I'm putting this here in ASAH for a couple of reasons.

[murielm99]

I don't quite know how to say it, and I don't care to be ridiculed in one of the other places.

Some of you know that I spend quite a bit of time alone these days. Part of it is deliberate. I need the time to heal and rethink where I am going with the rest of my life. It is a self-imposed exile. I still see people when I am doing errands, and I still see my counselor, although on a limited basis.

In the evening, my husband is working and I am alone. I often watch TV. Some people think it is a crime to relax by watching TV. I don't. If people want to play solitaire and drink wine, or read romance novels to relax, good for them. I often watch TV.

But I am disturbed. I don't always watch Gray's Anatomy. I did see their season finale where a madman shot up the hospital staff. The show was a bloodbath, and I did not like it. Then, they did it again. They had a show last week that was based on the Virginia Tech shootings. It was another bloodbath show. I did not like it. However, I did not turn off either bloodbath show.

Okay. We have these terrible political shootings in Tuscon such a short time later.

What about these shows? Are they only for ratings? Do they reflect the reality of our society? Are the desensitizing us or helping us to cope with this new reality? Personally, I was disgusted with both Gray's Anatomy episodes, but I sat there and watched them.

I don't quite know how to express this. Do we need to let people, including TV show writers and producers, know that we don't care to censor them, but some things are just in poor taste and over the top? There are ways to present drama without doing this. My feeling is that they should never repeat the program that aired last week, and they should not make another one like it.

Can I stop watching the show? Of course. But that does not address the issue or solve the problem.

[Celebration]

1. yes, tv and movie violence desensitizes us

But video games, being interactive, are most likely worse culprits. This is really a dilemma of course. None of this really negatively affects most normal people, at least to the extent of inciting violence themselves, but I feel that watching TV violence and playing violent video games opens up portals to negative entities that can wreak havoc with a person's psyche. This can also cause physical illness. Energetically there are all sorts of ways to deal with this, but of course, they are far from accepted.

[murielm99]

3. Thank you.

I don't need the negativity. Perhaps I should stop watching this show. I don't need the negativity while I am going through a healing process. Your response was thoughtful and helpful.

[elleng]

2. Yes, we need to let them know,

and provide recent occurrences as 'evidence,' should such be necessary.

(P.S., I watch West Wing 'reruns' from Netflix, and Brit drama + comedy on PBS.)

[murielm99]

4. Thank you.

I may let them know. And I will continue to watch TV, but a change in my viewing choices may be in order, for the sake of my own mental health.

[OneGrassRoot]

5. That is so interesting...

I also relax by watching certain shows, most of which are as far from "reality" as possible (at least for me). :hug:

This is interesting though, about Grey's Anatomy. I watch that show (it is one of the few realistic ones I watch). I didn't view either episode of which you speak from the same prism, although now that you've shared your reaction, I absolutely see what you're saying.

I didn't view it as desensitizing at all; I viewed it as showing the consequences of real events, and hopefully invoking empathy in people who may not normally give news headlines more than a passing glance.

Senseless, gratuitous violence -- or a glorification of violent -- in shows is one thing, but I tend to see a message being conveyed in Grey's and similar shows. Maybe I just want to see it?

:shrug:

[murielm99]

6. I think that is their intent.

They want viewers to see what you see, and to empathize. But I think the two shows that disturbed me went too far in the quest for ratings and attention. Gray's Anatomy is a good show without the bloodbaths.

The writers and producers of this show have to walk a fine line to stay on the air. They crossed the line with these two shows. I hope they can get their mojo back.

[BlueIris]

7. I don't (and can't) believe that t.v. or films ever desensitized me to the wrongness of violence.

I could list the reasons here, but I don't feel like it. I personally do not believe that entertainment ever had that effect on me. Lack of empathy did. When I managed to recover my sense of empathy and good will for others, (lost due to abuse in my past, not t.v.) I became acutely sensitive to how awful violence is.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

8. I refuse to watch violent and bloody shows.

I refuse to watch horror movies. I do not want to be scared. That does not mean I will not watch anything with any violence. I've seen all the Harry Potter movies which have fights in them.

I can handle violence if it's real history like Schindler's List. Adding to the violence with fictional violence just seems to be mean and hateful to me -- adding to the psychic and mental uproar.

I saw the last Batman movie which was the most depressing and pointless movie I have ever seen. Nothing positive about it at all. People threatening each other with knives and killing people and blowing up cars and buildings. I was criticized on this board severely for my statements saying the movie was not only a waste of time, it was harmful to people. It had no positive human interactions in it, or positive relationships. And I guess people are desensitized.

Celebration is right; watching violence adds to the psychic trauma we carry even though I can't really articulate much, other than that it's bad. Sort of like walking by a bar or a voodoo shop in New Orleans -- I know to avoid those because they bother me. I know there are bad spirits there. I took my daughter there in 2004 to start college at UNO. What amazed me was that there were bars and strip clubs and voodoo stores, next to an antique store or art gallery with beautiful things in them that were very positive places.

I used to work at the courthouse and I have seen pictures of dead people at crime scenes, presented in murder trials, when I was a court reporter. That was reality and that's why I don't watch crime shows or medical shows. I've seen second hand pictures of the reality of death -- and they were horrific. If I had been at an actual crime scene with a dead body I am sure I would have been quite traumatized.

I mostly worked in civil instead of criminal court, but the conflict between people who just hate each other, in civil court, or in criminal court, which is about violence, is very wearing on me. I started court reporting when I was 22 and was burned out on it and just hated it by the time I was 35 or so.

People see violence in movies -- someone gets shot, fake blood squirts out of a packet, and they fall over and are dead in seconds. That's not realistic. I saw the combat scene at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan and thought it was not nearly as bad as the photos I had seen of real violence.

I assume that the random anger and rage out there can affect us even if it's not specifically directed at us. I can tell a difference late at night in the "feel" of the atmosphere because people are not scurrying in the middle of the night. Frank Zappa said he liked to work in the middle of the night because people were not scurrying to their jobs and scheming. I think he had a good point. I am a musician too so I think I understand what he was saying.


Celebration, please talk about this a bit more!! Thanks!! :D

[NuttyFluffers]

9. i'm more curious at the level of synchronicity lately. it's like zeitgeist on crack lately.

anti-alien shows galore. post-apocalyptic tv shows, some w/ even zombies!, which even 15 years ago would be unthinkable. maybe a tv special like the Day After -- and with a lot of warnings and advance notice of the content -- but not whole series. it's like a major war to ramp up or maintain a state of fear and pathos is the prime goal of media of late.

just my perception of broad patterns. so much of reality now mimics fiction it's not even funny anymore.

[murielm99]

10. Yeah. Synchronicity.

I tried to talk to my kids about that when they were home for Christmas. We are usually pretty much on the same page politically, except that I am farther to the left. They did not get what I was saying at all.

Maybe I am wrong about this. But I am very disturbed by all these fictional bloodbaths that reach wide audiences. It is a personal thing. I do not want to stop others from viewing, reading, or playing the games they want. It seems to me that some people who are on the edge do not regard these things as reality. The rampage in Tuscon could have been just another movie or TV show. I know most people are not like that, but this shooter is not the only nut out there.

[lildreamer316]

11. I feel *exactly* the same way.

There's too much of it to be a coincidence. Just waaaaaaaay too much. It's ringing my bells all over the place. I wonder why others can't see it. And I'm not very sure what it's supposed to mean, but I do most definitely see it.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

12. kick - media influence is an important topic.

I bet a lot of you people are old enough to remember Grace Slick singing, "Feed Your Head!".


:hippie:

[Lucinda]

13. I'm snuffly so I probably wont say this too clearly...but a long time ago

I read a piece that said that our subconscious takes in what we subject it to as "personal experience" and stores it. At that point I really started paying more attention to what I exposed myself to in terms of "entertainment".. plus I am a wuss, and don't like extreme violence. :)

I DO like the puzzle of a good thriller and I have really good "close your eyes now" radar, so I can still watch some things and avoid seeing the violent scenes, but I have been known to get a LOT of housecleaning done when Bill watches certain movies. It's a running joke in my circle of friends...movies come to me with a "house will be cleaned" rating. :)

I don't want to be subjected or desensitized to violence. I love the Bourne movies, but I always have to be busy before the intense fight scenes come up.
I realize that some people don't experience entertainment this way...but that's the way it is for me.