rehab | Merciful Perspective

The computer is powered on, the Internet browser is opened, and “Celebrity” is entered into the Google search engine. Four suggested searches are provided by the popular search engine. The fourth: “Celebrity gossip;” the third: “Celebrity net worth;” the second: “Celebrity cruises;” and the first suggested search given by Google: “Celebrity Rehab.” The first is selected, and within 0.07 seconds there are just under four million results. Unfortunately, despite the clear truths that are available, teens remain quick to follow these very celebrities; considering them to be an acceptable role model.

This phenomenon has occurred because teens are searching. They are searching for an identity both for themselves and within a group of people. Unfortunately, through advances in media technology, teens are constantly encouraged to pursue a reckless lifestyle. This phenomenon, where youth are choosing to live a reckless and harmful lifestyle, is growing. As a result of several influences, teens are abusing drugs and alcohol, as well as participating in relationships that harm people both physically and emotionally. Although these choices are becoming more and more evident, they are not new. What is new, however, is that this kind of lifestyle is accepted.

On Sunday, November 6^th 2011, Lindsay Lohan was incarcerated for four and a half hours. The initial sentence was thirty days; however, due to over crowding of the prison, Lohan only served a fraction of her initial sentence. Lohan was given the sentence in response to her failure to complete court- mandated community service, which was ordered for drunken driving and theft charges (Piazza, 2011). This kind of accountability to law is being preached to youth through the several media outlets that are available. Because teens are being taught that the punishment for criminal activity can easily be avoided, they are being encouraged to act in a similarly reckless way. Although these cases have become a public display that illegal activities do not always have strict consequences, the reality still remains. In 2009, nearly eleven thousand people were killed as a result of drivers who were intoxicated (Century Council, n.d.). The truth is that despite inadequate law enforcement, these actions can still be life changing. The greater the tolerance for publicized criminal activity, the greater the encouragement for further criminal activity in the next generation.

This encouragement of a hurtful lifestyle continues through today’s media. As a result of technological advances in media, teens have a large span of entertainment from which to choose. Unfortunately, many of these entertainment sources support a lifestyle that is harmful. The show Two and a Half Men, which had once been called “the biggest comedy hit of the decade” (Carter, 2011), was built around the lifestyle of one of the key characters in the show, Charlie Harper (played by Charlie Sheen). His lifestyle was filled with alcohol abuse and casual, sexual relationships with multiple women. His house was that of the successful individual that the show portrayed him to be. His lifestyle was presented as being the life of a successful American, who lived life to the fullest, eating, drinking, and doing his best to be merry. This success became a clear lie, however. The actor, Charlie Sheen, lived this same lifestyle in reality, and in 2011, the truth of that lifestyle was displayed through the falling apart of Sheen’s life. This collapse of Mr. Sheen’s life included the heavy abuse of drugs, as well as the loss of his star role in Two and a Half Men. Unfortunately, many teens still choose to follow in the footsteps of their favorite TV characters, such as Charlie Harper. The actors, however, like Charlie Sheen, become an embarrassment to the lie of the successfulness of reckless living and they are soon forgotten.

With these kinds of lies plaguing the continuous flow of media, it is crucial that teens are discouraged from living a life that leaves a shameful legacy. Unfortunately, the most common influences that teens look to for direction are encouraging this same lifestyle. By the time kids reach middle school, they are beginning to look to their peers for a sense of what is socially acceptable (Common Sense Media, 2010). Although studies have shown that the primary role models for teens are their parents or close relatives (Barna Group, 2011), the competition for this position increases as teens are seeking social acceptance. This kind of competition is not new for teens nor is it unnatural. However, when the media becomes involved as a peer who is seeking the position of role model, things go “awry” (Common Sense Media, 2010). As a long-term result of the media becoming the most influential peer, teens have grown accustomed to looking to these actors and fictional characters to direct them in certain aspects of their lives.

As teens become accustomed to following celebrities, they build an expectation for the next generation. This lifestyle reaches the point where what was once unacceptable is now acceptable, and not only acceptable, but expected. As teens become surrounded with this expectation of a reckless and selfish lifestyle, they have no choice but to see that expectation as what is socially appropriate. Adults, teens, and the media have all become an overpowering voice for this expectation, drowning out the voices of truth and reason. A phenomenon among crabs best describes this trap that is found within peer pressure. As crabs are being prepared to be sold, they are placed in a barrel. The phenomenon that begins to occur is when one crab tries to climb out, the rest of the crabs climb onto the escaping crab, pulling it back into the barrel. Sadly, this is the very thing that occurs in the lives of teens and their peers. In any attempt to live differently, they are greatly discouraged or condemned. Thus, they remain as a crab in a barrel, hopelessly waiting for their death. Together they continue to pull society into the barrel one generation at a time.

Many individuals claim that this expectation and lifestyle choice is simply a change in history, just like any other. However, a nine-step pattern of national evolution shows that this moral decline is nothing to take lightly. It is said that nations follow a pattern similar to this: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from great courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependence back to bondage (Tytler, 1750). It was noted by Jim Black (1994) that there are three aspects of a nation’s decay: Social Decay, Cultural Decay, and Moral Decay.The first, Social Decay, is characterized by the crisis of lawlessness, the loss of economic discipline, and the rise of bureaucracy. This is associated with Cultural Decay: the decline of education, the weakening of cultural foundations, and the loss of respect for tradition. All of this is the result of Moral Decay: the rise of immorality, the decay of religious beliefs, and the subsequent devaluation of human life (as cited in Missler, 2000). The consequences for not seeing the urgency of this phenomenon are clearly stated: “Those who do not know history are destined to repeat it” (Burke, n.d.). Repeating history, in this case, would result in America, “the land of the free,” being placed back into bondage.

Currently, teens are being encouraged to live selfishly, to be complacent concerning a life that lacks purpose, to become numb to the hurt of this world, and to live a life filled with all kinds of immorality. Whether this encouragement is obviously displayed through the media, quietly committed through continued toleration, or loudly expressed through expectations, the teens of this generation are being encouraged to be the downfall of this nation.

This phenomenon cannot be stopped by pointed fingers. It has been said, “all that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing” (Burke, n.d.). Thus, the opposite can be said and must be done: “In order for the evil of this world to lose, enough good men must do something.” This current generation of immoral celebrities is the clear image of our nation’s future. They are in bondage to drugs, alcohol, and sexual impurity- in some cases completely unable to be free. These celebrities are the current leaders of America’s future; the land of the free is on a road to bondage.

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