwasher" who makes Klingon Kostumes out of Kardboard and Duct-Tape.

It's fun to enjoy those movies, books and games. They're supposed to stimulate the imagination. But who does more for society - Dick Rutan and "Space-Ship-One," or the forgotten tool who made the "working replica" of the Gelileo-7 shuttle craft?

A hammer is either a tool or a weapon. What you do with it determines if it's "good' or "evil." Same goes for Entertainment. Even The Bible is a tool for Satan when it's misquoted to excuse the unforgivable sins committed against other people.

 

 
 

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