Ramesvara: That was their sport, entertainment. Just like wrestling in India, but in the Middle East in Roman times the wrestling was fought until somebody had to be killed. That was their entertainment. They wanted to see them die. Even today, actually, all the entertainment in America and the Western world is based on violence. They have bull fighting. They want to see the bull tortured and killed. And they have chicken fighting, and they have…

Prabhupada: Dog fighting.

Ramesvara: And even the most popular sport in America now is football. It is more popular than baseball, and it's based on men jumping on each other. While one team is carrying the ball, every… A very violent sport.

Hari-sauri: And boxing also. So many different sports.

Ramesvara: They are fascinated by pain and fighting.

Prabhupada: Torture. They like to see that somebody is tortured by another.

Hari-sauri: All the movies are becoming increasingly more violent. And on TV.

Ramesvara: Yes, actually there is… I was just told, there is one movie now which is breaking all the records for attendance. It is called The Omen, and it is about a prophecy in the Bible called the Antichrist. This idea is that the Devil comes from hell to the planet earth, and he impregnates one woman, and then his son is born. So the son is called Antichrist, son of the Devil. And he is very powerful, with mystic power, very evil, and he takes over the whole world. So there's a movie now about this, and it's breaking all the sales records. And in the movie they have all sorts of ghastly things happening. This is what people like to see. They like to be scared. Horror
movies are also very popular. People go to the movie, and they come out and they have nightmares for a week. It is so frightening with special effects, and that is… They are paying money to be frightened.

Prabhupada: While sometimes the movies that are demonstrated in the plane, I close my eyes. I do not like to see them, because that impression carries. It is a very disturbing fact to me.

Hari-sauri: Yes. It's very disturbing. Those night flights are horrible. You can't sleep or anything.

Ramesvara: Even this movie that we have just been involved with, called Audrey Rose, about reincarnation, in order to make it popular they have made it very, very frightening. In order to get people to come, they have to have that element of terror.

Prabhupada: Oh.

Hari-sauri: Mysticism.

Ramesvara: So they concoct different arrangements. Because people are willing to spend money to torture their own minds. No one is happy. They are very disturbed when they leave the movie theater. They are frightened. And at night they cannot sleep peacefully after seeing such movies. And they are paying money to go to these things.

Prabhupada: And again they will take tranquilizer.

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Room Conversation — January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara