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Does the media cause crime?
Results so far:
| No | 46% | 187 votes | Total: 409 votes | |
| Yes | 54% | 222 votes |
No
by Mimi Lu
Created on: January 08, 2008
The media does not cause crime. Society - with its fallibility, mutability, inequalities, hypocrisies and prejudices does. The media only makes crime into a bloody spectator sport. It transforms ordinary citizens into the testosterone-charged, bloodthirsty gladiator audiences of ancient Rome, marveling in the brutal slaughter of their fellow men, intrigued by the fantastical methods of their murders, thanking Jupiter that it wasn't them that were decapitated by a scimitar and fed to the ravenous lions.
In today's society, the media, through its multitude of sinister but subtle mediums, dramatizes crime and often glorifies the criminal. The media provides detailed descriptions of the crime the location, the nature of the crime, the implements used, the ultimate resolution. This catapults the average, law-abiding citizen into the action. In other words, the nave consumers are hoodwinked into buying the next day's newspaper, in order to follow this intriguing serialized news story.
All this is harmless enough, so far. People working in mind-numbingly bland office jobs, trapped in a stagnant marriages, tormented by a rowdy brood of offspring, need their entertainment. However, the media's hyperbolic representations of crimes, in their avaricious pursuit of ratings, somewhat absolves the criminal and somehow makes them heroic. For instance, by propagating the tragic life story of Mr X, who has just shot his three-year-old daughter and then, himself, the media has created a martyr. The same goes for Mrs P, who robbed a bank to sponsor her son's university education.
The media knows full well that human beings have always had a penchant for the law-breaker, the rebel, the daring individuals who dare to cross the line that they themselves shy from. Why else do women fall for bad boys' and men femme fatales'? People inevitably fall for the criminal streak.The media exploits this sadistic obsession to the full, by in turn, presenting the sympathetic, pathetic side to the most malicious of psychopaths.
And the consequences of this exploitation? To impressionable minds, the media seems to be going so far as to condone crime, as it glorifies and places audacious criminals on pedestals. To desperate minds, the media represents the most powerful medium that will convey their message to the world. The publicity that the media unfailingly delivers may often be the impetus for horrific crimes such as school shootings they are often cries for help, for attention, or expressions of pure hatred and revenge.
Nevertheless, the media does not directly cause crime, although it is culpable for dramatizing crimes to suit its commercial purposes. In order to discover the true roots of criminality, we must examine the society itself. Would the frustrated Mr X have taken such extreme measures if national legislation had been different, and he was granted co-custody of his daughter, rather than supervised visits once a month? Would Mrs P have resorted to holding the bank at gunpoint if there were improved social support schemes or increased government funding to reduce university fees? For, if there did indeed exist an uncorrupted institutional justice in a society, there would be no need for individuals to impose their own instinctive justice and break the conventional laws.
Learn more about this author, Mimi Lu.
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Yes
by Chamal Fenelon
Created on: October 26, 2010 Last Updated: October 27, 2010
The idea of doing something out of the ordinary excites people, quite naturally. Not that we necessarily will see someone jump out of a plane and then automatically search the yellow pages for the nearest 'death defying' centre to attempt the plunge ourselves, but it stimulates us. Stimulation is fun. Whatever your stimulation there is a marketplace for it. Women, drugs, aeroplanes, food...whatever. From this marketplace companies make money. There is the drugs marketplace. Illegally drug dealers will flood our streets with cocaine, heroin and weed and reap the benefits of those addicted. There is then the legal marketplace. A creation of drugs that will benefit human beings in times of sickness, sold by company to company and delivered by those whom have studied there effects. It is orthodox that we see it this way and I would be proud to be a doctor, in this day and age. Years ago, the early versions of these 'doctors' were 'witch doctors' that fraternised with these fantastic affects of plants and they were killed for their endeavours.
My point is that what we see as commonplace now has an effect. It is normal to see somebody murdered horribly in a gory movie, or a female enjoying sexual pleasures in anything above a 12 rating. It is normal to open the newspaper and read about the local shop owner gone 'crazy' and shot 2 people for stealing a can of beans. This is because the unknowing and exciting stimulates Man. The things that are 'not allowed' we question because one of our traits is to be inquisitive to an extent. The same reason that there is theme parks is the same reason that the media raves about our crimes. It gives us an insight into the world that we dare not be part of, thus perpetuating our lust for knowledge about it. With theme parks, it facilitates our lust for adrenaline, and we pay for that rush time and time again.
The media know that no news travels like bad news. If England won the World Cup today, most of England would probably party in the street and the media would have a field day capitalising on our glory, people would buy it. When the Twin Towers were destroyed every channel in the world was displaying the site simultaneously. It unified a planet. For some reason although we are naturally disgusted by crime and its affects we want to know about it, it gives us a talking point at work, it gives us a slight satisfaction even, to know that we can break the rules. Why else would people so willingly discuss and read about it? You can put this to the test even. Tell somebody you do not know in random conversation "I went to university and got a degree in Biology at a 1st standard". Guarantee you their demeanour is an uninterested wow. Then try with somebody else and say "I just came out of prison yesterday, been in for 5 years". Watch how their body language changes to an open, interested state, eyes widen and jaw drops in anticipation. They want to know how, why and what it was like. Why?
The media has seen these reactions in the form of millions upon millions of viewers and readers. Maybe we wish that it was not this way, maybe they do also, but it is and not much will change. The media facilitates our fraternisation with the darker world, it is our spyglass if you like. It causes crime because it projects it to many more people than the mouth can shout to. Ideas intermingled with wonder and numbers makes for a cauldron of new criminals standing on the shoulders of those before them. We have given them an avenue to make billions of pounds a year through our thirst to know this 'other' world. The consequences is that world becoming part of our own as people close to us, if not ourselves seek its stimulation. Those that are afraid, or who have seen the consequences will not play with this demon. Those that watch Scarface, see the riches and think the gamble is worth it will walk with the devil hand in hand down that isle, facilitated happily by the media that video that marriage. The divorce is when they rub their hands together, more revenue, the worse the divorce, the more obtained.
Learn more about this author, Chamal Fenelon.
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