In the beginning it was conversation and debate that put Socrates to death for corrupting the Athenian youth.
At a later date there came along a dangerous man. His pistol was made from canvas and his bullets contained ideas. Pistols of this sort were forbidden, as they could pose a threat to the Athenian youth. The man was called the artist, and he had many like minded friends. The solution to the threat was simple, execute the man, destroy his pistol and bury the bullets. And on that day the Athenian youth were saved from corruption.
A dark impasse precedes the arrival of great books, capable of attacking a great number of vulnerable Athenian youths simultaneously, all through the power of the printing press.
What is to be done? The answer is clear; we must ban with the power of law and of God those offending books, burn any that we may discover, and put the seditious authors on trial. This is a necessary course of action to ensure the protection of the Athenian youth.
The march of time moves forward and on its way it meets motion pictures and a fellow called the radio. The Athenian youth are now in great danger, an attack is imminent! We must act quickly; censor with impunity, disable infrastructure, pursue the creators both publicly and privately, creating laws promoting prohibition. This must be done at any cost to shield the Athenian youth from corruption, they will be kept safe, whether they like it or not.
Off in the distance sheer terror awaits in a most unlikely form. It cannot be seen, nor can it be touched, it cannot be executed or burnt or coerced into silence. It is more lethal than a siren and apparently as alluring. What is it?It starts off slow and gets quicker and quicker, louder and louder more deadly as it repeats itself, unleashing wave after wave of corrupting undertones. In the common tongue it is known as music; around here its nickname is ‘death bywords’. This time it’s different; this threat is potentially more subversive to the Athenian youth than anything we have seen before. This threat has the power to turn the Athenian youth against each other; inciting directly the massacre of fellow Athenian students. The rally cry is heard and the defense of the youth is organised by the old and weary banner men. The singers are shamed, their music censored, straw men created and a media narrative enforced. Thank the Gods; the Athenian youth are once more immune from corruption, after all; bee’s wax is anti bacterial.
The end is near; the battered, weary, innocent and compliant Athenian youth face their final challenge. This threat is so great it twists and distorts the very nature of reality. The corruption of the Athenian youth seems imminent.For who could resist the temptation of immortality, invulnerability, or the complete domination over one’s peers. This is the choice the Athenian youth are confronted with, for it is made clear to them that only two paths exist; reality; and a warped virtual reality, an unremorseful dichotomy.
It is said that one path preserves and enshrines the Athenian youth’s innocence, a sure bet against the erosion of corruptive forces. The other leads to death and ruin, where riots and murders and mania are but commonplace, where the Athenian youth can no longer tell fact from fiction, reality from the imaginary,and the fall of civilisation is sure to follow.
Or maybe Theseus has a point:
''Go, Philostrate,
Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments;
Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth;
Turn melancholy forth to funerals;
The pale companion is not for our pomp.’’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10016385/Violent-computer-games-led-to-the-brutal-stabbing-of-a-teenager-at-Victoria-station-murder-cop-claims.html
‘’ But according to the senior investigating officer on the case, DCI John McFarlane, the youngsters turned to extreme violence after becoming twisted by computer games.
The highly experienced murder detective said: “People are playing games on computers in which people are getting stabbed and shot. “Where is the real world? For them there is a blurring between the real world and those in the computer world. There was a blurring of the reality.’’