Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Jazz
My point is that TV taught the average American youngster all sorts of things that are bad if you stop to think about it. Scoobie Doo taught us that there was bravery in food, The Smurfs taught us about the ideal collective, Warner Brothers taught us that guns only inflict blackface and GI Joe taught us that it's possible to run through a hail of laser bolts and never get hit.
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No, tv taught me it was wrong to be racist and prejudiced, thank you All in the Family, Munsters, Happy Days, M*A*S*H, Barney Miller, Welcome Back Kotter, etc.
TV taught me that drugs will destroy your life.
TV taught me that it is necessary to be myself regardless of what others thought, thank you Mr. Rodgers, Electric Company, Sesame Street, the Muppets, Big Blue Marble, etc.
Tv reinforced what my parents tried to teach but had a hard time explaining to me.
If you watch a cartoon and decide as a kid to play with a gun because of the cartoons you watched and no one got hurt so guns don't hurt.... then your parents are to blame for not teaching you differently. I remember watching Bugs Bunny and Elmer and my mom and dad telling me, as early as I can remember, that guns killed people and that those were cartoons and funny, but not to try that.
If you are over 12 (and that's generous) and decide because the cartoons and tv showed the above and noone got hurt sooooo you could do those things.... then there was no hope for you to begin with and your parents weren't there in the least..... but it's a great defense for lawyers to try to get you out of a life's sentence.
I remember watching the 3 Stooges, Abbott and Costello, Martin and Lewis, etc. with my dad and he told me, they may look like they are hitting each other but they weren't, they were "playing". Wrestling, my dad said if they truly did those things to each other they would be killing each other....
I have plenty more examples, the point is, MY PARENTS WERE THERE HELPING TO GUIDE ME. They weren't lazy and expected others and tv to teach me, mom didn't have to work so that we could live, dad didn't have the stress of worrying about whether his job was safe or if he would lose it overseas..... etc etc.
Sorry, to threadjack but that statement really got my goat. I just very strongly disagree when people say "tv teaches all these evils and misconceptions." I get tired of people using entertainment examples as excuses for behaviors. Truth be told it wasn't the entertainment but the lack of even part time parenting skills from your parents or you were nuts to begin with and this was just the pc, socially ok, way to avoid your responsibility over your own actions.