boogsiemansworld

Much has been written in the media or in psychology books on weather violence as portrayed in popular culture is responsible for perceived escalating violence in society, and much has been written by far smarter and better educated people than me.

That though has never stopped me exploring an issue for my self, so here goes.......

Well for me the first question is “is violence really escalating in western society or is the news media with there 24hr coverage and hyped up exclusives creating an appearance of almost viral assaults and chronic violence? Is violence worse than say, 150 yrs ago (on a per capita basis), and are our young really at risk from popular media or is it something else causing this perceived increase?”

I live in Australia, I have travelled across much of my Country and for that reason I base my knowledge and educated guess’s on Australia’s issues with violence not on other countries I know little about. Please feel free to reply with your thoughts on this mater based on your countries issues.

First let’s address the question as stated above, are films, games or popular music responsible for a perceived escalation in violence?

For me the short answer is no. Why? Well, simply put, a quick Google search shows that many of Australia’s cities are in fact safer now than ever before....and this especially applies to the time long ago that these cities where once bustling towns. Violence in Australia 100 to 150 years ago on per capita basis was far more common than it is today. During the gold rush era (the time many of our great cities, as towns at the time, hit adolescence) serious assault, murder, manslaughter and theft was at pandemic levels in Australia. Statistics vary greatly from site to site so I am not going to post any here but rather invite you to do some simple searches for your self on this matter. But it is a fact the here at least, long before even radio existed as a form of entertainment, violent crime flourished.

So the question now becomes, why do we perceive there is an escalating trend towards violence? Well the answer is really very simple I think the popular news outlets are the main source of information for many of us, over the years they have bombarded us with stories of violence (most true I’m sure), but its violence happening across a whole country...a country with 21 million citizens (approx), or across a whole world, a vast globe with as many as 6 billion people in it, and it is not necessarily reflective of the true violence that exists in each area. They use sound bites, 24 hour coverage and add campaigns that create an urgency to their stories, a current affairs programs saturate us with overhyped tales that while may well have some truth again are gathered from 21 million people every day, they focus on one single event that may well be a truthful tale of tragedy, but again is not truly reflective of the actual amount of regional crime.

Then there’s the how ‘safe are you’ stories from the same dubious tabloid shows that don’t even focus on any actual event but instead  scare you into believing the world is out to get you because fear sells. Fear convinces us we need to protect ourselves, fear is used as a means of control by unscrupulous politicians so that in trying to protect ourselves we allow them to make draconian laws that slowly but surely strip us of our civil liberties. When people are scared some people don’t ask questions...they panic and look for guidance from our leaders.....and these leaders make more laws..... The media is the one responsible for this perceived escalation, not the films etc... that the same media attacks.  We too are responsible! for buying into there over hyped nonsense that especially in the case of tabloid shows isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.

Sure there’s no denying that crime exists, there’s no denying that innocent people are robbed, bashed or even killed everyday....and in no way am  I trying to make light of the horrific experience of victims, it’s just that the stats simply don’t back up the belief as nurtured through the media that crime is worse now than ever before.

There’s a lot wrong with society to be sure, I’m certainly not trying to preach that we are a utopian ideal.  Whilst movies, video games and other layabout activities may well have contributed to issues such as obesity and a lack of fitness (perhaps an issue for a future blog) I don’t believe that they are responsible for modern and proven to be declining, crime levels.

The premeditated crime of violence is an act that in this country at least is considered under punished by the courts, I’m not necessarily  talking murder.... many serious assaults and thefts are premeditated and it is these crimes that are not punished severely enough in many peoples eyes.  To be fair I see their point of view, I have read of several cases of serious assaults ending in an official caution for the all too often young offender. That’s it.... a caution no fine, no community service order and certainly no time behind bars (always the last resort I believe, another blog there too...lol)

So maybe it’s a belief that “an offender is under punished”that also fuels the notion of a more violent society. Maybe the courts in there leniency are a major contributing factor to the concept of escalating crime?

I have deliberately left this topic fairly opened ended or even incomplete because I want to hear the views of others as a finisher.

What do you believe to be true in regards to this blog?

Is society in violent decline?

Are video games and movies to blame?

Please post your comments below, and thank you for taking the time to read this blog.

Phigg3

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