“The future for our world is a bleak one – and I’m pretty sure the Media is the one at fault.”

“Why do you say so? The Media is necessary to present news in order to grant greater awareness and educate people on the affairs and issues going on around them. In what way does it turn the world ‘bad’?”

“Statistics show that there have been increasing crime rates around the world, and ridiculously inhumane acts like ‘Happy Slapping’ have been sensationalized by the media in the UK. In fact, more young people are beginning to think such behavior is acceptable and have no qualms engaging in it. Furthermore, these numbers only reflect an upward trend it seems like the world is indeed going down should this continue.”

“Firstly, the example you used, ‘Happy Slapping’, as you mentioned, occurs in the UK. It does not represent the whole world. A country or local culture can possibly face a problem in their social morality as in this case, but equating it to the collapse of the world’s would be too much. Secondly, I am pretty sure parents and teachers in the UK must have been horrified by this news and sought to instill values into their children and students. With the majority knowing fully well that it is a wrong act committed and are taking proactive steps to stop it, I do not see how ‘the rest of the world’ can helplessly fall into a slippery slope of moral degradation with the Media being responsible. Already as it is, the media is being criticized for sensationalizing the news. When people know and can differentiate right from wrong, it means there is very much hope and moral values are still very much intact in this world.”

“Okay, then how do you explain why these figures (crime rates) are increasing? One fact that cannot be denied is that violent computer games do affect children into having violent tendencies, which might turn into serious crimes if not curtailed. If a kid grows up playing violent games and feels it is acceptable to act violently, he may not be alone. Friends in school or elsewhere are important spheres of influence and them agreeing that violence is acceptable will cause a domino effect which solidifies the notion and bring the world to chaos.”

“I feel that you have a very myopic view of how we are being influenced today. Yes, I cannot deny that many young children might have their values shaped from television they watch or games they play. But it is up to the discerning parent or authority to decide what is right for the society. This is the main reason why there are restrictions or even bans on violent games or videos. Ultimately, you cannot simply blame media for this phenomenon. The media is but merely a channel for information and expression to run through – these ideas and information are still generated from other individuals. If you want to put a blame to such a negative trend, you should be blaming the violent game developers specifically, not the media as a whole.”

“Then how do you explain the increase in divorce rates and sex scandals. Aren’t all these a result of the media portraying divorce as an upward trend and people start realizing it is not that bad to divorce anyway. As for the sex scandals, it happens so frequently that people these days just shrug it off as ‘oh, another one’, instead of feeling that it is absolutely wrong. The media is at fault here – because they used the tactic of showing something bad so often people start thinking it’s the norm.”

“Well whatever you just said is only conveniently using the media as a scapegoat in our own moral wrongdoings. The increase in divorce rates might be attributed to other reasons like the increase in our right of choice. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with a couple divorcing if they are unhappy, unless of course, there are children involved. As for why the sex scandals reported frequently in the media, it all boils down to simple human nature. Indeed, the catch phrase ‘everyone loves a scandal’ is very relevant in describing human behaviour. That is exactly what the media does to catch people’s attention. It makes it no different from an innocent household appliance business – capitalizing on the trends. People love to gossip, whether or not this carries negativity to the society, it has been going on for as long as human began communicating – long even before the media was born. Whether or not an individual chooses to be influenced by the media is an entirely different story. The media basically portrays three main groups of information, to be put simply, consisting of the ‘good’, ‘bad’, and ‘neutral’. Obviously, examples of good news are heroic acts by certain people, and the report probably consists of lines trying to encourage the emulation of such acts from the public. Factual reports like statistics and visits by leaders can be considered under ‘neutral’. So what does the ‘bad’ categorizes? There can’t possibly be a newspaper headline asking people to commit more murder right? The news company will close down never hear the end to it! What I can agree with you is that the media does come with its negative side effects, as with everything in this world. These negative effects, as you mentioned, are actually indirectly caused by misinterpretation of the media, and not the fault of the media per se.”

“Ah ha! See, I got you there! You just said there is nothing wrong with a couple divorcing if they are unhappy. Isn’t it utterly destructive to a society to have high divorce rates? Don’t you feel that it is the media who is responsible for this? Are you also now a victim of the media?”

“No! The media is reporting the truth by saying there are more people divorcing! Even without the media, people will start to realize this is a trend albeit at a slower pace. But that is not the point. The point is that it is us who create these statistics. More marriages are ending in divorce. We started the trend – if there is anyone to blame, it is ultimately us, not the media. And yes, I agree there is nothing wrong with a divorce if a marriage is unsalvageable, only provided they have no children. How can you conclude it is a bad thing and detrimental to society when people in this very society are doing it like it is the norm? Obviously you fail to realize that the so called ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are benchmarked by us, and this yardstick evolves with time. This is a very natural progression and liberation of a society. There is nothing wrong with it. Human are built that way, if not till today we will be living in caves without any form of communication! We might perceive something as a moral taboo today, but fast forward a thousand years and everyone might be engaging in it as normally as eating and drinking. We are only alive for a century or so in this vast time-span of human evolution. It is important to understand that our beliefs and perceptions do not necessarily transcend time, and therefore we are not qualified in any way to make a moral judgment on something in far future. For an example, guests bringing wine is a norm in America when invited over for dinner, but in France, you might very well be thrown out for suggesting that the host does not have good enough wine for you. These different cultures existing in today’s world are very well a microcosm of different stages of societal evolution.

Well, my brother came home today with that bold statement all the way at the top. Before I knew it, my family joined into this furious conversation that jumbled media, ethics and finally philosophy. What a family...you might say.