Thursday, January 25, 2007

The Media.

Ok, so I was listening to CBC radio on the way home from class today (yeah...I do that, radio stations suck here) and they were referring to this trial in Pickton, BC of the man accused of killing 49 women. Their only trying him for 6 at this point but one can assume more charges will be coming. Anyways, they weren't solely covering THAT but rather the coverage of it and whether or not talking about violent and depraved acts is too much for News networks to be covering.

Anyways, my issue doesn't lie with the issue of censoring disturbing content in the news. I'm sure no one wants to hear about HOW he did it, but some facts trickle out. News outlets have been really good about disclaimers and such, warning parents about content coming up that could be offensive to children.

SO they do their little bit about how over time people become desensitized to all this and develop coping mechanisms. All true, pretty basic but good discussion points. Then....they get to the callers.

First caller is a house wife from god knows where (I missed where she was from they told me..but whatever), she had gotten her daughter (9 years old) to NOT come home for lunch that day because of what was being discussed, ok whatever...seems stupid as hell, but whatever. She says she''s been waiting with her phone for the call in section so she could complain about the LACK OF DISCLAIMERS. She states that she had gone out of the room to do laundry and her child heard about what I can only conclude was the reports about this Pickton man, after having dismembered his victims...putting their extremities (fingers toes etc.) in a Bucket. Her problem wasn't with the WHOLE mention of this act...but rather that they used the word BUCKET, which created a image in her daughters head. She would have preferred the word RECEPTICLE. That was her complaint....not the telling of dismemberment and murder......but bucket. That THAT word, bucket, taught her daughter that their are messed up people in the world. I don't know about you but at nine I was aware that some people are fucks, andddddd some aren't.

Her second complaint was that these victims (who as far as I can tell were mostly, if not all, prostitutes) were described as "Sex Trade workers." It's a nice term, gets the point across without being too derogatory, right? Well her issue was that they were referred to AS sex trade workers....not as...and I quote... "Sisters, cousins, daughters....working in the sex trade industry." (extra periods mine) She later said that when she dies will she be referred to as a sister, cousin, mother, or.....as a Housewife, Christian.

She tried to sneak that Christian bit in there and slide it under the radar but I picked up on it.
I'm christian myself and I only say that so readers (who all know me anyways) don't say I'm being religousist.(I'm hoping thats a word) but, it bothers me when people who are OVERTLY "christian" feel the need to push what THEY believe should be on Tv/Radio/Media Outlets, over everyone.

So in short, the media already censors what's said, and people need to stop trying to pick apart what LITTLE section of the language that people in public outlets can still use. Also, while it might not be a great system but society still basically lives by the principle of "You are what you do." And if you spend your days cleaning the house and trying to protect your children from what should be common knowledge by now.....you are simply a fucksicle.

1 comment:

Jesse said...

oh man i totally agree. I remember growing up being exposed to all sorts of shit... thats prolly why most of us don't get to shook up over horrible acts like this.

We all have that experience growing up watching a movie with our parents, all the blood shooting and violence was ok ... but the second boobs showed up on the screen we had to cover our eyes... why??? i don't think a set of tits is worse then a man being tortured and so on.

just to prove a point .. my 12 year old cousins favorite movies are "hostile" and "saw" . im sure most of us seen these... their fucked up movies.. if i saw these at the age of 12 ... id be crying myself to sleep.

Younger and younger we are becoming desensitized to everything. and not just violence. take jackass for example... when did it become funny to see people mutilate themselves for entertainment... don't get me wrong i love jackass... but im sure if i was to show this movie to my grandfather ... hes die. simple as that.

so in short... that lady is stupid... you cant protect your kids forever, its gonna happen sooner or later. we grew up with the boogie man ... their growing up with disclaimers and uncensored media.

what a age we live in!