After reading chapter 1, I was interested in the media controversies toward the end of the chapter, specifically the “Ethical Issues Deal with the Morality of Media” section. I feel that over the last ten years or so television, radio and movies have been bending the widely accepted morality rules between what has been traditionally right and wrong. I remember when I was younger the worst language I would hear on T.V. and radio would be “hell.” Now, “damn,” “ass,” “shit,” and even racial slurs are profoundly common on T.V. and radio. The norm back then was to keep kids safe from adult content including language, sex, and violence. As a result I felt kids were growing up relative to their age. These days I feel kids are growing up way too fast because they are constantly being exposed to bad language, sex, nudity and strong violence in video and computer games. Some would say that it should be up to parents to monitor their child’s exposure to contemporary media, but we all know parents can’t be everywhere kids view media. There have been technological advances in child media protection, but it takes very disciplined parents to enforce it all the time. I think U.S. media is getting very greedy when it comes to producing mass media. I feel morality becomes second to making a buck. Putting restrictions on free speech is an issue within itself. Maybe though, a 238-year-old constitution needs to change with the times instead of being constantly pushed to the limits. When does a child’s very impressionable upbringing take precedence over a greedy capitalistic driven country? I feel the people that are producing questionable media know what they are doing is wrong, or at least know they wouldn’t want their children watching some of the media content out there, but the fact that they are getting paid the big bucks drowns out the important issues at hand.
8 comments:
It is an very interesting argument. I remember I had trouble understanding American youth slangs because it includes many rude and "F" words.
I'm not sure if media people know their mistakes. Maybe they were brainwashed in a competitive field and finally they have forgotten morals, ethics, and humanity, which are very important to keep in their mind as a journalist.
I agree that it’s impossible for parents today to completely regulate what their children view. With kids today have easier access to the internet, television, movies, video games, and so on, parents would run themselves ragged trying to keep up. It isn’t parents responsibility to control everything their child sees, it is to an extent but that can only go so far. The responsibility lies in the hands of media executives, artists, game developers and so on to control what content they put into the market place. And if not them it’s in the hands of the tv stations, V- chips, and so on in order to give parents a fighting chance in controlling what their kids are able to gain access to.
I agree with your opinion. It is not only happening in the United States. Even we can see this "change" in kids these days. We can discover more about this in Asian culture while the "culture imperialism" is getting very seriuos in conservative countries in Asia. There was a news few years ago reporting that the earliest sexual age at the time was 12. I was thinking how that could happened? I remember my parents never that me watched any show or movie that contains sexual elements. Media are really spreading out to change the culture and individual.
Something tells me you were one of those kids that consistently escaped his parents' ability to shelter...
You're right. The acceptance of certain words has grown in the last decade. I fondly remember a time when you didn't have to understand what guests said on Jerry Springer. Now... well I'll avoid any more about that.
What you're referring to here is a particularly interesting facet of American culture over the last 50 to 60 years. It started after WWII when American families discovered the materialistic prosperity of being a world-superpower. I think what we're seeing now is the slow dissolution of the idealized family unit of the fifties (i.e. "Leave It To Beaver") to something more casual - and some would say, more real.
The question becomes, then, where do you draw the line between sheltering a child and exposing a child? Doing too much of either can be equally detrimental to development. Tough question.
Solid post.
I think this is an interesting idea for a post. It really brings back memories of life when I was younger and movies such as "the goonies" and "sandlot" was entertainment. nowadays kids are being introduced to movies like "transformers" and "spiderman". now dont get me wrong, these are great movies but they promote a sense of violence and behavior that we werent introduced to until later years.. its always interesting reflecting on what it was like "when we were kids" because i still feel so young. but in all honesty, many things have changed. great post!
I strongly agree that the US has taken content aired on television much too far, and the influence and impact this is having on children today is highly inappropriate. Popular topics, such as sex, drugs and the excessive use of profanity, has been glorified because of the popularity, but regard for morality and values has been pushed aside and fought against.
The US is very wealthy and powerful in the global entertainment industry, and this power has been taken advantage of and has been jeopardizing the innocence and morality of youths today.
I strongly agree that the US has taken content aired on television much too far, and the influence and impact this is having on children today is highly inappropriate. Popular topics, such as sex, drugs and the excessive use of profanity, has been glorified because of the popularity, but regard for morality and values has been pushed aside and fought against.
The US is very wealthy and powerful in the global entertainment industry, and this power has been taken advantage of and has been jeopardizing the innocence and morality of youths today.
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