Media Censorship
The subject of media censorship, extending to violent footage, music and television programs is a rather sensitive and controversial one. One is dealing very troubled and disturbing consequences which on one hand can cause young minds to be left with a very deep impression of on-screen propaganda, while on the other hand it imposes an iron hand on the free speech and expression rights which takes extremism as a stand. Evaluating both stands I would conclude that some censorship is required as I would believe this has a direct impact on the society in general and a specific age group of young impressionable populace in particular.
Firstly the issue regarding the lyrics of popular songs is as old as music itself. In popular culture the satanic and often dark lyrics associated with major rock bands (BLACK SABBATH instantly comes to mind) has been denounced by all and sundry. Latino Reggaeton lyrics strictly deals with sex, drugs, mob culture and has a profound influence on the crowd that listens to it. Also it paints a very bad picture of the community linking it as always to the drug cartel mafia. Sex, drugs and rock and roll seem to be inseparable trioca. Whats more shocking is the fact that the followers of the various genres actually assume it to be normal and hence the image of the rock star is painted with someone who seems to enjoy an ample amount of all the above. Hence the aspiration of a youngster to be a rock star or a rapper has a lot more to do than just music. And as a method to the madness the songs seem to be advocative of such decadent behavior. Alternately we have even seen a lot of people "Learning to Fly" and killing themselves in the process.
The second largest issue comes with television advertisement commercials. In a bid to sell their products and outsell their rivals the product manufacturers not only make ludicrous claims about the efficacy of their products but also carry along unbelievable example to spawn a population of confused youth. An example of this being the promulgation of fairness creams in the countries which are non-white, it has generally been accepted in such countries that you are not beautiful if you are not fair - with people spending money to get rid of their melanin, as if that was a possibility. Other examples of those being able to walk the ceiling upside down because the shoe was light enough to do that. young children try that out and lead to disastrous consequences. Many commercials promote the miracle pill for weight loss and people jump into that leading to bad often fatal conditions.
Modern Media has brought live footage of action to our drawing rooms. Be it the war in Kargil, India or the anti-terrorist operations in Bombay, live footage of the scenes have been beamed across the globe, in some cases leading to fanatic acts by the watching population as well as compromising classified security detail. In a bid to make a quick money the television crew actually held the security personnel, who battle for our safety, to ransom. Some sort of discretion needs to be advocated while beaming such footage. A sort of self-advocated screening to determine what should be shown and what should not.
Movies and television programs should probably shoulder the most blame. A visual makes the biggest and the longest lasting impact. Some of the programs and movies seem to show the gruesome scenes with such panache that its difficult to tell the reel from real. And in a bid to be unique it spawns high ideas as well. For example showing of an ice - cone as a stabbing murder weapon leaving no evidence of a murder weapon as well as disguising the fingerprints led to a spate of murders across the globe with this technique. Had the idea not been beamed across the globe such an innovative technique to kill people would not have come out in the open. Amazing skills and techniques to deal with the villains that heroes use lead to a lot of young people try the same with seemingly brutal consequences.
The Media also has a tendency to hero worship those who have a criminal past making them figures with halo. Please try to understand that dietifying criminals serve only one purposes and that is to encourage others to take their place. Never make a martyr of a villain nor make heroes of criminals because it spawns a generation of youth to aspire to be in the same throne adorning the halo of the past. In my junior school on an essay written about future aspirations a couple of classmates had written bout being a fugitive like Charles Sobhraj - imagine the impression that sleazy criminal 's media coverage had painted on the kids.
While concluding would like to say that on grounds of the above reasons i do firmly believe that media as a whole needs censorship and scrutiny possibly from a central unbiased apolitical organization in addition to self scrutiny.
Firstly the issue regarding the lyrics of popular songs is as old as music itself. In popular culture the satanic and often dark lyrics associated with major rock bands (BLACK SABBATH instantly comes to mind) has been denounced by all and sundry. Latino Reggaeton lyrics strictly deals with sex, drugs, mob culture and has a profound influence on the crowd that listens to it. Also it paints a very bad picture of the community linking it as always to the drug cartel mafia. Sex, drugs and rock and roll seem to be inseparable trioca. Whats more shocking is the fact that the followers of the various genres actually assume it to be normal and hence the image of the rock star is painted with someone who seems to enjoy an ample amount of all the above. Hence the aspiration of a youngster to be a rock star or a rapper has a lot more to do than just music. And as a method to the madness the songs seem to be advocative of such decadent behavior. Alternately we have even seen a lot of people "Learning to Fly" and killing themselves in the process.
The second largest issue comes with television advertisement commercials. In a bid to sell their products and outsell their rivals the product manufacturers not only make ludicrous claims about the efficacy of their products but also carry along unbelievable example to spawn a population of confused youth. An example of this being the promulgation of fairness creams in the countries which are non-white, it has generally been accepted in such countries that you are not beautiful if you are not fair - with people spending money to get rid of their melanin, as if that was a possibility. Other examples of those being able to walk the ceiling upside down because the shoe was light enough to do that. young children try that out and lead to disastrous consequences. Many commercials promote the miracle pill for weight loss and people jump into that leading to bad often fatal conditions.
Modern Media has brought live footage of action to our drawing rooms. Be it the war in Kargil, India or the anti-terrorist operations in Bombay, live footage of the scenes have been beamed across the globe, in some cases leading to fanatic acts by the watching population as well as compromising classified security detail. In a bid to make a quick money the television crew actually held the security personnel, who battle for our safety, to ransom. Some sort of discretion needs to be advocated while beaming such footage. A sort of self-advocated screening to determine what should be shown and what should not.
Movies and television programs should probably shoulder the most blame. A visual makes the biggest and the longest lasting impact. Some of the programs and movies seem to show the gruesome scenes with such panache that its difficult to tell the reel from real. And in a bid to be unique it spawns high ideas as well. For example showing of an ice - cone as a stabbing murder weapon leaving no evidence of a murder weapon as well as disguising the fingerprints led to a spate of murders across the globe with this technique. Had the idea not been beamed across the globe such an innovative technique to kill people would not have come out in the open. Amazing skills and techniques to deal with the villains that heroes use lead to a lot of young people try the same with seemingly brutal consequences.
The Media also has a tendency to hero worship those who have a criminal past making them figures with halo. Please try to understand that dietifying criminals serve only one purposes and that is to encourage others to take their place. Never make a martyr of a villain nor make heroes of criminals because it spawns a generation of youth to aspire to be in the same throne adorning the halo of the past. In my junior school on an essay written about future aspirations a couple of classmates had written bout being a fugitive like Charles Sobhraj - imagine the impression that sleazy criminal 's media coverage had painted on the kids.
While concluding would like to say that on grounds of the above reasons i do firmly believe that media as a whole needs censorship and scrutiny possibly from a central unbiased apolitical organization in addition to self scrutiny.
posted by shaun's world at
2:46 PM
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