Stirring Up A Hornet's Nest

I love Westerns. I love watching cowboys ride bucking broncos, and watching pioneer families settle the wild west. I grew up watching Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie. Quite recently (this last year really)  my husband and I have revisited the western genre. Our Netflix search has yielded many a good western movie-  True Grit, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Open Range to name a few.  I love being transported to those idyllic wild west days. Until I saw Lonesome Dove. As we watched our way through the episodes, my entire romantic idea of the wild west completely changed. For the first time I was disturbed by what I saw. For the first time I watched a western that was a reality check instead of a dreamy "cowboys and Indians" show. (Just an aside here I know that it is a work of fiction and the bad portions were Hollywood's interpretation BUT I also know there is some truth to the reality it presented). There were really bad people- REALLY bad in this show. Men who murdered innocents. (and yes there were some really GOOD men too) This revelation needled me like a thorn in my side. I guess in some ways I finally put some things together in my own head--and well maybe you have already put this together but for some reason I just did---and maybe you do not romanticize certain period of history in your mind--but I do. (especially Wild West days and Medieval days) Anyway here was my startling light bulb moment: People have done horribly horrifically awful (can I even use that many adverbs in a row?) things in history. (Now before you "duh" me let me finish this thought)--   so if people have done bad evil things in times gone by where t.v., computer games and "media violence" did not exist how can we now in our "modern" society blame all the violence on the media? (uhoh I stirred up a hornets nest). I have been thinking really hard about this idea that violent media (video games and t.v./movies) are the cause of our violent culture--of the violence and anger and meanness in ourselves....hmm....I think not. Our society--our culture has RUN so hard and so fast away from the truth (the TRUTH being that we are all sinners and that Christ came to die for our sins-our culture literally running away from God)--we seek to blame something for the violence. We look everywhere because it could not be .... US?  Ahh no.... lets see violent media looks like a worthy suspect! But is it really? So then how did Cain know how to kill Abel? (this was the VERY FIRST murder) Battlefield 3 right? oh no wait it was Left for Dead! Ummm nope. Guess what it was? SIN. Sin in ourselves is the cause of violence in our culture. Sin came first. Then violence. Then the media portraying violence---a mirror of our society. Violence is not new. Murder is not new. It has been since the beginning--all because Adam and Eve sinned. Our world has spiraled into darkness of sin with only one light. So these are only my first musings---but I guess the thought I leave you with is the next time you hear some study revealing some video game or movie as cause of violence in our culture, or as promoting amoral behavior--really? I think we got that covered all by ourselves media or not. We are sinners and we do bad regardless of what we watch.