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From: chidder@fred.aurora.edu
Subject: Re: Scoring implementation
Message-ID: <32BA6AE5.5473@fred.aurora.edu>
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1996 10:31:01 +0000
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> <SOAPBOX>
> I think we need to quash this whole notion of "protecting" children
> from provocative media.  When I was a kid, I played all sorts of IF
> including LGOP, Leisure Suit Larry, and various games (IF and
> otherwise) with beheadings, maimings, and so on.  I saw my requisite
> number of murders and trysts on TV.  I listened to heavy metal.  Had a
> mouth like a truck driver.  And I didn't end up any more screwed up
> than anyone else.  In fact, today I strongly dislike violent films,
> although I can certainly still go for a game of Doom from time to
> time.
> 
> The idea that media messages cause people to become screwed up is
> patently absurd.
  YES!!! Thank you! I have been saying this for years!!!!!!!!! Trying
to cast the blame for peoples actions on the media is insane; and 
more often thatn not merely a lame attempt to justify censorship.
People consistently underestimate the intelligence and coping skills
of children- and use that underestimation to attept to justify things
that they are uncomfortable with.  They insult the childs intelligence
when they do so, and they insult my intelligence.



  What's the best predictor of violent and sexually
> depraved behavior in later life?  Child abuse.  How many American
> children were beaten (more than a spanking), burned, or threatened
> with a weapon in the most recent year for which statistics are
> available (1993)?  Eighteen percent.  Sixty-one percent of children
> are spanked regularly.  Is it any wonder our society is
> extraordinarily violent?  And people blame media for this?
> 
> In Japan, TV and movies are considerably more violent than the
> analogous American fare.  Yet violent crime is extremely low.
> Naturally there are other factors that make America a violent place,
> but if media causes violence even to a tiny degree, Japan should be
> awash in blood.  It is not.  Violence causes violence.
> 
  Not just in Japan. In _EVERY_ society in Europe where they are open
and frank with their children about violence and sex instead of tyring
to 'protect' them, crimes and pregnancy rates are far, far lower than
we have here.  You think wed learn something...



ObInF: Ok..what sort of warning label is apporiate for IF. Shopping,
for example is going to contain graphic sexual scenes- but if I put
that in a lbel itl spoil some of the fun. . .

Chidder

