Comments on: Remind me again how much what we see on TV affects us?

By: Ron19

Ron19 — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:02:20 +0000

Just remember that any American-born crook under 45 was raised on Sesame Street!

By: Danny Lemieux

Danny Lemieux — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 04:15:41 +0000

Force them to watch Barney, the purple dinosaur, and Friends or Teletubbies over and over and over and…
Guaranteed! There would be NO recidivism.

By: Bookworm

Bookworm — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 01:39:51 +0000

Interesting question, Phillips1938, because one prison apparently experimented with showing prisoners the most vile slasher/porn movies. The results were not pretty. One wonders what would have happened if they'd been shown things such as Groundhog Day or other light and funny "good message" fare.

I would have to agree with Earl that to the extent shows do not show bad behavior, they show normative behavior, which we see all around us. It's dog bites man stuff, so it doesn't make our radars ping.

By: phillips1938

phillips1938 — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 01:02:46 +0000

Earl, then shouldn’t we require prisoners convicted of violent crimes to watch happy-goody-goody media in an effort to reduce violent recidivism? There are many heart warming and funny gentle movies and TV series that could be used. A la Clockwork Orange.

By: Earl

Earl — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:22:11 +0000

Phillips1938: What makes you think that “good behavior in media” does NOT “generate good behavior”?

I’m guessing that it does, to some degree. We don’t notice it much because most people in our society are pretty well committed to be decent people who are nice to their neighbors and don’t kick their dogs. And if they aren’t so committed, they act as if they ARE, to avoid the societal disapproval and eventually legal problems that result from acting badly.

Our real difficulty is with the small minority of people who are unhinged in some way, and for whom the pervasive violence (and especially it’s “celebration”, or “pornographic presentation”) we find in movies, TV, games, etc. is the proverbial “last straw” that pushes them over the edge to acting out on their impulses.

By: phillips1938

phillips1938 — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 21:33:30 +0000

Book, some logic problems: if violence in media generates violence in behavior why wouldn’t good behavior in media generate good behavior. Why shouldn’t hours of happy films create a happy society? There is a non sequitor here. If only bad media examples can generate bad behavior we are overlooking something.

By: Jose

Jose — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:29:50 +0000

Terri Gross of NPR interviewed Quentin Tarintino about his latest movie last week. She also questioned him on his thoughts about media violence and the Sandy Hook shooting. He is one weird guy.

He stated that it didn’t bother him at all to view movie violence after hearing about the shooting, but films that showed cruelty to animals and “insect death” disturbed him greatly.

By: lee

lee — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 12:24:07 +0000

Just to reiterate MY plan, about which I wrote under the previous Open Threas:
Regarding the Hollywood crowd and their “demand a plan”: I got a plan. For every film that receives an R rating for violence, assess a tax or fee, both on gross receipts, and on each person earning in excess of $1MM on the film. Let’s say 5% of their gross earnings. And use this for helping victims of violence, treatment of violent mentally ill, etc.

Let’s see how Hollywood likes THAT plan!

By: Earl

Earl — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 02:45:16 +0000

Even better…..that movie that won’t affect anyone receives millions from “product placement” – companies that pay them to use a Coke (or Pepsi) can sitting on the kitchen counter in a scene that lasts 15 seconds.