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The media makes us do it: Dines and the pornography debate : Comments
By Jennifer Wilson, published 31/5/2011Blaming the media for society’s ills has been dismissed by media academics. Gail Dines seems to ignore the research.
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The evidence that violent media has a causal link to real life violence is overwhelming. There were to the year 1997, there were extant “over 2000" scientific reports definitely proving that link. One of the scientific papers was submitted by the US American Medical Association, the same organization which led the fight against the tobacco companies.
The two most significant reports are the two US Surgeon General’s reports into the effects of media violence on society. In one report, you will find the historic “Joint Statement” made by the six leading medical, psychological and psychiatric institutions in the USA, who testified before the US Congress that the link between violent media and real life violence was overwhelming. Their individual reports used expressions like “the scientific debate is over”, “there is absolutely no doubt…..” and “the link between media violence and real life violence has been proven by science, over and over again.”
The comparisons between the tobacco industry, and the media, is obvious. Both of these fabulously wealthy industries knew all along that their products were harming their own consumers, but both denied that this was so. Both industries were vice industries targeting children, the intellectually challenged, and the immature. It was only government intervention which prevents the media today from advertising cigarettes, but the media is still helpful of its tobacco company corporate cronies by using “incidental” smoking scenes in movies to boost sales.
The difference between the two industries, is that one has been exposed, but the other has escaped public scrutiny. This is because the very same people who can be relied upon to man the barricades against every corporate malfeasance suddenly developed acute myopia when it came to attacking the media. Too many trendy lefties were employed by the media and any attack upon the media was seen as an attack upon their own self interest.