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Violence Free Society, Background checks for Magazines

It’s High Time for Common Sense Media Control



-Satire “The pen is mightier than the sword.” The phrase was penned by British novelist Edward Bulwar-Lytton in 1839. The idea, of course, is that the written and spoken word can bring about both more good and more evil than can weapons of war.
This could be no more true today, considering the huge advances in media technology in the past few decades. Consider the following:
  • In 2011, thousands of people rioted in several London boroughs and cities after a young man was killed by police. The riots resulted in five deaths, 16 injuries, over $300 million in damages, and 3,100 arrests. According to a panel set up by the government to investigate the riots, “the spread of rioting was made worse both by televised images of police apparently watching people cause damage and loot at will, and by the ability of social media to bring together determined people to act collectively.”

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  • Several cases of suicide by teens who had been the victims of cyberbullying have recently come to light.
  • In England, a 26-year-old woman was stabbed to death by her estranged husband when he discovered that she had changed her Facebook status from “married” to “single.”
  • A 17-year-old Florida girl was stabbed to death by her boyfriend’s former girlfriend after posting pictures of herself with her new boyfriend on Facebook.
  • In Seattle, WA, an 18-year-old man shot his girlfriend in the face because of comments another boy had posted on her MySpace page.
  • Copycat murders and suicides are common following news reports of similar events in the mass media or social media. More than 800 Egyptians were killed stemming from the uprising (largely aided by social media) to overthrow Hosni Mubarak.
  • In perhaps the most famous occurrence of the kind, after Newsweek ran a false story alleging abuse of the Quran by U.S. military personnel, at least 15 people were killed in subsequent violence around the Muslim world.
  • These are only a few examples of the death and destruction caused by the media. If we take this even further, we can note that the pamphlet, Common Sense, published by Thomas Paine in 1776, was instrumental in the colonists’ decision to break from Great Britain. The resulting Revolutionary War lead to the deaths of at least 35,000 people. Something must be done about this. Far too much damage and death is being caused by the media. We must ask some of these media bigwigs: Why do you need your own show? (The first person I would ask is Piers Morgan.) We should ask Rupert Murdock: why do you need to own dozens of news outlets. We should ask Matt Lauer: do you really need The Today Show? We should ask Rachel Maddow: do you really need your own talk show (especially considering the fact that nobody watches)? Of course, there will always be those who defend the media under some misguided concept of the First Amendment. For example, Retta Adamatsu stated, after the 2011 London riots, “If we react to every situation with tighter controls due to fear, we end up giving up precious freedoms, and losing far more than we gain. And there will still be riots, and protests, both peaceful and violent, with or without social media.” (I’m going to break from my parody here for a moment and ask you to re-read that last paragraph. Only this time, instead of reading it in terms of media control, consider it in terms of gun control. Powerful statement, isn’t it?) But people like Adamatsu are almost certainly under the powerful control of the National Radio (and other media) Association (NRA), which pressures politicians from pro-media states to conform to their will, or face punishment in their next elections. The next thing you know, people like Adamatsu will be using the ridiculous argument, “The media doesn’t kill people; people kill people. Some will argue that the media is protected by the First Amendment. But remember, Twitter and Facebook, as well as broadcast communication of all sorts (TV and radio) go well beyond what the Founding Fathers considered when writing the First Amendment. These instruments of mayhem are far more powerful than the Founders could have ever imagined, and should not be protected under the First Amendment. Others might argue that the media is a last resort against government tyranny. But really, do you think your own government would ever really turn against you? Do you realize how silly that sounds? Besides, freedom of the media is a “collective right,” one that is held by the people as a group. And since the government—the representatives of the people—have their own media outlet (PBS), no individuals need to own instruments of the media or participate in media activities. So I say it’s time to act. We cannot allow the bloodshed to continue. I am therefore proposing several common-sense measure to curb media violence:
    1. Establish an anti-media group, “Mayors Opposing Media” (MOM), whose purpose it will be to oppose the media and those politicians who support the media.
    2. The President should use him campaign mechanism-turned-propaganda arm to solicit signatures on a petition to increase media control.
    3. Encourage the President to hold several news conferences in which he will lay out his vision for a media violence free society. He will surround himself with the parents of children who have been victims of media violence.
    4. The President’s vision should include at minimum the following:
      1. Background checks on those who wish to participate in any type of media communication, from writing for national newspapers to posting blog posts. We must make sure that felons and the mentally ill are not allowed access to the media, where they can cause unthinkable damage.
      2. Limits on the capacity of magazines. For example, magazines like Popular Science, Better Homes and Gardens, and Psychology Today, should be limited to 15 pages. More dangerous, scary-looking magazines like Entertainment Weekly, US, and People, should be limited to 10 pages. In New York, all magazines would have a 7-page limit (except for those carried by law enforcement officers).
      3. An outright ban on all media publications featuring stories about or photos of Kim Kardashian.
      I know this seems extreme, and I know that it means trading some freedom for an increase measure of security, but remember: if we can save even one child from death at the hands of the media, we must act.


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    Mike Jensen -- Bio and Archives

    Mike Jensen is a freelance writer living in Colorado.  He received his M.A. in Professional Writing from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he wrote his first book, Alaska’s Wilderness Highway.  He has since published Skier’s Guide to Utah along with humor, travel, and political articles for various magazines and newspapers.  He is married with five sons, and spends his free time at a remote cabin in the Colorado Rockies.


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