This could go a hundred ways, for a hundred pages. I’ll be brief. We are indoctrinated by pop culture. I find myself realizing that a lot of my ideas on right, wrong, how to conduct myself, what’s moral etc. come from movies I’ve watched. Movies are made by men and women. Often men and women immersed in a culture very unlike my own, very detached from the typical existence of most people on earth. Men and women with no more monopoly on the truth than you or me. But these men and women make a living off getting you to watch their movies and buy their products.
Is this where my ideas about morality and the good life should come from? Wealthy people who are trying to sell me something? Think of the lessons movies are trying to teach you. About who’s the hero, who’s the villain, what’s the right thing to do. Look at it honestly. See if you can look at it from another culture’s perspective. What would a Russian think of it? A Native American? An Asian (very broad, I know)? What about someone from 100 years ago? What about 100 years in the future? Just because we’re alive now during this time doesn’t mean our truth is the absolute truth. And Hollywood truth sure as shit isn’t the absolute truth. And this is coming from a pretty far-left liberal.
Look at what’s happened to outdoor recreation. Was fly fishing ever cool? I mean for a long time it’s been a great thing certain people like to do, but cool? No. But not too long ago people made some documentaries, some very short, about fly fishing, complete with hip music playing while people casted and fish jumped, slow-motion, in beautiful river settings. Suddenly it’s cool for the masses. And the rivers boom with people. Rock climbing. Martial arts. Name your activity, it’s been glamorized, marketed, and made an image to which people try to live up to, which people define themselves by. Rather than being genuinely, sincerely into something. Or even if they are genuinely, sincerely into it, they’re still trying to fit some glamorized image they saw in an ad or movie. You’ve got to wear the badges of your hobby on your body and vehicle, to be sure that everyone identifies you as part of that group.
Observe it. See it in yourself. See it in others. Don’t judge others for it any more than you judge yourself for it. Try to understand it. Rise above it.