I'm a huge fan of 24, so believe me when I say I'm not judging anyone with this post. I'm just concerned. My TV watching habits aren't as controlled as you DVR-ers who record everything and watch what you want, when you want. I usually end up taking in an hour, maybe two, of whatever is on when I have time for TV.
Last night, between 24 and Medium, in 2 hours I saw 2 count 'em 2 people get their throat slit, one was a young girl. I saw a stabbing. I saw lots of people get shot, one was an innocent man, at point blank, in the head. I saw the gooey remains of an innocent family that had been dissolved by acid in an industrial kitchen so the killer could hide the fact that he had kidnapped their teen daughter for a sex toy.
Uh, dude.
There are a myriad of crime shows on TV, and they try to one-up each other, and even themselves, with new, twisted, even-grosser-than-last-week violence. I've heard people say that TV is a reflection of reality. Is that true? Do you agree with that?
Last year Camila and I spent 3 days in Rome, walking the grounds of what was once the greatest and bloodiest empires in the world. The theme that kept coming up in discussions with tour guides and literature, was the insane blood-lust of the people. They gave us gladiators and the Colosseum. I remember being appalled at some of the stories we heard, wondering what it takes for a civilization to crave that kind of violence.
Then last night, after 2 hours of television, I asked myself how much different we are from them. Oh sure, we just watch fake murder, rape, torture, you-name-it on TV. We wouldn't ever be so de-sensitized to actually do those things.
Right?
Perhaps not individually. But when you consider our society as a whole, the answer changes.
For example, moments after Medium ended, I caught the 30-second intro to the nightly news before turning off the TV and heading to bed. Guess what? Top stories were about, you guessed it: rape, murder, a gang-beating of a girl by other girls, a crack-mother killed her daughter. Two guys caught for murdering an elderly man in his home for money. Another sex offender violated parole by exposing himself to some school kids. All right here in Portland.
So even though I'm not going to go melt a family and steal their daughter for a sex toy, I live in and walk the streets of a society that seems to be keeping pace with the level of violence on TV.
THAT folks, is my cause for concern.
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I've learned that life is a lot like the Matrix. But instead of computers generating a reality for us, we generate our own. Welcome to my reality, and the way I look at the world. I'm a "slice-of-life" blogger and I enjoy writing about, well, my boring life. I like to build schtuff, fly, dive, wakeboard, travel, ski, hike, draw, blog, bike, run, swim (triathlons), take pictures, hope to kite-board soon, and am in love with my wife. Enjoy your visit, and leave a comment if you have time, I'd love to hear from you.
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5 hours ago
5 friends had this to say...:
great observations! sometimes when i watch those types of shows i am thinking, "there could be some twisted people out there that could use these shows to get ideas of what they could do." scary!
we do love 24, though!!
I share your sentiments. Unlike most people, however, I do not believe that 'art' imitates life. It is the other way around. People are always wanting their lives to be what they see on tv and in magazines.
Aren't we always hearing about how our daughters are practically killing themselves, or at the very least, having very low self esteem because of the media they are subjected to?
STOP THE INSANITY!
While (real) violence is certainly a cause for concern, even a cursory study of history will convince you that mankind's predilection towards it has always existed and probably will for a good long time to come. We seem to be wired for it.
It's a mistake to demonize the media for society's ills, however. People should be (and usually are) held responsible for their own actions. Personal responsibility is a cornerstone of human existence. You don't go out and shoot people in the head because you are a sane, integrated member of human society. Seeing that on TV isn't going to make you do that. Nor will it make most people do that. Someone who sees something on Law and Order and then goes out and tries to duplicate it has other problems and was going to snap and do it sooner or later anyways.
So in a sense, I guess I mostly agree, except with the conclusion. The media is a reflection of society and mostly shows people what they want to see. I just don't see a cause-and-effect relationship between media portrayals of violence (or other negative things) and their real-world instances. It's really the other way around. To turn around your closing statement, I think TV is keeping up with society.
Very well stated. I think there is some symbiotic relationship between art/literature and societal trends. True I won't go out and skewer people with a sword because I read Lord of the Rings many times in my life. I don't expect to see burning bushes on my way to work either, though I've read Moses' story quite a few times.
The choice to read these things must resonate somehow with me, though, or I wouldn't waste my time on it. I'd say the same for movies, TV shows, paintings, etc.
Remind me about this on our next trip up the mountain and I'll share some of my insights from the year we studied Old Testament.
HMMM, interesting post. I saw those shows and didn't even notice that. I guess I'm disensitized? Scary!
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