Getting in a lather over soaps

Soaps,that is soap operas, are such a part of the TV wallpaper of life that it's difficult to imagine TV programming without them. They provide simple, straightforward entertainment that does not demand much from the viewer nor do they profess to be anything much in the way of art.
I am a fairly keen viewer of soaps: Coronation Street, Home and Away and Neighbours. At this point I pause and reflect on the confession I have just made. Anyway, until recently, I watched then waited for the next episode, without having much recollection of the one I had just watched. That's the way to do it. But a recent episode of Coronation Street made me think and realise that these apparently harmless, vacuous programmes are possibly quite the opposite.
Soaps are story driven and characters swap from situation to situation and relationships are changeable to say the least. One female character in an Aussie soap has had three sexual relationships-or "taking it to the next level" as they euphemistically say- and she still hasn't left school. Dread to think what her exam results will be like.

The episode of the Street had a storyline about a middle aged woman having a casual affair with a married man and the criteria for deciding whether she continue this was "if it makes you happy". This seems to sum up society's attitude to so many things: the pursuit of personal gratification rather than any reference to subjective let alone objective moral standards.

People watch these people on their TV and, in the absence of any other reference point, might adopt the values they see portrayed there. TV is a very powerful medium, hence the power of advertising. As Chrisitans we should be more aware of the negative influence of soaps and TV in general. If you want to win the war, know your enemy.