From: Patrick Wilken (patrickw@cs.monash.edu.au)
Date: Mon Nov 16 1998 - 02:44:44 MST
>If TV is a really great source of violence, then the natives of Rwanda must
>really have been watching a LOT of TV before they went out with machettes
>and killed several hundred thousands of their fellow citisens with
>machettes.
A bit of a strawman argument no? Do you really mean to say that if TV leads
to violence then its the only cause of violence?
More to the point: I don't think critics of TV violence are trying to say
that TV leads naturally to more violence, but perhaps desensitization to
it. Some argue that it is bad that we teach our children through television
that violence is a game and that death is not important. There is some
bizarre statistic that by the time a child reaches 15 they've seen upwards
of 10000 deaths depicted on television.
Note: I don't necessarily believe TV does any harm to a child, but its
silly to misrepresent the argument.
>Exposing the
>biggest problems in society so that it is possible to act upon them before
>they becomes reason of mass violence.
I wasn't aware that most children's shows dealt with real problems. Did I
miss that episode of Scooby Dooby Doo or Lost in Space? OK. So I'm showing
my age, but I do not believe TV shows have become that much more socially
relevant in the intervening years (nor perhaps should they).
>Thus you can argue that TV is a source of less violence.
Without proper studies you can pretty much argue anything.
ciao, patrick
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Patrick Wilken http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~patrickw/
Editor: PSYCHE: An International Journal of Research on Consciousness
Secretary: The Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness
http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/ http://www.phil.vt.edu/ASSC/
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