Saint-Just
25th March 2005, 14:30
I am aware that none of the forums here are entirely appropriate for this post.
I am very concerned about the nature of the culture(s) in which we live in and the direction towards which our culture(s) are developing.
The maturation and socialisation of children involves learning the ways, rules and norms of society.
Now, through their socialisation function, the mass media teaches and reinforces the societal values that establish normal behaviour.
So, if children are socialised by adverts, programmes and printed media designed by a corporate group with little or no interest in the actual virtue of the values they convey through these mediums, then it follows that these children will become creatures of little or no virtue. That is to say, normal behaviour will become antipathetic to the function of a healthy and civilised society.
In our era, of a global, capitalist, culture in a so-called 'postmodern' society, the exposure to sexual media, for example, leads to several effects for adolescents, and, adults, such as: (a) greater concern with sexual matters, (b ) perceptions that sex is common among young people, (c ) greater acceptance of extra and pre-marital sex, and (d) beliefs that sex has few negative consequences.
Specifically, exposure to programs such as MTV (wherein we see highly sexual music videos), Desperate Housewives, Sex and The City, Friends etc. produces positive attitudes toward sexual permissiveness.
As such our societies are becoming collections of masses of individuals who no longer consider themselves as part of a society. In the example mentioned, we now see all around us as sexual subjects, with our selves as the sexual object. That other people are subjects designed for our gratification.
I think our societies are becoming anarchic societies in which people have too few self-disciplines, and most of the disciplines they have learnt are that which is bestowed upon them by corporate created images. People will behave as they want with few cultural restraints, the only cultural restraints will be those restraints established by our various corporate entities e.g. sleep with your neighbour's wife but do not kill your neighbour since he is one more man to buy our company's trash/product.
Does anybody disagree?
I am very concerned about the nature of the culture(s) in which we live in and the direction towards which our culture(s) are developing.
The maturation and socialisation of children involves learning the ways, rules and norms of society.
Now, through their socialisation function, the mass media teaches and reinforces the societal values that establish normal behaviour.
So, if children are socialised by adverts, programmes and printed media designed by a corporate group with little or no interest in the actual virtue of the values they convey through these mediums, then it follows that these children will become creatures of little or no virtue. That is to say, normal behaviour will become antipathetic to the function of a healthy and civilised society.
In our era, of a global, capitalist, culture in a so-called 'postmodern' society, the exposure to sexual media, for example, leads to several effects for adolescents, and, adults, such as: (a) greater concern with sexual matters, (b ) perceptions that sex is common among young people, (c ) greater acceptance of extra and pre-marital sex, and (d) beliefs that sex has few negative consequences.
Specifically, exposure to programs such as MTV (wherein we see highly sexual music videos), Desperate Housewives, Sex and The City, Friends etc. produces positive attitudes toward sexual permissiveness.
As such our societies are becoming collections of masses of individuals who no longer consider themselves as part of a society. In the example mentioned, we now see all around us as sexual subjects, with our selves as the sexual object. That other people are subjects designed for our gratification.
I think our societies are becoming anarchic societies in which people have too few self-disciplines, and most of the disciplines they have learnt are that which is bestowed upon them by corporate created images. People will behave as they want with few cultural restraints, the only cultural restraints will be those restraints established by our various corporate entities e.g. sleep with your neighbour's wife but do not kill your neighbour since he is one more man to buy our company's trash/product.
Does anybody disagree?