The History Channel is less about history and more about entertainment, and entertainment in P-B is all about the false self. There are few communities where the behavior of the false self is more destructive than in street gangs. Television should not be glorifying gang life, but the bottom line will trump ethics and compassion every time because after all—the business of America is business.
The program in question is “Mile High Killers,” part of a series called “Gangland.” The Denver gang featured got a free commercial promoting gang life if we can believe columnist Tina Griego (2010), and we do. “Gunfire, mayhem, death, that’s media sexy. Lay it down with fast cuts, some gangster chest-thumping, a deep-voiced narrator whose every word is tinged ominous, ‘the 303, playground of the wealthy, home to one of the country’s most violent gangs,’ and that’s entertainment.”[i]
Looking a little deeper, we find that the problem is indeed “ominous.” Cisco Gallardo, a former gang member, and now a gang outreach worker who helps youngsters leave gang life, hits the nail on the head: “We need to take our stories back. We need to wake up.”[ii] Human behavior, as we know, starts with the story that contains us and Gallardo seems to appreciate that. And we also know that identity is determined by the story. Griego seems to understand the importance of identity which drives behavior. “This is a lesson in controlling the narrative, and he who controls it is he who defines you.”[iii]
So there it is, the essential principles of Simple Reality intuitively understood by two people who care, two who understand that when all is said and done, it’s all about compassion in the present moment.
[i] Griego, Tina. “Ex-gangster not letting TV tell the only story.” The Denver Post. March 20, 2010, page 2A.
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Ibid.
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Find a much more in-depth discussion in books by Roy Charles Henry.
