The Explosion of Paranormal Television
My generation used to watch a limited selection of paranormal shows such as The Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, and Bewitched. Now it seems we have an endless array of metaphysical subjects to watch on an almost nightly basis.
Currently there's Ghost Hunters, Paranormal State, Ghost Whisperer, Medium, Destination Truth, Saving Grace, America's Psychic Challenge, Alien Abductions: True Confessions , John Edward Cross Country, A Haunting, Most Haunted, and on and on. These shows tend to be on cable channels rather than major networks who are more likely to go after the really big money rather than produce cutting-edge, mind-expanding content.
As we were flipping channels the other night, we stopped at a Biography Channel show called Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal. This made me ask my husband, "Have you noticed how many of these shows are on TV lately?" The next day while having lunch with my friend, she asked me the very same question.
I'm sure we are not the only people to notice; you can't miss encountering one of these shows as you flip through the channels every night. Is this a sign that we are finally awakening to and exploring realities beyond this physical realm? Or have the TV execs just run out of ideas? Or both?
The same phenomenon is happening with the news media. When I started searching and posting holistic/metaphysical news, I used to spend hours scouring the Internet for only a few related articles. Now they're everywhere, and I have too many to choose from.
This is a very exciting but challenging time in our history, and I believe the awakening of a segment of humanity and our interest in our human potential and the world beyond this one is reflected in the content of some of our cutting-edge media.
Unfortunately, there's the flip side where many shows are no-holds-barred. Graphic violence and other offensive graphic acts regularly appear as entertainment and continue to push the limits of what is acceptable. We see this trend as a reflection of part of our younger population (most television is geared toward youth and young adults) and the result of their environmental and cultural influences, and a reflection of true-life drama of our physical reality, the greater life themes and our near future being played out right before our eyes.
We have to ask ourselves if these destructive behaviors which are depicted in our violent television shows (and films) are behaviors that we want our youths emulating, for in fact our past history will show this is indeed what takes place.
In this regard, we should not underestimate the power our media has to shape our intellect, psyche, and ultimate choices we all make on a daily basis. Essentially, this popular cultural force has the power to shape our future. But we need to realize we have the individual power and personal responsibility to either choose the self-destructive path, or to open ourselves to greater possibilities for creating a more holistic, intuitive, exciting and workable future. Our media is currently reflective of both paths that lie in front of us...which will we collectively choose?
