“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”
Proverbs 14:12 

I had a life-altering moment, a breakthrough, a flash of insight, a bolt of concentrated wisdom, and some would even call it an epiphany. I haven’t had one in quite some time, but this one I just had was the kind of experience that when it struck me all of reality fell in line. For a brief moment, I understood all things. Sharp focus and clear thinking have been granted to me for a short time, so I must write it down before the cloud of brilliance leaves me. Let me describe the moment for you…

I was making myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch yesterday in the kitchen while my daughter was in the living room eating a salad that I just made her. It was a hot summer afternoon. And when it is a Thursday and it is hot, not even my dog wants to go outside. My daughter had a busy morning, she finally could relax for a while, stay cool inside, and so she sat on the couch getting ready to watch some mind-numbing television. To my horror, the show she chose to watch was one of those silly teenybopper shows that have been made for kids to pass the time without thinking.

Normally I ignore it when she puts one of those shows on, but on this hot Thursday, I grabbed my sandwich and decided to join her to watch. The name of the show she was watching is called “Mr. Young.” The description of the show puts it like this, “Take Doogie Howser out of the O.R., put him in a classroom and you have the basic premise of ‘Mr. Young.’ The titular Adam Young is a whiz kid who entered college as a 9-year-old. At 14, now a college graduate, he begins his career teaching science to high schoolers — including both his best friend and his crush, which presents a challenge for him in balancing his personal and professional lives. As if being a teen isn’t hard enough!”

Sounds great, doesn’t it?

To put it simply, “Mr. Young” is another one of those Disney kid’s shows that are really, really, really, really bad. Think “Suite Life with Zac and Cody,” “Hannah Montana,” “Ant Farm”, “Shake it Up”, or get this name, “Dog With a Blog.” When I say bad I mean cheesy, silly, ridiculous, mind-killing shows that have terrible plots, horrid acting and children who are so over the top expressive that after five minutes of watching you are sure to develop the most intense migraine headache you have ever had.

So there I sat, watching, enduring, rolling my eyes, trying to put my fingers in my ears to stop the pain. And right before I got up to leave the room it hit me. The moment was like a man making a discovery on a Twilight Zone episode when a person realizes all of his friends and neighbors have been poisoned by the aliens who want to take over the world. Do you know when it comes to media many people believe violence is what is rotting our children’s minds? I can understand this. But I believe there is something that is far more dangerous and subtle that causes way more damage to our kids. And I mean this sincerely, but you will have to hear me out because what I am about to say may at first sound preposterous, but if you consider my reasoning I will show you how it is akin to what is killing our souls on a larger scale. 

The problem with the world is the “laugh track.” Yes, the laugh track. You think I am kidding, but I am not.

If you look deeper and try to notice, Disney utilizes the laugh track to make those really bad shows somewhat believable. They are used to convince your child that what they are watching is actually funny. Look into the eyes of the younger children when they watch, every time the laugh track is played their eyes will glaze over and they then begin to buy into it. Crowd psychology is a powerful tool. The laugh track gets your kid believing everybody is laughing. But let me tell you, what the laugh track has them laughing at is not funny! Don’t get me wrong, I love good humor, but what the laugh track has you laugh at is not humorous. It is bland insanity. The laugh track is a marketing gimmick used to get your kid to like a show that has zero substance.

Trust me on this!

I wanted to prove it for myself, so here is how I performed my own test: every time my daughter is watching one of those shows I will laugh along with the laugh track. I will try to have the same intensity of laughter to match the track and it is strange how she will begin to snap out of the trance the laugh track had her in previously. When I do it, boy does she ever get mad! But my response to her irritation is very pointed and intense, “Think about it, that was not funny. They are fooling you! What they just did there is bad writing, in fact, it is mindless garbage. It is not funny! They want you to buy into their humor, which is not humor, or plot, or reasonable writing. It is trash and they sell it with the laugh track!” She is beginning to see, I am winning my daughter back to the world of the living. She is starting to think again. I can now teach her that a good story has to have a plot, not just a laugh track.

I still have a lot of work cut out for her because that laugh track is so compelling. Mob rule rules!

I am convinced the whole world is operating on a laugh track. The majority of people I know are living lives that are not really wise, significant, or have any kind of plot behind their choices whatsoever because these days we are just expected to laugh, or cry, or go “ah” with the crowd and the hidden laugh track that is always playing behind the scenes of everyday life. 

Do you know what the intention of the laugh track is? To take the bite out of life. Life has been neutered. We no longer believe we are living in a grand story, we no longer think the Gospel is wonderful, or dangerous, or important. We have been dumbed down by the laugh track that is always playing behind the scenes. Look at everyone staring at their handheld screens and mounted screens, they are buying into the constant drone of the laugh track. At least with a violent movie, there is the potential for shock and horror. But the laugh track numbs us into stupidity, and it destroys urgency!

Proverbs 14:12 says that most mindless people are hurtling towards death without realizing it. That is because the laugh track is numbing them to the world around them. It is not funny! Recently ABC had a show on called “The Proposal” which is the perfect illustration of what I am trying to warn people about. It is a one hour show. Think about it, a one hour show with commercials – – so it is a 42-minute show. In that 42 minutes, one person is choosing between 10 people to find the one person they are going to propose to at the end of the 42 minutes. 42 minutes! During this 42 minutes the crowd “Oohs and Ahs” over the banal non-sensical answers of the 10 people they don’t even know. Tears of sentimental stupidity flow, and then under bright Hollywood stage lights, the proposal for marriage occurs.

42 lousy minutes!!!!

The cooing crowd makes mindlessness acceptable. We are now praising hollow idiocy. I blame the laugh track. At least with violence, your child starts to see the world is dangerous, but with the laugh track, nothing matters. There is no urgency, nothing is noble, nothing is dangerous, and everything must be tolerated with a forced laugh.

I HATE IT!

Is there really coming a day of recompense? Or did Jesus die so we could watch Mr. Young and Miley Cyrus? Yes, there is something far worse than violence. The laugh track! It may be the final sign of human degradation. We don’t know how to think anymore. More’s the pity!