Saturday 22 October 2011
episode 4: in the news-more images of death
I usually do not pay to much attention to world events because they are completly beyond my control, (as all things in life) and to be honest, couldn't really be bothered by it. This same attitude also applies to celebrity gossip, do we really need or care who is dating who or whatever? One topic that has kind of sparked my interest is the portrayal of real life violence and suffering by todays media and the effect it has on our children. As the world becomes more electronicly linked the old boundries of what used to be acceptable as decent news are falling. Recently, video and graffic photography of two world leaders executions were made public minutes after their deaths. I have chosen not to view footage of either, however did see some images of Saddam Husien on a tv that was on in the camp rec hall. My question is, do our children truly understand the difference between real violence and torture, and Hollywood violence. With the way North American media works even us adults have become desensitized to brutality. Look at the huge popularity in MMA for instance. They warn us that violent video games can be bad for our kids, so they put a warning label on the box. That's like putting a label on a big mac that says "warning, eating this will make you unhealthy". Let's be honest, most people do not heed to labels, speed limits, or other warning signs that are designed to protect themselves and others. We also need to understand that in todays society the childs parents are not always able to limit their own childrens intake of violent video games and other types of 'entertainment', with both parents working full time jobs to make ends meat, kids are often left alone or with a babysitter that may not have the same authority in the childs mind to say what they can participate in or view. So, how do we teach our kids to comprehend real suffering? Is it important anymore given todays availability to real.time war footage and images of death online? Have we passed the point of no return, or has this same availability of real violence helped to better educate us and made it easier to empathize with those who are truly affected by war and prosecution? Either way this is a subject that all parents need to think about and talk about with their kids, teachers and daycare. I would like to thank CBC radio for inspiring me to write this post. Please comment if you have any ideas on this subject!
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Warning signs on products are put there to take the liability off the manufacturer. I don't think the government actually thinks it will stop anyone from consuming.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the violence in society. I think that young people in general know the difference, but they don't think of the consequence, hence the stabbing deaths of at least two young adults in the past 4 months. Don't these people doing the stabbings realize that are they not only ruining the lives if the individual they are stabbing and the family, and the life of the one committing the crime. Does the idea of life in jail not deter the stabbing from happening. I don't know, being in jail scares the hell out of me. Ban MMA and energy drinks. The MMA promotes that they are a positive thing. Not from my experience with aggressive groups of males.
We need a happier, more positive world. The media is good at looking always at the bad side of things, especially our neighbors to the south. Doom and gloom, cause it sells papers, ads and builds careers. It's so terrible. This is why I have made a conscious effort not to use the word "hate" because it is a negative, evil word. No good can come from it....Wait a minute, who's blog am I writing here. Haha. Glad your posting.
Thanks for your input! Feel free to write as much as you want, this is the whole idea here. I like the fact that this can be a more involved platform than other types of social media. All that essay writing in high school was worth it after all!
ReplyDeleteThe news was not meant for children. Video games that teach and promote violent behavior, stealing, murdering, drinking, etc were not meant for children. MMA was definitely not meant for children. It is always the parents responsibility to set the line of what is acceptable and what is not for their children at home and away. It is possible to keep your children innocent without sheltering them. If they know what is acceptable in their own family and what is not and why, then they will be more likely to make appropriate choices at friends houses, etc. when the time comes. If your children are young and unable to make responsible choices for themselves then it needs to be up to the parents.
ReplyDeleteChildren don't know the difference between real and make believe, especially young children and if they are allowed to play violent games and watch violent movies then when they see the real thing it will be just another form of entertainment for them. It will not be horrifying. It won't be something that scares them and urges them to try to change things.
As parents we need to keep in mind the long term when we make choices for our children and not take the easy way out. We need to think about how the choices we make now are going to affect our children, and ultimately society, down the road.