Description
Part 1
Discussion Board 1 (DB #1) Agenda Setting & cumulative effects
1. CHAPTER 2 DISCUSSES THE AGENDA-SETTING THEORY AND THE CUMULATIVE EFFECTS THEORY. PLEASE CHOOSE EITHER OF THOSE TWO THEORIES, DEFINE IT, AND GIVE A CURRENT EXAMPLE OF THIS TAKING PLACE IN THE MEDIA. (2 FULL PARAGRAPHS)
2. THERE ARE CURRENTLY SO MANY EXAMPLES OF OUTRAGEOUS MEDIA HYPE ON TV, SOCIAL MEDIA, IN OUR NEWSPAPERS, AND ONLINE. PLEASE SHARE ONE EXAMPLE THAT YOU HAVE SEEN WITHIN THE LAST WEEK. (2 FULL PARAGRAPHS)
3. INCLUDE A LINK TO YOUR EXAMPLE.
When taken together, the various theories of media impact demonstrate that it is usually ill-advised to make blanket statements about media effects. It is not completely accurate to say “Violent television causes violence in society” or even “Skinny models in music videos encourage girls to be anorexic” without qualifying that statement with words like some or sometimes. Each of the theories discussed in this section, as well as many others, has revealed that the uses and the effects of media are many and complex.
Media’s Influence on Language: Speaking the Previously Unspeakable
Different theories of media effects would explain changes in society in different ways. The way language is used in society, for example, has certainly changed in recent years. Terms that were once considered obscene have become commonplace. During the Bill Clinton–Monica Lewinsky scandal, oral sex became dinner-party conversation. With the publicity surrounding Viagra and other male potency drugs, erectile dysfunction in now being discussed in mixed company. Today, it’s hard to believe that a few years ago it was considered bad form in certain circles to speak of a breast of chicken.
Most experts believe that media have played a role in this transformation. Years ago, mainstream media encouraged the use of only “proper” language. For many years, the word pregnant was not uttered on television, even by Lucille Ball, whose character on I Love Lucy was obviously in that condition. Married couples in sitcoms occupied twin beds, and television comedy writers were prohibited from using the word penis on the air. Today, words that used to be considered bad enough to get a kid kicked out of school–words such as sucks, bites, and blows, used as verbs of criticism–can be heard routinely on Saturday-morning cartoons. Worse can be heard on late-night programs such as Comedy Central’s South Park.
How would the various theories explain media’s role in the way language has changed?
The findings from social learning research would suggest that these changes in language usage occurred as people imitated the language they heard in movies, on TV, and in popular music.
Individual differences theory would suggest that the same language will affect different people in different ways and that perhaps only segments of the population who were predisposed to it would adopt the new language use.
Cultivation theory would suggest that media language use slowly changes individuals’ worldviews, perhaps convincing them that society in general has become coarser and that such language use is therefore acceptable.
Agenda-setting theory would suggest that news coverage of sexual scandals and crimes made sexual affairs part of the national agenda and therefore grist for everyday conversation.
Cumulative effects theory would suggest that language use changed slowly as more and more mediated messages contained coarser language. This theory would also suggest that a change occurred when those who believed in using only socially acceptable terms became silent in the face of continual mediated use of obscenity.
Uses and gratifications theory would suggest that people have attended to media messages with this type of language because it performs some function for them, perhaps freeing them from societal restraints that they found repressive.
Gender analysts might see these changes in language use as a way for women to seek equality with men, or perhaps as a form of oppression against women.
Political/economic analysts might regard the new language use as a successful assault on the repressive status quo.
All of these theories provide insights into media effects. They might be different insights, but taken as a whole and treated with logic and critical thinking, they begin to help us make sense out of the question of how media affect behavior.
Part 2
DB 2 Books and Censorship
There are 13 questions to answer this week. Please answer in detail – no yes or no answers and respond to 2 classmate’s posts by 11:59 pm on Sunday. You should have a minimum of 3-4 sentences per answer.
1. When, if ever, is book censorship justified?
2. Use examples to explain and defend your answer. Make sure you read Chapter 3 “Books” especially “Controversies” before answering.
3. What are some of the effects of e-books on the general population?
4. What type of reader are you (according to the chapter)? What effect has your reading style had on your education and your life?
What do you think? Give your answer and explain why you gave the answer you did. You should have a minimum or 3-4 sentences for each answer.
5. Should we ban people from sharing their opinions on social media?
6. Should we take away access to Twitter, Facebook etc… if their opinions or beliefs differ from those who own the social media platforms?
7. Many people agree with banning certain people or groups because they don’t agree with what they are saying. But what happens when eventually someone doesn’t like your opinion or beliefs and wants to ban you from communicating on a social media platform or even having your own website hosted?
8. These are serious questions we all must face. What happens to balanced information if only one side is allowed to speak?
9. What happens to debate or discussion?
10. What happens when the media becomes gatekeepers of information?
11. Do you believe the media should label opposing views as “misinformation” and censor those opinions?
12. Who exactly are the “fact checkers”?
Book Censorship
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution restricts government interference with free speech, so any act of government censorship tends to be a serious issue. Books, however, have often been the targets of censors.
In fact, many books now considered classics have been censored at one time or another. James Joyce’s Ulysses, considered by many to be the best novel ever written, was banned by the U.S. government from 1920 until 1933 because of its close examination of the sex life of its main characters. Even journal editors who tried to print excerpts were jailed on charges of obscenity. 17 Joyce’s case hinged on how to define obscenity, pornography, and art– questions we still grapple with today.
Censorship by quasi-governmental agencies such as public schools and libraries has also been extremely controversial over the years. The Los Angeles Public Library pulled Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan from the shelves in 1929 because the title character was living with a woman (Jane) to whom he was not married. In recent years, school libraries have removed children’s books such as Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy’s Roommate from their shelves because of their depiction of gay lifestyles. Libraries have removed books dealing with drugs, the occult, and suicide, as well as books containing profane language or sexual themes, such as J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. They have also removed books that contained ethnic slurs and other forms of insensitivity. Mark Twain’s classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been removed from many libraries because of its use of the word nigger.
Censorship as Unintentional Promotion
Ironically, challenging a book usually provides publicity that stimulates sales. “Banned in Boston” was a sales pitch in the 1950s for books such as D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterly’s Lover. In recent years, a minister’s protest against Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy’s Roommate increased sales of those books when protestors went out, bought copies, and donated them to local libraries. Some observers believe that lawsuits against publishers are a form of censor-ship, but when Fox News sued Al Franken in 2003 for using the phrase “fair and balanced” in the title of his book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, the publicity became a windfall for the publisher as millions of readers who might not have otherwise heard of the book became aware of it.
Global Censorship
Examples of U.S. censorship tend to be rare, but book censorship occurs all over the world, usually on far stricter terms than in the United States. When novelist Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses was banned in Iran in 1989, the Iranian leader issued a death sentence against the author. Rushdie, a British citizen living in Paris at the time, was forced to live in hiding to escape the order. Some recent travelers to Vietnam have been surprised to have their travel guides confiscated because they referred to Vietnam’s 1978 invasion of Cambodia–the Vietnamese government took exception to the word “invasion.” Copies of The Rough Guide to Morocco were confiscated in that country because they included a map showing a border with Western Sahara, which Morocco claims is part of its country. Books are routinely banned in China, although in recent years pirated copies of banned books have become best sellers there.
Most Frequently Banned Books
The American Library Association’s “Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2019” reflect a range of themes and consist of the following titles:
George by Alex Gino
Reasons: challenged, banned, restricted, and hidden to avoid controversy; for LGBTQIA+ content and a transgender character; because schools and libraries should not “put books in a child’s hand that require discussion”; for sexual references; and for conflicting with a religious viewpoint and “traditional family structure”
Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin
Reasons: challenged for LGBTQIA+ content, for “its effect on any young people who would read it,” and for concerns that it was sexually explicit and biased
A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss, illustrated by EG Keller
Reasons: Challenged and vandalized for LGBTQIA+ content and political viewpoints, for concerns that it is “designed to pollute the morals of its readers,” and for not including a content warning
Sex is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg, illustrated by Fiona Smyth
Reasons: Challenged, banned, and relocated for LGBTQIA+ content; for discussing gender identity and sex education; and for concerns that the title and illustrations were “inappropriate”
Prince & Knight by Daniel Haack, illustrated by Stevie Lewis
Reasons: Challenged and restricted for featuring a gay marriage and LGBTQIA+ content; for being “a deliberate attempt to indoctrinate young children” with the potential to cause confusion, curiosity, and gender dysphoria; and for conflicting with a religious viewpoint
I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas
Reasons: Challenged and relocated for LGBTQIA+ content, for a transgender character, and for confronting a topic that is “sensitive, controversial, and politically charged”
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Reasons: Banned and challenged for profanity and for “vulgarity and sexual overtones”
Drama written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier
Reasons: Challenged for LGBTQIA+ content and for concerns that it goes against “family values/morals”
Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
Reasons: Banned and forbidden from discussion for referring to magic and witchcraft, for containing actual curses and spells, and for characters that use “nefarious means” to attain goals
And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson illustrated by Henry Cole
Reason: Challenged and relocated for LGBTQIA+ content
In Praise of Censorship
Censorship of any kind tends to make people immediately take a side. Those who might call themselves free speech advocates gather on one flank, and those who might call themselves child protection advocates gather on the other. Free speech advocates often complain about the censorship of fiction, pointing out that a novel is not an instruction manual and that the existence of controversial issues in a book does not mean that readers will adopt negative behaviors. Child protection advocates find it difficult to accept this argument, however, when the book is an instruction manual, one that apparently advocates some kind of violence. Paladin Press, for example, publishes over 600 books, including Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Contractors, Breath of the Dragon: Homebuilt Flamethrowers, and several books on how to make explosives at home. These kinds of books have been implicated in school violence.
Irving Kristol, a conservative intellectual who served as editor of The Public Interest magazine and as an advisor to President Ronald Reagan, once pointed out, “If you believe that no one was ever corrupted by a book, you have also to believe that no one was ever improved by a book. You have to believe, in other words, that all art is morally trivial, and that, consequently, all education is morally irrelevant.” 19 Kristol also spoke of the relation-ship of censorship to democracy. He insisted that if you truly believe in democracy, you have to believe in censorship. “The desirability of self government depends on the character of the people who govern,” he said, and these people should take care “not to let themselves be governed by the more infantile and irrational parts of themselves.” Kristol underscored his belief in the importance of censorship by saying, “What is at stake is civilization and humanity, nothing less.”
