Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: COHOUSING & TV

[Diane Simpson (dqs]

Sue Conklin wrote:
>Where do you draw the line?  Where do you dictate to other people that they
>must not do something, that they can't choose between what is quality by
>someone's standards and what is drivvel by others?
                             *  *  *  *  *  *
This is a very interesting question, and bears further scrutiny. Ken
Norwood, in his book, "Rebuilding Community in America" writes a
considerable amount about television and its deleterious effects on our
culture. In Chapter six, "Communities in the City" he writes:

"It is no mre coincidence that the rise of violence, sexual assaults and
exploitation of women, and the proliferation of guns has increased in
proportion to the violent content of TV and film media. As Dr. Brandon
Centerwall explains,

'...following the introduction of television in the 1950's, United States
homicide rates doubled over the next 10-15 years as the children exposed to
violence on television on a regular basis grew to maturity...in the 10-15
years following the introduction of television in Canada exactly the same
thing happened there: the homicide rate nearly doubled."(1)

(1)"Rise in Real-Life Violence Follows TV Exposure: New Statistical
Evidence" Americans for Responsible Television Newsletter, Spring 1991, p.1


Statisitics from Ken Norwood's book: (also from the same newsletter)

         Increase in homicide rate following introduction of TV
         ---------------------------------------------------------
                  1945                          1974
         U.S.     3.0 per 100,000            5.8 per 100,000
         Canada   1.3 per 100,000            2.5 per 100,000

Although we can not dicate to others whether they can or cannot watch
television, or how much of it they can watch, I think that it is very much
on-topic to be debating on this list whether we should be watching
television, given the above-mentioned facts. One of the core purposes of
cohousing is to recreate a sense of community where people know and care
about one another. In view of the extremely deleterious effects that
television-watching in general has on our society I think the we as
cohousers (and potential cohousers) should be seriously questioning whether
we want this medium in our midst. Are we not trying to create a better
environment for ourselves and our children? What kind of values are we
trying to inculculate?

I think this issue deserves a great deal of thought and I look forward to
seeing more discussion of it on this list.

-----Diane:.)




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