Chicken and Eggs

Does the media set trends or follow them? The question arose a while back when I read in one of the newspapers the results of a survey into what people thought of programmes on television. The enquiry was mainly concerned with audience attitudes to the growing use of foul language, excessive violence and explicit sex scenes on our screens. Is there too much of it? Are people offended by it? Does it change people’s perceptions of life or encourage the use of etc, etc, etc. It seemed to me, a chicken and egg question. There is obviously greater use of foul language, extreme violence and ‘scenes of a sexual nature’ in the programmes on television, and in the cinema too. The programmers proudly announce the fact prior to screening such material. They seem to regard it as a selling point, a reason to see the production! The level of violence contained in computer games is beyond description. All this has clearly resulted in a change in what is generally acceptable and what is not. The research found that to be so and unsurprisingly, found that many people were offended by the changes. It’s an old chestnut and I doubt the findings will change anything soon. Those who make the programmes declare there is no evidence to prove that what appears on screen influences those who watch the programmes. I’ve always thought that was a ridiculous argument and self evidently wrong. Why else would advertisers spend vast amounts of money in all forms of media to sell their goods and services if the media didn’t influence the way people behave?

We dinosaurs remember the time when to use foul language in mixed company was simply unacceptable. Men who did so were thought to be ill mannered, uncouth, and to hear a woman use foul language was so unusual as to be shocking. On Radio, Television and in the press, the use of profanities or expletives was strictly taboo and should there be a slip of the tongue by someone it would immediately be the subject of an apology. On daytime Radio this still happens. In more considerate times the use of really bad language, or spitting in a public place could attract the attention of a passing policeman and would very likely prompt him to have a quiet word with the offender. For a child to use bad language or threatening behaviour to a schoolteacher was unthinkable. Computer games didn’t exist and sexual acts of virtually any kind in a public place were absolutely out of order. Professionally, many of the advertisements now commonplace on the telly and in the printed media would not have been passed by the ASA and could never have appeared as advertisements except at the point of sale, and even then they would have been rigorously examined to ensure that no lack of ‘taste’ was evident.

That’s not to say that no one used foul language or behaved badly. That would be ridiculous, but there existed generally a code of behaviour that excluded swearing from normal conversation and for most it’s still there. But not on the telly or in the cinema, all that has changed. The characters in films and on television vie with each other to see who can include the greatest number and widest variety of swear words in a sentence, sometimes there are so many, the meaning of the dialogue becomes lost in the torrent. Men and women snarl ugly words at each other even when there is no need to use foul language at all, it’s become part of the normal on screen exchanges of conversation and is meant to reflect reality…. we are told by the programme makers. They insist they follow trends in society they do not create them.

Be that as it may, any teacher will confirm the behaviour of many of even the youngest children now is shocking, bad language, violence towards teachers, anti-social behaviour and bullying of classmates are commonplace. Walk along any street and as people, particularly young people of both sexes, pass by, they will be heard to be loudly using foul language to one another. Drive through any town late in the evening and you will see young men and women in various stages of drunkenness and often exchanging blows. Did all this behaviour just evolve? Frankly I have never believed that. Actors, sports stars, celebs of all kinds are featured constantly in all forms of media. Their lifestyle both in and out of the public eye is discussed in the minutest detail. Their actions on and off screen in or out of the public eye sets patterns that others follow. Then like the chicken following the egg, the media reflects the changes on screen and the cycle starts all over again. But of course no one is to blame. This is the outward manifestation of people expressing themselves…it says in the script. To me, and I suspect, others too this breakdown in social behaviour is much more serious. When codes of behaviour and social structures fall apart and are replaced with a ‘do as you like’ philosophy, order is replaced with disorder and that eventually must end in chaos. That is bad news for everyone. Perhaps it’s time for the chicken to lay some eggs with a more wholesome content.