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Hope the weather hasn't made your life too difficult.
In this newsletter I want to return to a subject I have
addressed before, the violence in entertainment and
violence in real life.
What Social Scientists Should Really be Researching
In 1938, thousands of panic-stricken US citizens
fled their homes for the safety of the wide
open spaces. What were they running from? Martians!
Why? Because they heard Orson Welles' radio
production of H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds." The
program sounded just like a real news broadcast, so
listeners who tuned in after the introduction thought
the Earth was really being invaded and headed for the
hills.
Why do I mention this? Because armies of social
scientists are wasting time and money (tax-payer
grants) devising experiments they hope will prove that
violence in entertainment breeds violence in real life.
This research is taking place in an era in which graphic
violence in entertainment is at an all time high, yet
violence in real life is at an all-time low. If violent
entertainment really produced violent people, the
violence statistics should be higher than ever, not
lower. When research contradicts reality, the research
is
probably wrong, not reality.
Many social scientists claim that kids should not view
violent entertainment because they can't differentiate
fantasy from reality. However, this is true only for very
young kids. Research shows that by the age of five,
children differentiate between real violence and
entertainment violence, and between the news and
entertainment. The people who seem to have the most
difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality are the
researchers themselves; as proof of our violent society,
they often cite the abundance of make-believe murders
depicted in entertainment!
We should not be too worried that kids below the age
of five may not be able to distinguish violent
entertainment from violent news items. When was the
last time you heard of a murder committed by a four-
year-old.? But there is an infinitely more powerful
motivator than entertainment. That motivator is REAL
LIFE AUTHORITY. Americans fled their homes in 1938
because they thought they were listening to an
authoritative news program. Do you know of anyone
running for their lives because they thought the alien
invasion in the movie Independence Day was real? But
if you see George Bush on TV telling us to run for the
hills because of an alien invasion, you better hope you
can run faster than me!
The truth is that we are in great danger from violence,
but the villain is not entertainment.
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The Danger is Real-Life Authority |
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A few decades ago, psychologists like Stanley Milgram
and
Philip Zimbardo performed experiments on obedience to
authority, using (intelligent, emotionally healthy)
college students as
subjects. These scientists were motivated by the
desire to understand
mind-boggling events like the Holocaust, in which
educated, cultured people were persuaded by their
leaders to commit the most horrendous actions against
helpless, fellow human beings. The scientists
themselves were astounded by their results. Milgram
found that many of the college students were willing,
at the command of the experimenter, to administer
what they thought were
lethal electric shocks to another person! Zimbardo set
up a mock prison with some students assigned roles of
prisoners and some as wardens. Zimbardo abandoned
the experiment prematurely because the "wardens"
became incredibly cruel to the "prisoners"! Yes, the real
danger to us is the words of real-life authority, not
make-believe entertainment.
Universities no longer sponsor such experiments
because they are considered unethical. However, the
results need not be forgotten, and all we have to do is
read the newspapers or watch the news to see this
principal in action. When recognized authority
figures give instructions, many people believe and obey.
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How to Recognize an Evil Society |
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If you are currently a violence researcher and are truly
concerned about protecting our children (and the rest
of us), here is a suggestion. Forget about those
ridiculous efforts trying to prove that entertainment
causes violence. Instead, learn from September 11.
That infamous day taught us that the real danger to
civilization is not weapons of mass destruction. The
real danger is A HATE-FILLED MIND. All it takes is
someone motivated by hatred to turn ordinary objects
to into agents of immense destruction. Where did the 9-
11 killers get their hatred? From their governments,
schools, and religious institutions that officially teach
hatred, particularly of Americans and more particularly
of Jews.
If we were to recognize the true extent of the danger
we face today, we'd be crapping in our pants. The
9-11 killers are only the tip of the iceberg. There are
literally hundreds of millions of people living in countries
that are continuing to officially teach hatred of us,
both Big Satans and Little Satans (Americans and
Jews). Yes, there are millions of people who would be
happy to kill us if they only had the opportunity,
because they believe the messages of their authority
figures. Fortunately for us, most of those willing to
massacre us are too poor to carry out their dreams
because they live in dictatorships, where the masses
barely have enough money for their daily bread. (See
the December '03 newsletter for my explanation of why
people in dictatorships are financially poor).
"Evil" has become a hot topic since 9-11. Countries
accuse each other of being evil, and many of us call
our own country evil. Who is right? It's easy to
name-call, but are there any reliable signs of where the
real
evil lies? The answer is "Yes," and I will provide one
sign for you here.
To judge if a government is evil, ask yourself the
question, "Does it officially teach hatred?" If it does, it
is evil. When people hate, they have the desire to kill.
Teach millions of people to hate, and you will have an
army of citizens willing to blow themselves up for your
cause. So pay attention to the official declarations of
countries. Do their official news media, government
officials, and religious leaders call for hatred of another
people (not of
individual criminals, leaders, or terrorist organizations,
but of a
whole other nation or religion?). If they do, you've got
a sure sign that they are evil.
See December '03 newsletter »
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Read Previous Newsletters |
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My mailing list grows from month to month, and many
of you may not have seen my previous newsletters. If
you like this one, you will probably like my old ones,
too. The ideas tend to be different from those
you are used to hearing, so I invite you to read them. I
am providing here a link to the webpage that gives you
access to my newsletters. As always, I invite you to
reprint them and distribute them as you see fit. Just
kindly give me credit as author.
Read Izzy's previous newsletters. »
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New Seminar on Bullying and Sibling Rivalry |
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I would like to give you another reminder about my
upcoming new seminar on bullying and sibling rivalry.
While I usually touch briefly on these subjects at my
Anger Control Made Easy seminars, I am very excited
at the prospect of being able to devote an entire day
to these subjects. And I am grateful to Cross Country
University for sponsoring these seminars. For further
details, please stay tuned to upcoming seminar
announcements .
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