Christopher SoallCulture of Abuse
October 7th 2008 10:57
Slowly and insidiously the media could be said to have eroded certain forms of curtesy. There is the constant chicken or egg regarding whether media is a reflection of society or if it is what society shapes itself on. Personally I believe the relationship is reciprocal yet the ability of the media to highlight and exaggerate parts and make them look like the whole can lead to it having much more influence than it is given credit for having.
I am wondering if the violence and language in film has slowly made everyone less sensitive. If people find it easier to be abusive than they did in the past, If the words always flying around our heads out of the TV screen and the mouths of TV indoctrinated youth on the train come more readily to our lips and if this has damaged courtesy and respect.
Are we as kind to each other as we were in the past, Or if not as kind more openly hostile when decades ago we may have felt ill yet disguised our emotions burying them beneath politeness.
It seems impossible for society not to slide to either extreme. In Victorian times everyone is repressed, In the 60's they were uninhibited and now celebrity's sell their emotion and reporters exploit people unfortunate enough to have their tragedy caught on a news camera or stupid enough to apply to be on a reality TV program.
The part I hate is that if you want to have a little dignity you are jeered at as being overserious. Everyone laughs at you if you express concern but I don't see how the extent of the openess we are encouraged to accept nowadays can not be harmful.
My brother has recently got a job informing people that a carpark that used to be free now has a charge after a certain period of time. This new policy is fair. People used to park their car and catch a bus to the city leaving it there all day leaving no spots left for the shoppers actually visiting the shopping centre. Yet in the last week he has been the buffer for complaint and abuse. It isn't his policy but he is the messenger. Taking this example along with consideration of the increase in Road Rage and an ever constant influx of news excitedly (Almost happily) reporting the latest random act of violence I think that the way the media has zoomed in, magnified in some cases idolised disrespect and abuse has normalised it.
I feel I am far more desensatised to when I was younger. I still flinch when I hear swear words but it is almost a contrived flinch stemming from my own decision and determination to regard the word as dirty. It still hurts my ears but because I consciously am repulsed by it. The more I hear it the less out of place it sounds the weaker my resistance. I have zipped tight my lips and I couldn't stand to ever be delerious and have it escape my mouth as words can't be sucked back in once they have dribbled out and then the letters will excavated an exit, there is nothing to prevent an influx of migration, Once you've said something once you will say it again no matter your determination not to. Like if you decide I'll just eat one Grape, your resolve has been shattered the taste is on your tongue.
Words are so much more damaging than people give them credit for being. They linger in the air like smog and they choke people. When a person swears it can be just like having someone smoke in front of you. You hold you breath or in this case block your ears but you can't keep the cancer out. People don't even seem to need a trigger for bad language nowadays. It just seems to have become their language. Author's accept this and say that it is ok to write it down as you are representing that character. Terry Pratchett had a way around it by just putting ing at the end of every sentence. It gave the impression without stating the origin. I just don't understand why people think it is acceptable when it makes people treat others with carelessness and undermines humanity by using words towards others that seem abuse when directed at a dog.
The environment has been polluted in more than just a physical manner by the lowering standards and the media can't eternally hide behind the denial it is just reporting what is already there as by reporting it they spread the disease.
I am wondering if the violence and language in film has slowly made everyone less sensitive. If people find it easier to be abusive than they did in the past, If the words always flying around our heads out of the TV screen and the mouths of TV indoctrinated youth on the train come more readily to our lips and if this has damaged courtesy and respect.
Are we as kind to each other as we were in the past, Or if not as kind more openly hostile when decades ago we may have felt ill yet disguised our emotions burying them beneath politeness.
It seems impossible for society not to slide to either extreme. In Victorian times everyone is repressed, In the 60's they were uninhibited and now celebrity's sell their emotion and reporters exploit people unfortunate enough to have their tragedy caught on a news camera or stupid enough to apply to be on a reality TV program.
The part I hate is that if you want to have a little dignity you are jeered at as being overserious. Everyone laughs at you if you express concern but I don't see how the extent of the openess we are encouraged to accept nowadays can not be harmful.
My brother has recently got a job informing people that a carpark that used to be free now has a charge after a certain period of time. This new policy is fair. People used to park their car and catch a bus to the city leaving it there all day leaving no spots left for the shoppers actually visiting the shopping centre. Yet in the last week he has been the buffer for complaint and abuse. It isn't his policy but he is the messenger. Taking this example along with consideration of the increase in Road Rage and an ever constant influx of news excitedly (Almost happily) reporting the latest random act of violence I think that the way the media has zoomed in, magnified in some cases idolised disrespect and abuse has normalised it.
I feel I am far more desensatised to when I was younger. I still flinch when I hear swear words but it is almost a contrived flinch stemming from my own decision and determination to regard the word as dirty. It still hurts my ears but because I consciously am repulsed by it. The more I hear it the less out of place it sounds the weaker my resistance. I have zipped tight my lips and I couldn't stand to ever be delerious and have it escape my mouth as words can't be sucked back in once they have dribbled out and then the letters will excavated an exit, there is nothing to prevent an influx of migration, Once you've said something once you will say it again no matter your determination not to. Like if you decide I'll just eat one Grape, your resolve has been shattered the taste is on your tongue.
Words are so much more damaging than people give them credit for being. They linger in the air like smog and they choke people. When a person swears it can be just like having someone smoke in front of you. You hold you breath or in this case block your ears but you can't keep the cancer out. People don't even seem to need a trigger for bad language nowadays. It just seems to have become their language. Author's accept this and say that it is ok to write it down as you are representing that character. Terry Pratchett had a way around it by just putting ing at the end of every sentence. It gave the impression without stating the origin. I just don't understand why people think it is acceptable when it makes people treat others with carelessness and undermines humanity by using words towards others that seem abuse when directed at a dog.
The environment has been polluted in more than just a physical manner by the lowering standards and the media can't eternally hide behind the denial it is just reporting what is already there as by reporting it they spread the disease.
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