When I was growing up during the 1960s and early 1970s, my favorite movies were Westerns. I’m not sure why. One reason may have been because I watched a lot of television with my grandfather, Tom Williams, and he liked Westerns. Another reason may have been because the heroes in Westerns were always tough, rugged, no-nonsense men who reminded me of the men on the Williams side of the family.

Two of my all-time favorite Westerns are The Magnificent Seven and Shane.

I remember seeing the comedy Western Pardners on television when I was in eighth grade. The stars of the movie were the comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. From the late 1940s until the mid-1950s (when they went their separate ways), Martin and Lewis were the most famous comedy team in the world. During that time, they were also the highest-paid team in the entertainment industry.

The reason I remember Pardners is because at the end of the movie, both Martin and Lewis performed a choreographed routine in which they took their guns out of their holsters, spun them around their fingers, and then performed various stunts with their guns before returning them to their holsters. The routine was much more sophisticated than the routine of the typical gunfighter, who would spin his gun around his finger before putting it back into his holster.

After the movie ended, I grabbed my brother Carl’s full-size replica of a Colt 45 peacemaker revolver, put a holster around my waist, and practiced for the next several weeks until I was able to perform the routine I saw Martin and Lewis do in the movie.

I thought about Martin and Lewis when I read about the $100 million contract that was signed by the Kardashian family earlier this year. The contract was for a four-year renewal of the show Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which originally premiered on the E! network in 2007.

Although I’ve never seen the show and have no desire to know anything about the Kardashians, I constantly see headlines and “news” about them. Their faces and bodies are plastered all over magazine covers, social media sites, and Internet sites.

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were gifted performers who were able to sing, dance, act, and perform unscripted comedy in front of live audiences. Their material consisted of clean, wholesome, family-oriented entertainment.

The Kardashians possess no such talents, skills, or abilities. The most famous of them, Kim Kardashian, started out as a personal stylist to a recording artist and then became a full-time stylist and personal shopper for actress Lindsey Lohan. She later became famous when a homemade sex video of her and her rapper boyfriend was leaked and then purchased and distributed by a pornography company.

Despite the fact that the Kardashian women have a huge fan base of teenagers and young adults who look up to them as role models, they are incapable of contributing anything of any value to any of their fans.

While the children, teenagers, and young adults of my generation were being entertained and influenced by gifted entertainers like Martin and Lewis, today’s children, teenagers, and young adults are being influenced by “entertainers” like the Kardashians, who have no redeeming value. The only things the Kardashians are masters at doing are capturing people’s attention and glorifying the sins of the flesh. For this, they’re going to receive $25 million a year for the next four years.

In her appearance to the children at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary warned the world that more souls go to hell because of the sins of the flesh than for any other reason. That was almost 100 years ago, before there was a movie industry, television, or the Internet.

Just as I imitated the choreographed routine that Martin and Lewis performed, the young followers of the Kardashians imitate their behavior (intentionally and unintentionally).

Why not dress immodestly and show off your body? The Kardashians get paid millions to do it. Why not have children out of wedlock? The Kardashians do it and end up on the cover of People and Vogue in glamourous pictures with their new babies and temporary boyfriends. Why not sleep around with whoever happens to catch your fancy? The Kardashians do it and make it look fun and exciting, with no negative consequences.

Make no mistake about it. The glamorization of sin and vice by the Kardashians and other serpents who are just like them is contributing mightily to the corruption of our culture.

The Kardashians are evil, modern-day goddesses. The definition of a goddess is “a female deity; a woman who is adored, especially for her beauty.” Unfortunately, the Kardashians are adored by millions of young Americans.

The majority of parents do not pay enough attention to what their children are seeing on television, in magazines, and on Facebook and other social media sites. As parents, we will be held accountable by God if we fail to supervise and restrict our children’s access to the influence of these evil goddesses and their agents. We must exercise vigilance and courage in restricting our children’s access to these individuals.

Unfortunately, we can’t go back to the days of Martin and Lewis. What we can do is protect our children from the evil influence of the modern-day goddesses by restricting their access to them and engaging in family prayer, such as the family rosary. We also need to counter the influence of the goddesses by doing our best to be a positive Christian influence on everyone we come into contact with.

SHARE