Clueless expert, clueless parents: the perfect match
Posted by Trench Reynolds in UncategorizedI honestly couldn’t type this next sentence without laughing.
The story is about self-styled “teen culture expert” Dan Frazell, who’s touring the nation with his presentation: “How the Media is Killing our Children.”
It’s late, and I can’t seem to read that without conjuring up an image of a news crew swarming a playground with machetes.
Anyhow. Let’s examine.
Dan Frazell, a police officer from Bangor, Me., didn’t preach censorship, but he warned parents about violent video games, sexually explicit advertisements, profane television shows, crude music and child predators on the Internet.
Frazell drew shocked sounds from the audience as he spoke about lyrics from popular rap and rock songs, discussed violent video games, the Internet, sexually explicit advertisements, and television shows like Â?South Park,Â? which makes fun of various races and religious and uses profane language in a cartoon format.
Patrolman Mario Rodriguez, the resource officer at Levitt Middle School, said he sent a flyer home with every child, yet only a handful of parents attended.
Suzette Glover, who has two teenagers, was one of the few parents on hand.
Â?All parents need to hear this,Â? she said after the event.
That, ah, sounds to me like things any sensible parent should already be aware of. Maybe the other parents at your school don’t live with their heads buried in the sand. Not that increasing awareness is a bad thing, it sounds like this parent in particular needed an eye-opener.
And of course, let the beating of the dead horse begin:
Frazell used the top-selling video game, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, as one of many examples of what children are exposed to.
Â?You are a drug dealer in this game,Â? Frazell said, adding that the game involves prostitution and the murder of police officers.
How many times do we have to tell the world that not every game is intended for children! But let’s examine.
If a teenager is playing GTA, it’s either because: A) the parent would object to the content, but simply doesn’t care enough to be involved in what he or she is doing, or B) the parent is aware of the content and doesn’t have a problem with it.
Mr. Frazell is clearly pandering to group A here, but if these parents don’t care enough to glance at their kids’ T.V. screens from time to time, are they really going to show up to your lecture? I call sensationalistic bullshit.
Later in the article he quotes the Stanford study as proof that children who consume more violent media are more violent; in fact, the study found that they were generally more aggressive, and while that may seem a small distinction, be aware of the manipulation of the language: aggressive is a broad, sweeping term, and in this case easily used to make a study conform to an agenda.
For example, I can aggressively pursue my studies, or make an aggressive play in a football game, or invest in an aggressive mutual fund.
This also ignores a plethora of similar studies that have found little to no correlation between violent media and violent behavior.
Unfortunately, if this is the only viewpoint these parents are exposed to, they are now woefully misinformed.
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