Category: News and Views
I wish I hadn't heard the story on the news. I lay in bed at night fighting to direct my thoughts away from the imagined scene. It's too painful, too horrible to understand. I shouldn't have heard that damned story! But I did. And now I lay in bed ruminating. I imagine the quiet alley way, the darkness of the night, and the crying I imagine...the crying that torments me so much that I can't shut it out of my mind. It's in me. It's become a part of me. I don't know how but it has. What's the purpose of reporting such a story? There should be a ban against the coverage of such stories! I hear the heart-wrenching cry again. Why? Why? Why did I hear that damned story? I should've turned off the TV earlier. I just can't stop thinking about that poor fragile soul. Oh please, I don't want to imagine it anymore! Please! Please! How can I direct my thoughts away from imagining what they found in the garbage that morning? All night long that poor little baby girl cried and nobody heard. Man, that's so painful! She died all alone...
It might have more impact here if you post more details of the story.
agreed kevin...I seem oo not care right now, but maybe more info would make me at least interested
as for stories being banned...uh, people want to hear what the news is, no matter the trouble it has caused
Regardles of what the story is, who decides what should make it to the news? You get into sensorship there, a very dangerous thing, and a very slippery slope. There is an old saying: information is power. You also have free will to skip any story if you start reading and decide you don't want to read it. That writer and publisher don't control what you read, you do. Finaly, if you don't like it, complain to the publisher, or don't buy the product.
I too am against banning any story, but I think the publisher or writer should have warned readers/listeners about the content of the story. Oh hell, then more people would listen/read and complain. Just my synicism sneaking out.
I also would have liked to hear more facts about the story. From your post, I surmise that some baby was left in a trash can, or, perhaps, this is a subtle way of speaking out against abortion. I don't know, because there are so few facts.
But, I do know that the story affected you in a bad way, and for that, I'm sorry.
Bob
...agreed
There are only two effective ways to ban any idea, and the cool thing is, that you are only affected by the ban. The first banning technique is to tune away from the source of the offense or upset. The second is to turn your media source off and go do something else more to your liking. This way you've only censored what comes into your own life and nobody else's, because there's no way I'm going to believe that you know what's best for any of us.
I think the news channels assume that we have become innured to violence and suffering as we have seen so much, and if we don't like the story we can turn over. But, I agree and from what you have posted here it's little wonder that you were upset its sickening
...the question though I think remains, "How much censorship?" and also should there be the various "Ratings"...like there are TripleX movies, Restricted, For Mature Audiences, General, etc ...I guess what I am attempting to ask, "Can there be a News Rating?" Not that I have ever heard of this question being asked...I am simply throwing this question out if any one has thots, please share.
Well that is where our first amendment comes into play about banding news, and it would be harder than hell to give each news story a rating. Cause on the local news they change from story to story quickly.
I want to second what Godzilla-On-Toast says in post 7 above.
What he says about this subject makes more sense to me than almost anything else I've read on the difficult topic of banning or sensoring. In essence, he is advocating self sensorship (personal responsibility), which is good advice for all of us, and bears repeating.
So, g-o-t you get my vote for "straight shooter" of the month.
Bob
What do you want to hear? That this little baby girl was found dead and being chewed up by rats, ants, and maggots? What do you want to hear? That nobody loved this little baby girl? What do you want to hear? That this little baby girl cried for hours in an alley behind a factory? Don't you want to be spared from the gruesome details? But since some of you cannot be moved by a simple comment about this story and instead need minute details, then I believe i'm right in thinking these types of stories should be banned. I happen to value life and I'm deeply troubled when I hear about such stories. "Information is power"? What! What good does it do to anybody to know the details about such a story? We've stopped caring about the things that are put into our minds. Self-censorship? Does anybody still have self-control these days? Try telling that to the kids who are bombarded daily by useless news coverage.
I'm really sorry the story affected you so much. As a mother I can tell you it troubles me a lot that my son is so exposed to so much trash on tv, so much violence and cruelty. I monitor things as much as possible but I'm not with him 24-7, and I don't want to be a dictator mom. Stories like the one you described here usually make me cry and affect me deeply. Unfortunately there's nothing you or I can do to change the world or to prevent such horrible things from happening. We can only try to make our own little private corner of the world a little more pleasant. As painful as it is to see such stories on the news, I don't think they should be banned. Only way to avoid the shock is to practice self sensorship as someone said in a previous post. I hope writing about it and expressing your anger has helped. It usually helps me.
while I can understand that these stories are troubling, and I agree that some of the things we hear on the news is way to much information. I don't htink that sensoring things is the way to go. it is reality, nd the fact is that people do these horrible things, that people aren't always kind and respectufll to each other. BUt on the other hand they are amazingly compationate and there are as many wonderfull things going on in the world as terrible things. te media needs to focus more on the posetive things going on in our societies I agree, but I don't think that the way to go about this is to stop telling the reality of the bad things that goes on either. Maybe at least here in australia they could have an hour news report with half an hour of good uplifting news rather than a half hour sports report. I think the human spiret and hwat it is capable of is far more important than the footy results, as entertaining as the games can be some times
Eerie your damned right and as for self censorship, here we have the warning some viewers may find the following story distressing, so one is at least forewarned and can avoid the broadcast. Lately we've been avoiding quite a bit for our son's sake. The details of this report make me feel incredibly sick and frightened that the human race is becoming more and more insular to protect itself from such horror.
Greetings Eerie Silence,
Grace,Do you mean to tell me that our society cannot think of better ways to inform teenaged girls about these things? The public at large doesn't need to hear over and over again about tragedies. There is a proper place and time to inform these pregnant teens such as during school hours or making appointments with parents. That would be more effective. I have no problem with informing those who are uninformed and I agree with you that doing so is crucial in solving the problem. But now, after we all know that these things are happening, and no doubt they're going to keep happening, what point is there in continuing to tell us? We get tired of someone who brags about one heroic thing they did, don't we get tired of hearing something as troubling as dead babies? I don't judge the girls who do this because the fact that they are capable of doing such a thing is beyond my understanding. I imagine that, even though it may sound disturbing to me, in their own minds and in their own way they're dealing with a problem that they themselves cannot handle. whether their actions are driven by fear or guilt, I don't know, but I also don't see any need for me or anybody else to be exposed to it. Hardened investigators, who have seen so many awful things, don't cordon off crime scenes only to preserve clues, they do so also to spare the public from seeing what even they themselves are troubled by. The issue isn't why I did or didn't turn off the TV, or why I didn't heed the warning before such a story. I can tell you that the channel I heard the story on was a Spanish-speaking channel and that the person who lives with me was watching it and I unfortunately overheard, but that's not the issue. At times I don't want to be in touch with reality because, well, you're aware already of how it affects me. The human race knows enough already about what it's capable of doing, but do we still need to keep hearing about it? It's pointless!
So at what age should young persons/kids be taught SEX EDUCATION/REPRODUCTION PROCESS and BIRTH CONTROL and WHOSE Responsibility to give this vital information...??
That's right! I agree with you. That's the sad reality, persons of all ages are exposed to terrible things in our societies. Our age is one of great trouble. The media has a valuable role in informing the public about what's going on in our world. It's just sad to think of how dehumanized we'll become (or maybe I should say we already are).Morning, Afternoon, Evening:News:
Morning, Afternoon, Evening:News:
Erie Silence, you make a good point. However, you asked: "don't we get tired of hearing something as troubling as dead babies?" Fortunately, no we don't. As long as we react in horor and outrage, then we are still human.
I dread the day that such stories can be heard without anyone taking notice. That's when we lose our humanity. We'll know when that day comes: the news media will not rush to publish "just another dead baby story."
Bob
What I meant to say is:
News: "Another dead baby today!"
Viewer: "Again? Oh well!"
News: "Another suicide today!"
Viewer: "Again? Oh well!"
News: "Another terrorist bombing today!"
Viewer: "Again? Oh well!"
News: "Another rape today!"
Viewer: "Again? Oh well!"
News: "Another drive-bye shooting today!"
Viewer: "Again? Oh well!"
And so on and so forth, all the livlong day...
I guess I should face the fact that I'm living amongst the chuds, neanderthals and Daumers. I'm so unaware of it all that I need someone to constantly remind me of the picture-perfect condition our world is in, I mean, how could I ever live without it! Ha! We all need to be safe...don't we?
Let me reply to post 11. First of all, Bob, I just call things as I see them. I say people have to censor themselves because nobody knows what's best for all of us. I remember i was on an e-mail list and some woman was complaining about Howard Stern and how awful and unfunny he was and she proposed he be taken off the air because of this. OK, small problem. Stern has fans, or at least had them when he was on standard FM radio. What about their feelings and tastes? If I am to support freedom of speech and freedom of expression, I'm going to have to at least be tollerant of people with ideas I disagree with or I don't like. Yeah, I don't like Stern and think he's not funny, but that's my taste. I don't like country music. Should I ask all country music stations go off the air or change format because of this. No, that isn't fair. As for the news, it's always been about sensation and reporting the spectacular and the unexpected, which is usually tragic. I heard somebody say that in the news, you don't report about all the planes that land safely, you report about the one plane that crashes and burns. So unless you ahve a better idea on how TV stations can sell advertising, which is what the TV news is all about, then do what I do and don't watch the news.
It seems to me, like it or not, that the media's role in society is to make a buck. No, I'm not saying I like it this way or want it, but since I'm not an idealist, I'm reporting things as they are, not as I wish they were. I think the media themselves do not understand what their role is outside of making a buck. But, on the other hand, we should never use the media as a kind of mirror for reality, because it can give the impression that certain acts happen all the time when they are just rare, but somebody decided to take all the filmed incidents and splice htem together and collage them to make it look as if it's rampant. The news loves ot hype and sensationalize things. I wonder if there's some kind of research that say that making people afraid increases sales?
If you don't like the story, if it's that huge it might get repeated. If this is true then do one of three things: Ignore it, mute it, or switch the station. Not hard to do. Same deal with reporters, news channels and of course shows. If someone's watching their favorite news show and I can't stand it, I leave the room. About anyone will do anything for ratings and I can't stand censorship, however if a mass audience and the FCC get angry then that person, show or that channel in particular can get cut.