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Watch for Lucy Lawless.....


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It is amazing how history repeats itself.

A Republic/Empire working on the basis of bread and circuses to keep the masses quiet whilst the upper classes get on with extracting as much juice from the civiliation as possible.

In any event I am all for sex but media violence is proven to have behavioural effects on those who watch it. And I don't mean good effects.

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/effects_media_violence.cfm

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By dieseltaylor

In any event I am all for sex but media violence is proven to have behavioural effects on those who watch it. And I don't mean good effects.

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/effects_media_violence.cfm

Interesting read. What I was left missing in the studies is the effects of increase in the single parent families and how having the mother (lets face it, women get the custody most of the time) take care of growing boys.

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It is amazing how history repeats itself.

A Republic/Empire working on the basis of bread and circuses to keep the masses quiet whilst the upper classes get on with extracting as much juice from the civiliation as possible.

In any event I am all for sex but media violence is proven to have behavioural effects on those who watch it. And I don't mean good effects.

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/effects_media_violence.cfm

No real discussion of the economics - why we pay for the somatic experience generated by viewing violence. Too close to a taboo topic, probably, but the parallel examples in history are obvious: circuses, gladiators, people being roasted alive as dinner entertainment. Power, sex, the illusion of risk.

I liked the mention of the fact that South Africa had banned tv until 1975 - really difficult to believe.

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In any event I am all for sex but media violence is proven to have behavioural effects on those who watch it. And I don't mean good effects.

Could it be that the widespread dis-allowance of depictions of sex (and, secondarily, of good-looking women nude) is in tacit acknowledgement of the fact that watching people getting it on has the "behavioural effect" of making people want to get it on, which carries the risk of actual procreation?

In other words, is the incidence of violent acts in any sort of proportion to the incidence of sex in not-socially-approved contexts?

I'm basically wondering out loud about why for millenia it's more or less been okay to be entertained by depictions of violence (from mere fistfights all the way to hack-and-slash bloodbaths), while depictions of sex (and all things related to it, such as Lucy Lawless in the buff) are much more circumscribed or are disallowed in the first place.

I think it's because people tend to think that one is less likely to murder someone than to get it on with one's lover. As if murder is not as bad as pregnancy . . . or something.

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I'm basically wondering out loud about why for millenia it's more or less been okay to be entertained by depictions of violence (from mere fistfights all the way to hack-and-slash bloodbaths), while depictions of sex (and all things related to it, such as Lucy Lawless in the buff) are much more circumscribed or are disallowed in the first place.

I assume you are talking about Western society here as other civilisations have seen representations of sex as pretty normal. So post Rome and the coming of Christianity/Judaism sex has had a rockier time.

Unfortunately the USA is perhaps the worst nation for violence being depicted in the media* whilst also having the incredible hypocrisy of banning sex from the main stream media. The resulting largest porno industry in the world with its products "freely" available is perhaps a great tribute to the power of the Church and the Mafia.

Ultimately though the Churchs are there[in business] to guide and control their flock and control of sexuality is a biggie. Violence - darn useful for spreading the message. Think Crusades, Albigensians, Huguenots, Calvinists, Lutherans etc.

But this was violent conduct for a purpose not for peoples amusment. Cock-fighting and prize-fighting, bull baiting etc existed but in a sense they are sports unlike watching hundreds of murders a year on TV and Video. The rise of TV - and cheap nasty entertainment is a recent event.

* Japan would get a special mention here but it is important to remember that they have a very cohesive society with strong internal rules on acceptable behaviour. The US in contrast has a very much more open society with probably hardly any cohesion in a dog eat dog society.

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I think most of the taboos based around sex are about the prevention of disease. Certainly when syphilis came back from the New World with Portugese and Spanish sailors there would have been an epidemic noted by the learned people and doctors of the time - officers of the Catholic church. Other factors lending weight to some sort of imposed discipline from above would include the need to foster some sort of responsibility for progeny, something that I suspect doesn't come naturally to populations experiencing hardship as a direct result of their too great growth.

With behavioural curbs in place, a society can look forward to having children supported to maturity and the wealth of the society expands with their able contribution. Without the curbs, children grow up unsupported and disadvantaged, with the society needing to impose a tax regime to ensure a minimum amount of assistance able to be provided. Take your pick. Of course, it being the era of the modern state, we can have our cake and eat it too - support your own kids, and pay taxes. Be a good Christian.

Violence - well, it pays just as well, and in some circles it is seen as less of a social problem than willy-nilly sex: generally those circles able to afford hired protection and are pretty hot on knowing that a person is a legitimate heir. Strangely, it is the members of these circles that collect the profits from the depicted violence, but if the market didn't exist there would be no profits. So you can only conclude that people, in general, like vicarious violence and will happily pay for it.

Pretending that a benefit can come out of deliberately curbing our natural behaviour in one area, but no other, is a ludicrous proposition.

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  • 1 month later...

This is not really surprising, since most societies historically grow more decadent just before they fall or get pushed over. People are encouraged to indulge their fancies, be they materialistic or sensual and there is less emphasis upon education, personal responsibility and civic duty. Meanwhile, a predatory minority seizes control of the centers of power and wealth-making and exploit them for all they are worth. The ordinary citizens eventually lose control of the mechanisms of governance but in many cases are to stupid to even understand that it has happened or why.

Have a nice day!

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So you can only conclude that people, in general, like vicarious violence and will happily pay for it.

I wonder how much of that grows out of a general frustration with life. If people are carrying around high levels of frustration and unfulfillment, they are also going to be apt to be easily ticked off that those around them they perceive as contributing to their frustration. If they don't act out their anger due to a healthy set of inhibitions (luckily for the rest of us), they may well look to some form of entertainment that they can identify with as a release.

There now, I've just stated the bleeding obvious. Someone else can take it from there.

Michael

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" the R-rated production has been the talk of the local film industry for its raunchiness, including explicit orgies and naked battle scenes in bath houses.
Reports from his colleagues were that the shoots were "pretty hardcore".
Then the girls have come in and done their lesbian scenes and their harem scenes.
Finally, somebody has chucked Gladiator, 300, and porn into the blender for a nice juicy blend. :D LOL
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