Take it a step further...

Jim Calkins, the self-described self-interested blogger (It’s all about ME!), goes a long way in explaining the concept of ‘sight conditioning’, parlaying the psychology into a discussion on television viewing and its influence on perception.

In a talk I gave to a congregation in an LDS conference a month ago, I referred to a phrase, coined by the 19th century computer scientist Charles Babbage that has applications in social science and psychology. Mr. Babbage posited that a computer would only produce results concordant with the quality of data that is input, hence the phrase Garbage In, Garbage Out.

In an effort to explain the benefits of scripture study, I hypothesized about the importance of ‘good input’ in developing a healthy psyche or moral opinion, and further inferred, logically, that if the scriptures are the Word of God, and, God is Truth, it therefore stands that there is not a more pure form of Truth available to man than what is contained in the Bible and what are considered the standard works of the restored Church.

It is my opinion, and the opinion of many prophets and leaders of the Mormon religion that our sole spiritual endeavor on this earth is to know God more fully, which means he has called us to undertake a serious and inexorable search for Truth.

Jim has attacked specific media fare that he feels is explicitly detrimental to the mind and applies his understanding of the nature of 'sight conditioning' reasoning that “every single time we compromise with sin is when Satan gains more power over us. We get conditioned., and in short, we get duped.”

This evaluation is more relevant than ever given the preponderance of retrograde and fallacious dogma. Man’s general understanding, without the exercise of the Light of Christ - an inherent and divine elemental safeguard – and a commitment to heed the promptings of the Holy Ghost, is a product of empirical evidence. The counter culture of the 50’s and 60’s foisted upon us much in the way of false and dangerous doctrine and ideology which has been extremely persuasive and continues to re-invent the spiritual and moral righteousness of Americans particularly.

Our culture has become increasingly accepting of ideas, behaviors, and movements which, when subjected to the lens of God’s righteous desires, appear as malignant and metastasizing tumors of deceit and moral corruption. Spurious ideas of multiculturalism, tolerance of deviancy, and compassion for ignorant, destructive, even violent behavior, are peddled on the television and in academia reinforcing the selfish and nihilistic modern man to the exclusion of the paramount principles of unification, moral and civilized behavior, and the rule of law.

What must be taken from this critique, and from the further investigation of this psychology of ‘human’ and, subsequently ‘cultural', conditioning is the understanding that at the most subconscious level our perceptions, values and behaviors are being continuously modified either toward or away from those that our Heavenly Father has designed. Therefore, if it is not edifying it is not doing anyone any good and is certainly not challenging us to greater humanity, civility, or spirituality.