There is no doubt that most media designed for mass-consumption is doing a disservice to the people consuming it. I don't buy into the idea that it's making people more violent, because we've been killing each other forever. I do think its making us less curious and inquisitive as a culture, but I have no data to back that up. I worried as I was writing today's strip that some people would take it as a condemnation of television, or mainstream media in general. I think that any form of media, from children's storybooks to internet pornography, can be used constructively or destructively. Its a personal choice as to what kind of media you consume, and you allow or encourage those around you to consume.

Most media geared towards education is better than average, and I would hate for the takeaway from today's strip to be "Educational media is too graphic". Real life is graphic, and people should be exposed to the nature of life at an appropriate age. Then it becomes their choice how to respond. 

I'm probably over thinking this. The moral is: consume things that leave your mind in a better place than you found it.

Speaking of things that fall in that category, this is normally the point in the week where Philip Reviews Games. I had a really fantastic weekend that involved almost zero game-playing (unless you want a stirring review of chess), so I'm going to stay on my soapbox a little longer and tell you to read Gene Luen Yang's Boxers & Saints. I already have a minor love affair with historical fiction, and Boxers & Saints is such an astoundingly good example of the genre that I want to sit every person I know down and make them read it. It falls under the umbrella of Serious Comics, and makes you really re-consider what you think you know about the West's influence in Asia. 

If any of the above sounds boring, let me rephrase: Boxers & Saints follows two people who are driven by gods and ghosts to play out their part in a bloody revolution across mainland China. Kung-fu is involved. Go read it, then find the nearest person who thinks history is boring and make them read it. Is it graphic? More so than the Sunday funnies, less so than most superhero comic books. Is it worth your time? Undoubtedly.

Thanks,

Philip