Like her eloquent moral explorations Lying (1978) and
Secrets(1983), Bok's latest ethical treatise addresses the dangers
of media violence and the temptations of censorship. Although
debates over media violence are almost as pervasive as violence in
the media itself, Bok's objective and erudite argument does not
fall into superficial extremes - either banning everything down to
The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers or championing Natural Born
Killers as free speech. Bok (Harvard Center for Population and
Development Studies) first examines the historical functions of
violent spectacles, epitomized by the Roman circuses, which were
first put on by noble families in honor of their dead. The
classical models of Aristotle's idea of catharsis, Plato's
banishment of poetry from his Republic, and St. Augustine's
description of the "stabbing of the soul" by viewing bloodshed
likewise inform Mayhem's modern analysis. Media violence, in
entertainment or news, Bok shows in study after study, is no less a
factor in America's top ranking in homicides than tobacco smoke is
in lung cancer. The American Psychiatric Association's conclusion
in 1993 that media violence can promote not only fear and
desensitization, but also aggression and appetite does not,
however, lead Bok to side with John Grisham's proposition of a
product liability lawsuit over Natural Born Killers or Robert
Bork's uncompromising advocacy of institutionalized censorship.
Disregarding Singapore's stringent but hopeless censoring of the
Internet (paralleled with 18th-century Geneva's ban on theater),
Bok looks toward Canada's national initiative at minimizing media
violence, in which the V-chip was used in addition to media
literacy education, ratings systems, and quality programming for
children. Perhaps the only thing missing from Bok's wide-ranging
and objective book is a specific analysis of violence's distinct
roles in our entertainment culture, instead of statistically
associating Martin Scorsese with Mortal Kombat. A deep disquisition
on a distressingly fraught issue. (Kirkus Reviews)
What is the effect of long-term media violence on our national
character? Do we want four-year-olds watching slasher films? Who
should decide?While almost everyone has a strong opinion about the
profusion of violence-in film, TV, video games, and on
line-paralysis sets in when it comes to action. The issue is seen
as a hopeless standoff between free speech and preserving public
morality. In Mayhem, Sissela Bok reframes the issue. She shows us
that we have created a false dilemma and that we need not feel so
helpless.Mayhem lays out the arguments and weighs the evidence on
each side: the desensitization, fear, and addiction that concern
psychologists, pediatricians, and religious groups on the one hand,
and, on the other, the threat of censorship invoked by journalists,
civil libertarians, and the entertainment industry. The book gives
a vivid historical overview of the debate: from Rome, to
nineteenth-century attempts to ban all theatre, to censorship of
the Internet in Singapore and China, and contrasting views of
figures as diverse as Martin Scorsese, Bill Moyers, and Judge
Bork.As in Lying and Secrets, she puts this thorny question in
clarifying perspective, and shows how our ways of dealing with it
not only express, but can shape our character and lives. Finally,
she takes up specific and imaginative ways to resolve the dilemma,
from private measures for individuals and families to large-scale
collective efforts.
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