Puppet Master media

johnson1010 · Sat Oct 15, 2011 1:15 pm

Discussions on this thread about the impact of media on behavior lead to the creation of this one to delve into this topic in depth.

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Do video games, rap/rock/music, movies, tv shows inspire people to do things that they normally wouldnt do?

Like fight, kill, rape, steal, and do drugs?

johnson1010 · Sat Oct 15, 2011 1:16 pm

Do video games, rap/rock/music, movies, tv shows inspire people to do things that they normally wouldnt do?

Like fight, kill, rape, steal, and do drugs?

johnson1010 · Sat Oct 15, 2011 1:37 pm

It seems always perched on the tip of some reporter’s tongue that some wild descent into mayhem and madness was caused by a dalliance with provocative media.

This recent case in the link above refers to a couple who adopted some kids, then beat them on a regular basis, in some cases for up to 7 hours at a time, and one of them died. They had a book from a proponent of child-beating and that book was blamed for this couple’s endearing love of child abuse.

But it’s wrong to blame this book. Think of it this way. If YOU picked up this book and read it cover to cover, would you go home, fashion a kid-beating stick out of plumbing supplies and go on a marathon of child abuse?

No? Then it probably wasn’t the book. The people were out and out crazy to start with. They sought out a book that re-enforced their pre-suppositions about child beating and used it as validation.

In all these cases where media gets blamed for some atrocious act, it just isn’t the case that the media has such power in of itself. You need a particular person who is pre-disposed to that activity to start with. The kind of person who would be doing these things in any event. The media is used as a scape goat by reporters who are desperate for some neat little bow to put on a tragic story and conclude that it’s all wrapped up, and the perpetrators use media produced by others to validate their own twisted world view.

How many millions of man-hours have been spent playing first person shooters across this country? If violence in video games is responsible for people snapping and going on columbine-style killing sprees, then why haven’t I done that? Why hasn’t your 13 year old nephew? Why isn’t the user forum of Bungie just a den of craven murderers?

The truth is to be influenced by these things you have to really be brainwashed into believing in them. Unquestioningly. That means indoctrination from youth. Serial killers are invariably the victims of horrendous child abuse. Small wonder they turn out to be goddamn crazy. Rapists and thieves were socialized in hostile environments, or with negligent or abusive care givers. Everybody has heard of suicide bombers by now, yet simply hearing about that hasn’t caused a rush of copy-cat westerners to go out and blow themselves up. To buy into that, you have to divorce yourself from reality. You have to be somebody else’s.

Whether that be Al Qaida, The Westboro Babtists, or the bible, somebody has divorced your mind from reason. Somebody has pushed you into unreasoning madness.

That isn’t to say that they are not to blame for the horrendous deeds they commit. Lots of people go through terrible childhoods and adjust to live relatively normal lives. But everything has a consequence and the persistent abuse and neglect of a parent has a far more powerful impact on a life than two hours of horror movie.

So don't blame friday the 13th because some crazy guy murders a bunch of people. You can't even blame it if he uses a razor blade glove. He's crazy. Do you think that if he never saw that movie he would never have murdered anybody? The guy who set aside arts and crafts time to make a killing glove? If he hadn't saw that movie, he would have killed people with regular knives. or with a baseball bat. Or with his own teeth.

Blame the crazy person. But be aware that crazy doesn't pop out of nowhere. It comes from deep ingrained abuse.

It's hard to get parents to really care for their kids when they couldn't be bothered to give a single fuck. But that is the real root of these issues. Kids are taught how to behave by adults, so adults need to teach kids to be good, decent and kind.

Beating the shit out of them because they hit another kid doesn't teach them an alternate way to deal with violence. It just demonstrates that the strong can dish out as much violence as they want on the weak and call it justice.

R. LeBeaux · Sat Oct 15, 2011 2:29 pm

Since I’m a bit up in the air on several of these questions, I’m not going to give a specific opinion here . . . yet. I’d like to hear some opinions from others first, on the general subject, or on individual aspects of it. I will say that, being a writer, I have a somewhat built-in prejudice against censorship of any kind, which will probably color my thoughts on the matter.

I did want to mention the last question in the list I posted on the thread “Spare the rod, spare the child.” This question (“Does conservative talk radio cause Tea Parties?”) was meant to be somewhat facetious, however, the thought evolved from a disturbing realization about some members of my own family. One of the reasons it came to mind was because of the fact that two of my nephews, both born and raised in liberal families, have, over the past few years, turned severely conservative, even combatively so. They now make statements like, “Those a—holes should be shot,” or “Someone should shut that [politician] up, permanently!” And this new attitude, which goes against all they were taught at home, suggests a level of violence that is a little scary.

These are mature, successful, employed young men in their twenties (one an electrician, the other a warehouse manager), and when I asked them to cite the information sources for their newly evolved conservative viewpoints, they both first mentioned Rush Limbaugh, then went on to list other conservative talk-show hosts. In fact, during our conversations, they never mentioned one reliable source of information, such as a scientific study, a bipartisan survey or poll, or a newspaper (either liberal or conservative). Their entire body of knowledge came second-hand from talk radio. This disturbs me greatly, and it also points to the power and influence of media, not just on kids, but on reasonably intelligent young adults as well.

That said, I hope to hear some opinions and ideas that I can consider in formulating my own thoughts and responses on this subject.

johnson1010 · Sat Oct 15, 2011 4:25 pm

You are on to something there, LeBeaux.

In my earlier post, i spoke mostly about the parent's responsiblity, but i know from my own experience that my friends had a huge hand in shaping who i would grow to be.

i think the important element is an investment in the influence that comes to you. So, if i was only knew my best friends in passing, then i would not be sharing in-jokes with them, or really giving their opinions any more weight than i do some random dude on the street.

So if viewers start thinking of their favorite talking heads as trusted advisors, then they really can have their positions changed by that continuous interaction. Essentially volunteering to be brain washed by the talking heads that they admire.

I think this comes down to the emotional investment. it's how believers are able to rationalize the bible and i am not. I have no investment in that book so when i look at it i see it for what it is. The believer cannot.

So too for people who are invested in Rush Limblah blah.

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