Emotional pornography

and this sort of coverage perhaps encourages the likes of Susan Smith & Mark Hacking.

Yitwail, it is ture that tragedy does not meet dignity in today's society. Not much does, really. Reality shows are a really good analogy.

I confess to being a Survivor junky but I've never become engaged in any other one. Now I'm wondering why.....

Thinking. Thinking.

Interesting soz, about that comfort zone.

I agree that we need to be shaken out of it. The photo essay that osso posted is a perfect example of how this can be done. Nick Carter's photo is another.

But it seems to me that we make these things comfortable by talking endlessly about them; we create a new comfort zone in a way. THAT'S when it starts seeming porographic to me.

I think it really goes beyond meeting the needs of bored housewives (but I do agree that soap operas do a good job of that). I'm thinking that the FOX network probably skews demographically towards men. If that's true then Van Sustren audience is most likely men -- what is this speaking to in them?

Thanks Letty! I had no idea that it extended to such things. You've given me more stuff to think about.

Well said, Setanta. "... fascination with the intimate details of someone else's misery which qualifies as being "pornographic.""

I too was brought up not to point and stare. A few years ago there was a big murder mystery where two young girls disappeared. When the police showed up with backhoes at a neighbor's (the girl's neigbor, not mine) house to start digging people came out of the woodwork. Parents took their children to the dig. The news trucks were all there with endless coverage.

I couldn't belive that people would go to watch this, much less take their children with them. I couldn't turn on the TV for days because that's all there was on. The murder was sickening -- the spectacle equally bad.

boomerang, before we begin inferring the decline of civilization, public hangings took place in England well into the 19th century, to take one example. i believe whole families attended, turning them into picnics of sorts.

I get my news from the paper so I really only become aware that any story has become sensational when it starts appearing on A2K threads. I usually not up to speed enough to comment unless they are discussing the larger issue surrounding the story.

You're right - people did take their kids to hangings didn't they?

Perhaps these sensational stories provide some kind of object lesson to the people who obsess over them -- just as I've heard people took their kids to hangings to show them what becomes of criminals.

Hmmmmm......

I read a sentence this week in a New Yorker magazine piece - "My Bird Problem" by Jonathan Franzen - that I was thinking of using for a "signature line", for a bit. He said, "My mother loved to be a part of things, and having strong opinions was a way of not feeling left out."

Well, this "emotional pornography" thing is not really analogous, but some of the attraction to sensationalistic news could have something to do with making people feel more alive themselves and not out of the loop of human "discourse".

Re: Emotional pornography


What are you talking about.

What 'emotional pornography' thing?

When I mentioned Munchausen I had in mind the extension of the idea to cover news purveyors.They do seem to get excited at the sight of distress and one can understand why.It gets them attention.The viewer goes glassy-eyed when the headline is that the base rate has gone down by 1/4% but you should see them when the bombs go off or there's a train crash.

One news reporter in Bosnia is supposed to have asked a group of women -"anybody speak English and has been raped?"

Spendius,
I would attribute most of that to the decline of decent journalism.
Most broadcasts and newspapers aren't even worth paying attention anymore.
Sure, reporters have always chased after the story with a special interest. But the times are a lot different now then before for reporters.

As far as being exposed to this emotional pornography:
You have to be journalist just to understand where the story is really coming from. Or, you have to develop the skills necessary to navigate.

I think it would be a really good idea to start teaching media literacy in schools. Give kids a fair chance to make it through the media-barrage they have to live in. Media has expanded so fast, it's a whole new ballgame. I have seen studies of how kids have been traumatized by viewing some of these broadcasts, just as though they were experiencing it themselves. I wonder how much it affects our thinking and lives overall.

Another note:
Remember when the movie Hotel Rwanda came out?
It was given widespread applause for bringing awareness to an issue.
Well, I heard a really interesting side to this situation from my aunt. She is in the Canadian army and was sent to Rwanda after the genocide.
She saw and experienced post-genocidal Rwanda.
She thought the coverage was ridiculous, crass, and heartless, not to mention totally biased. The movie outraged her, as did the newpaper and television she saw reporting on it.
Oh, she had a whole different story to tell. But who has heard these other stories? Why are certain sides being silenced?

Okay, I'm blabbing, but you hopefully get my point.

I do get your point.

Another thing they do is give people ideas.They cover bad behaviour in youngsters and show it and in doing so give all the rest the idea.I suppose the idea is to generate more bad behaviour so that the news gets more exciting.A supermarket in Kent banned young lads in hoods.They jumped all over it and there was a rash of what are now called "hoodies".Did car chases increase when they started showing them?Everybody loves them eh?