Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!pasteur!ames!lll-winken!uunet!imspw6!bob
From: bob@imspw6.UUCP (Bob Burch)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: New Communications Morality
Message-ID: <231@imspw6.UUCP>
Date: 10 Apr 89 04:15:29 GMT
Organization: IMS, Rockville, MD
Lines: 67


 
 
From Ted Holden, HTE:
 
...............................
 
 
A voice in the wilderness, from the fatherland:
 
  >In the field of art and technology, not only the pollution of the natural
  >(material) environment must be fought but also -- and with the same effort
  >-- the pollution of the cultural (informational) environment. In a nutshell:
  >Culture conservation is as important as nature conservation.
  >["Maxim of rejection of informational pollution"]
 
 
 
What almost shocks me about this is that it should come from Germany;  TV over
there is really pretty tame and pretty civilized, at least what I've seen.  The
fact that you just get test patterns during the daytime over there is also
commendable.  If Herr Frank really wants to see pollution on the airwaves,
which I assume is most of what he's talking about, he should come over here.
 
TV is supposed to be the great technological marvel of our age and, yet, I
know increasing numbers of people who will no longer have them in their
houses for the sake of their children, and that's pretty sad.
 
The thing I have the most difficulty with is what I call disconnected
violence.  I don't particularly mind having kids watch American football, or
one of Mike Tyson's or Roberto Duran's outings, or even something like the
old 'Victory at Sea' series;  that's connected voilence.  A kid can pretty
easily see that war is a nasty business watching Victory at Sea or that
you'd really better know what you're getting into if you're thinking about
getting into prize-fighting or NFL football.  All of the consequences of
these things are right there in front of him.
 
However, when an American kid watches WWF wrestling, or any of the bullshit
cartoons that one sees on TV anymore (metalman, superheros, league of
justice, defenders of the earth, transformers, and on and on and on), he's
seeing sadism glorified, and disconnected violence.  He is being told that
he can drop-kick the kid next door, gouge his eyes out, beat his head into
the oak tree, break chairs over his head etc. etc. etc., and that nothing
really bad will come of it;  the kid next door will probably recuperate and
be back to normal an hour later, just like Hulk Hogan does.  Watching the
A-Team, a kid learns that he can fire machine-guns at the other team for
hours on end, and they'll probably be all right, except possibly for a few
bruises.
 
Like I say, I just have a really hard time with all of this.  The commercial
TV networks are really lying to our children.  When somebody yells 'FIRE!'
in a crowded place where there is no fire and causes a panic and a number of
people get trampled trying to get out, American law cracks down on the
culprit pretty hard;  no liberals or ACLU types will be noted standing
around protesting his innocence due to 2'nd ammendment rights.  Logically, I
fail to see any really good reason not to do the same with the purveyors of
WWF wrestling, A-TEAM, 90 percent of the Saturnday morning cartoon
offerings, and a great deal of the other garbage on our air waves.
 
 
Ted Holden
HTE