From: gdb15@cl.cam.ac.uk (Guy Barry)
Subject: Re: blame it on the media! (was Re: First Post!)
Reply-To: Guy.Barry@cl.cam.ac.uk
Organization: U of Cambridge Comp Lab, UK
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 15:38:08 GMT

In article <MUFFY.93Jan22183254@remarque.berkeley.edu> muffy@remarque.berkeley.edu (Muffy Barkocy) writes:
>In article <1993Jan20.135839.18944@infodev.cam.ac.uk> gdb15@grebe.cl.cam.ac.uk (Guy Barry) writes:
>>By the way, I think it's a little unfair to blame the media for the
>>models of society we grow up with.  When all's said and done, the
>>media are only reflecting the perceptions of the general populace.
>
>In a way, this is true, but *which* "general populace" are they
>reflecting the opinions of?  Certainly not me and my friends...*grin*.
>I think that the models presented by the media are on the conservative
>side of the "averge" point of view.  

Actually I think the media mainly portray the lifestyles and opinions
of that small section of society who work in the media -- mainly
urban and middle-class.

>>My models of sexuality were (I believe) influenced far more by the
>>perceptions and behaviours of my contemporaries at school than by
>>anything I saw on television or read in the papers.
>
>Perhaps so, but where did your contemporaries get their views?  Views
>don't just spring into being for each new generation.  They're getting
>their views from their parents, who got them from their parents, etc.

I don't think so -- certainly not in the realm of sex anyway, where
most parents are fairly reticent.  My impression is that children
mainly pick these things up from older children.  "Child folklore"
is a pretty strong influence, though one that doesn't get commented
on much.

>All of these people are also influenced by the people around them and
>what *they* see in the media.  So, while the media may not *cause* all
>these views, it does have a large hand in *reinforcing* them.

But when you're a child, nearly all of what you observe in the media
concerns the adult world, not your own world.  I don't remember
viewing adult relationships as relevant to my own relationships.

>Reinforcement: if you constantly see your views presented as the way
>other people think/act, you will feel that they must therefore be
>"right."  This is related to another phenomenon I've noticed, where many 
>people feel threatened when they are confronted by a lifestyle or
>viewpoint that is different from theirs.  Some people take this as a
>disparagement of and attack on their choices, since if the other person
>chose differently, they must think that their choices are "better."
>These people fail to recognize that the choice is only "better" for the 
>person who chose it.

Yes, valid point.

>Presentation of a range of views: Some people have very little contact
>with people in other societies and cultures, people with different
>viewpoints, or people with different lifestyles.  The various media are
>one way of putting these people in contact with those other people, or
>at least images of them.  For example, imagine a person who doesn't know
>any homosexual people.  They have to get their image of homosexual
>people from other people and the media.  However, if they really don't
>know any, it is fairly likely that the people they know don't know many,
>either.  So, the media are the main source of their images.

As I said above, there's plenty of folklore about homosexuals -- I'm
sure people had views about them well before the mass media came
along!  I agree that the media could do a better job of correcting
people's views.  Certainly one of the most dangerous views that we
grow up with is "I don't know any homosexuals", or "Homosexuals aren't
real people".  I remember watching one camp comedian on television
when I was little and thinking "Of course he can't *really* be
homosexual, he's just acting it".  Since (in popular entertainment
anyway) the media's portrayal of homosexuality is almost exclusively
through innuendo, it can be very difficult to learn that it's not just
a music-hall joke.

>Presentation of a wide variety of choices would be desirable, in my
>opinion.  A lot of people simply don't know that they *have* that many
>choices.  If the media were to present more, they would be more aware of
>them.  Certainly, they could acheive the same results by travelling
>extensively, meeting lots of people and talking to them, etc., but few
>people actually do that.  Even for people who are not trying to choose a
>viewpoint or lifestyle, it would be good for them to have a clearer
>understanding of the choices of others.

Yes, I fully concur.  I think the discussion has slipped from "How
much information about lifestyles do we pick up from the media?" to
"How much information about lifestyles *should* be conveyed by the
media?", a different question altogether.

--
Guy Barry, University of Cambridge | Phone: +44 (0)223 334757 
Computer Laboratory                | Fax: +44 (0)223 334678
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Cambridge CB2 3QG, England, UK     | Internet: Guy.Barry@cl.cam.ac.uk