Working Away

 There is a limit to what an individual may do to help children avoid or overcome the effects of media violence. Such a task requires a collective effort by society in general and media gurus in particular. The channel bigwigs, instead of resorting to shock tactics to increase viewership and advertising revenues, by broadcasting unwarranted images of death and gore, may, and should, show restraint and perhaps a bit of responsibility.The gruesome images of Saddam Hussein’s final moments barely managed to create ripples in our society and not shock waves as would normally be expected from any civilised nation of the world.

To say that the aired video was a violation of human rights and an outright breach of the code of respect for a dying person would be an understatement. It defied all acceptable norms of media self-censorship. Although there was a lot of hue and cry raised over Saddam’s execution, very few voices were heard condemning the recording of the entire sequence and then blatantly airing it.

The news pundits in a bid to outrun the other channels thrive on sensationalism and such is the lure of this cut-throat competition that anything from the scene of crime to the real time hanging may be aired with absolutely no distinction being made between genuine information and literal violence.

Media violence is certainly not a new phenomenon as is quite evident from a number of reality shows, movies and whatever runs in the name of ‘quality’ entertainment on different media. At any point in time, people between the ages of one and 90 may be seen watching television with the average viewing time falling between two and four hours daily.

According to a report, a 10-year-old child, Sergio Pelico, accidentally hanged himself in his Texas home while aping Saddam’s execution. He’d watched TV news and was inordinately curious about Saddam’s death. In Pakistan,  Rahim Yar Khan, a nine-year-old boy with the help of his 10-year-old sister, hanged himself from a ceiling fan in a tragic attempt to re-enact the hanging he’d watched earlier.

A 15-year-old Indian girl, Moon Moon, hanged herself “to feel the pain Saddam did during execution”. She’d become extremely depressed after watching the news (which she insisted on watching again and again) and refused food for two days before hanging herself. and so on list goes on etc.My friends they should have been protected we are not doing our job   Research conducted over the past,  by experts in the field of media violence, including television, film, videogames, music and the Internet, confirm that media violence has profound negative effects on children. The conclusion is simple, violence begets violence………………………………………"Protect a child ".

This was a reaction to two boys playing in the park trying to hang each other.WHY???And are you doing anything about it?

    I have  upset you enough! Have a laugh and a good week              "Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn’t seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says: "Calm down, I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead." There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says: "OK, now what?" . He!He!He!