The TV and Its Dangers

"This production may contain moderate violence, non-sexual nudity, vulgar language." The warnings that precede the release of productions not recommended for minors show a profound confusion of adults about the table of values ​​of the world in which we live.

Can anyone enlighten me on how harmful non-sexual nudity is when it is not ostentatiously sought after or presented? The natural ones are not to be ashamed, they also discussed philosophy and politics at public baths. Who determines where moderate violence ends and where extreme violence begins?

Does anyone seriously believe that young people learn violence from television when domestic violence is a daily reality in most families in this country? (It is of course true that the ubiquity of violence in television programs can strengthen, validate violent behaviors, but let us not use this excuse at hand so as not to confront the roots of these behaviors).

As for vulgar language, you can collect many more spicy samples in front of the block. Would less violence on television still be desirable? Yes, but don't expect people on television to decide on their initiative, and don't expect CNA sanctions to have that effect.

 With big eyes closed:

Many people today demand that television be educated or that journalists be more responsible. But the responsibility of journalists is a reflection of our responsibility, and education is not left to television. More and more children are being raised by television. His parents say, "I can't stop him from looking when I'm not home." But the problem is that even when I'm at home one of the main leisure activities is watching TV, or talking about what I saw on TV.

He eats in front of the TV, reads with the TV open, changes channels every five minutes, falls asleep on the TV, makes love in front of a TV that no one turns off.

This box of pictures from everywhere and nowhere has become the most important member of the family. It is debatable whether the models seen on the small screen directly incite violence.

Two other phenomena seem to me to deserve more attention:

1. The trivialization of aggression and desensitization to suffering is not a new phenomenon; societies at war have always known him. The only new possibility is to watch live or recorded violent images, documentary or fiction, from Africa or on your street, almost every minute. We are getting used to the increasing degrees of filmed atrocity and we no longer react to aggression. It is not the aggression that is born in front of the TV, but the passivity and the damping of the reaction capacity.

1. Image violence destroys our ability to tell stories. We stand and marvel at shocking images, which temporarily suspend critical thinking and the ability to make sense of what is seen; and after the sequence is over we don't have time to reflect because another shocking image is available on this channel or another.

Sex on the small screen:

There is a lot of talk about sex on TV about differences in taste and irrelevant terms (do you want to look up the meaning of the words "obscene", "pornography", "trivial" in a dictionary?). It is better to discuss from the consumer's perspective: what are the benefits and disadvantages of constant and important exposure to explicit sexual images.

Entertainment, the development of the playful side of one's sexuality, the encouragement of a more uninhibited look at one's own body could be admitted as possible benefits of moderate doses of sex on the bottle (but at this last point the reverse is equally possible: promoting a certain type of physically "perfect" can induce the inhibition of satisfaction that can be obtained through one's own body).

In terms of dangers, I would like to mention two:

1. Blurring the erotic imagination is one of the somewhat paradoxical consequences of excessive exposure to erotic movies. The image does not require the practice of fantasy, it comes ready, can be swallowed without chewing. Leaving the task of sexual stimulation only to the images that come from outside, our ability to create personal erotic fantasies rusts.

1. Invasion of the intimate space: instead of reaching the creation of an intimate space for two, we find ourselves referring to prefabricated models and getting used to our imagination, sensitivity, and erotic behaviors being modeled by commercially successful standards.

The power of the TV:

We are often advised to use the remote control to change the channel. Let's do something else: there is a button on the remote that says POWER, meaning power - you can turn off the power of the TV. What to do instead?

Read an extra story to your child, move a little more (this will diminish the hostile impulses), take time to discover your partner's body and fantasies (not to project on him the fantasies borrowed from people behind the camera), talk to your neighbor about problems on your street before commenting on the latest reality show.

And if you keep commenting on the performance of the participants in such an inauthentic show, think that they do not exist as television characters except because you believe that the choice is only between one channel or another; both you and they are "connected" to the latest fashion broadcast on television; he is your brother in the glasshouse.