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Televised Deaths

chief703chief703 Member Posts: 7 ✭✭
edited September 2001 in General Discussion
A friend of mine the other day told me something he believes will happen soon that made me ponder, so now I'll put it to our board. My friend and I were discussing all the recent problems in the US today, and the subject of decaying morals came up. His thoughts: that the US, like the Roman Empire, is doomed to fall in a similar manner. Where the Romans threw the Christians to the lions to please a bored populace, today's pop culture and 'reality' based shows are our forms of entertainment for a bored, uneducated, and (compared to most of the rest of the world) wealthy populace. It's his belief that we will see, within the next few years, someone (or a group of people) die on live TV for the sole purpose of providing entertainment to us. Note I'm not talking about news events that show people being killed, which are common. I'm also not talking about an accidental death, like the recent wrestling star. I'm thinking more along the lines of these 'reality' shows, or perhaps an execution will be shown. A planned, calculated death or deaths broadcast on live TV (or perhaps taped and edited for the full desired effect) is athe idea.What does everyone else think? Will we stoop this low? Or are we just being paranoid here? Is it a moral issue, or is it just entertainment, nothing more? Are we headed for a TV show like the movie 'The Running Man?' And if we are, is it really harmful to our society, or just plain fun to watch?
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    gruntledgruntled Member Posts: 8,218 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Depends on who, how & how much. Could be a good way to pay off the national debt.Bill & Hillary in a gradatorial duel in the Rose Bowl. I'd pay up to $5.00 to see that.
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    metzmetz Member Posts: 121 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    5??? Hell, I'd give rides and spend pay per view prices.Also, public executions. I'd of paid to watch Mcveighs last breath. Set Charles Manson on fire and I'd pay for that too. Those 4-5 guys that killed that hwy patrol guy (one of the first caught on tape from a patrol car). If you showed the video of the cop being executed then showed the criminals being put to death, that may actually have an impact. Don't know what happened to the bad guys, cop must of died in vain..........Andy
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    boeboeboeboe Member Posts: 3,331
    edited November -1
    At the time of it's "fall" the Roman Empire was virtually completely Christian.Constantine the Great was the 1st Christian Emperor of Rome, ca. 306-336 AD. He was responsible for the Council of Nicea, where it was decided what would be in the Bible we now have. From that time forward the Roman Empire grew more and more towards Christianity. They even struck coins with Christian symbols on them. The emperors of Rome were predominantly Christian (with a few exceptions) towards the very end. There were certainly no Christians being fed to the lions for the last 150 years of the Roman Empire. Indeed, Christianity had become the state religion. That is why the Catholic Church is referred to as "Roman Catholic".At the time of the fall of Rome, there were actually two halves of the Roman Empire, the Eastern half and the western half. While allied, each was atomomous under it's own emperor. The capital of the eastern empire was Constantinople. After the fall of the western empire, the eastern empire continued to exist for another 1,000 years. It was known as the Byzantine Empire. Today, much of the Greek Orthodox dogma and traditions dates to the Byzantines. The Byzantine Empire was no more or less corrupt than it's western counterpart (although the Greeks may argue that point) and it continued for 1,000 additional years.The most commonly accepted reason Rome fell was not due to immorality. It was due to lead. They used lead in their plumbing, wine bottles, drinking and eating utensiles. They became so poisond with lead that it reduced their ability to reproduce (a byproduct of lead poisoning is infertility). Infants were born with lead in their system. The genetic pool became so weakened they could not compete with their rivals.The absense of morality and/or Christianity had nothing to do with the fall of the Roman Empire.
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    shaneshane Member Posts: 882 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Chief703, I do think it will be a low point in the history of this nation if the kind of public death you are talking about ever gets started But, I also want to say that I think that if our country started putting to death terrorist,mass murderers, and others like that on live T.V it would stop a good deal of that crime. That's just what I think.boeboe, You really know your stuff, I'm impressed!
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