captainseapig's Blog

Captain, I've got to disagree with you on this one. If these people were INVENTING these devices, that would be one thing, but to actually see what these devices were like adds perspective to history. It's one thing to see the woodcut illustrations in history books, but it makes you realize just what humans are capable of to see the actual device.

I see your point and it has merit if and it's a BIG IF, the people watching are moved never to think of doing things like this. Or repeating history. What about children watching this? What effect does it have on them. Our minds need to be filled with good things, we should seek after virtuous things and things of good report. I'm afraid if we were to put the positives in this show in a balance the bad would outweigh the good it produces. I think the show is a "Shocker Show" like rubber necking on the freeway after an accident you just look and are horrified.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints the kids are taught many other principles like prayer, obedience and respect for parents, the list goes on and on bible stories from the old testament to the new testament, Dramammama just finished teaching the "Sunbeams" three year old kids a course of study. I was entertained as she told me the stories of her class experience each Sunday. The little ones can be fun. Our churches do not have crosses on top of them or in the chapel, why, because we want to focus on Christ's life and his teachings not his death. We do study his death of course and the method by which he was killed but this does not dominate our discussions it is a part of our course of study. Today for instance we had 3 speakers, a 15 year old girl who talked on being prepared for life by getting a good education and being busy in good things. A 40 something man talked on financial preparedness , staying out of debt,savings, teaching children the value of work and a third speaker who spoke about how her family is trying to incorporate a food storage program to supplement their family in case of emergency or a family accident where there might be no income.

Captain, the problem with history is that if we gloss over the bad parts, there are those out there who will think they were great ideas and seek to use them again. (Just look at Neo-Nazism today...They deliberately gloss over the atrocities of the Holocaust, or downright deny it, in order to push their vision of the world on others.) But, personally, seeing these devices "in the flesh" outside of horror movies (where they're usually inaccurate anyway) really drives home the point that they were so horrible that their use was stopped for good reason.

And as an interesting tangent on "shocker shows" and the crucifixion of Christ, did you see the story on the theme park that re-enacts the crucifixion several times a day like a Disney parade?

Captain, what I really couldn't figure out is that parents were bringing toddlers to see this...I think part of the gravitation has to do with the modern world changing our human nature. There's so much horror on the news these days (with good reason, because so much is being perpetrated) that we see that as more of what there is to offer.