Vile Lens

Incidents of violence against women on mainstream U.S. television has increased by 120% in the past five years, with the depiction of teen girls as victims rising by some 400%, the People With Too Much Time On Their Hands said in a report on Wednesday.

I'm sorry, that's actually from the Parents Television Council.

They don't have any real evidence this causes trouble in the actual world, of course. Fiction has always included a fair amount of violence. For that matter, children's games have always been about imaginary violence. A normal boy growing up before television played Cops And Robbers, Cowboys And Indians and War, no doubt committing countless killings before he reached the age of majority.

The question isn't how many imaginary acts of violence you hear about or see or act out while growing up--1000 or 10,000 or 100,000--but how you understand what they mean. Trying to imitate the Three Stooges with your brother may cause a little pain, but you'll soon enough learn it's not acceptable--especially if you're on the receiving end. Ultimately the key is what morality you learn, not the fictional violence you see (and even kids know it's fictional, only watchdog groups don't seem to get it). A boy raised without popular entertainment, but in a culture where wife-beating is acceptable, will likely be more violent against women than someone in the opposite situation. Indeed, most cultures (for various reasons) were more violent than ours, long before TV, much less the Parents Television Council, was around.

One of the Council's complaints:

...the report singled out Fox, saying the network allowed violence against women to be trivialized through punch lines in its satirical animated comedies "Family Guy" and "American Dad."

So that's what bothers them--literally cartoon violence. I think the Council is the one trivializing actual violence by getting so excited over animated jokes (which, by the way, only work because such violence is socially unnaceptable).

Incidentally, the long-term trend in our society for well over a decade is less violence against women (as well as men). You'd think the Council might be cheered, but they're too busy clocking cartoons.

PS Maybe someone is listening. Venezuela has banned violent toys and video games.