Peter Black AM: Inappropriate comment of the day
My first ever Liberal vote was cast in the 1950s and I have felt - and shown - support in various ways even until now - not on every cause I may say - but I'd like to know why the flapping bird has three effective feathers in its RIGHT wing but only two in its Left; I suppose in flight it would go round in circles (anticlockwise - or some might say, leftwards?). Is this what all Lib Dems want the active logo to convey?
I am sending the remarks elsewhere, on facebook's refusal to recognise Welsh locations, to a group of Americans shortly to visit Wales, to educate them. I also write to cricketing authorities and journalists to correctly name the England & Wales (Test) cricket team!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Peter Black AM: Inappropriate comment of the day
Peter Black AM: Inappropriate comment of the day
Beaaring in mind what happened to the regicides who had Charles executed (even if the victim list was slimmed down to 9 from an original 40, I think) I hope there will be no eventual recriminations against today's removers of the head. As said somewhere in the website, it is the unfortunate person who, not the post itself that is being removed - precisely because parliament and the people want the post to continue and to do so effectively.
Beaaring in mind what happened to the regicides who had Charles executed (even if the victim list was slimmed down to 9 from an original 40, I think) I hope there will be no eventual recriminations against today's removers of the head. As said somewhere in the website, it is the unfortunate person who, not the post itself that is being removed - precisely because parliament and the people want the post to continue and to do so effectively.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Dengl 23 Word Inflationisation: Does Complexity Cloud Colour?
There is now a disease, I think, inflecting the English language worldwide; how about making a list of aggravated words - see the pattern:
burglar burgled burgling burgle all surely concise?
but no - people prefer to write burglarise
from which they then get burglarised wait for: burglarisator
I reckon it can be carried further burglarisation
and burglarisationise
and eventually burglarisationisated
am I burgling on too much?
Very often seen nowadays is the hyper-professionalised "word" (it's longer - therefore thought to carry more clout - like those mediaeval broadswords the fighter could hardly lift); here's
incentivise (from incentive - like motive
from which we get incentivisation from incentivise - and "motivise"
no we used to be content with motivate and motivation (not motivisation)
imagine reading a job advert for a new Head of a Bank
it might include: "you will be incentivised by ..."
a massive salary quite out of proportion to the good you might do,
though auguring (augurisating? augurisationising?) the scale of harm
which you might achieve ...
Such adverts exist; I've seen them.
This cancerous growth in the word-system should surely be arrested (arrestivisated?).
First, the situation has to be comprehensively diagnosed and many examples assembled.
Do any other hyper-inflationisated words thumping around the cosmos and eventually being stored in an amazingly ungreen hypercooled cave owned by Google in Colorado (I think they are relocationisating to Alaska to save electricity costs?) occur to you?
M
BURGLARY IN FLORIDA
When southern Florida resident Nathan Radlich's house was burglarized
recently, thieves ignored his wide screen plasma TV, his VCR, and even
left his Rolex watch. What they did take, however, was 'a generic white
cardboard box filled with a grayish-white powder.' (That's the
way the police report described it.)
A spokesman for the Fort Lauderdale police said, 'that it looked similar to
high grade cocaine and they'd probably thought they'd hit
the big time.' Later, Nathan stood in front of numerous TV cameras and
pleaded with the burglars: 'Please return the cremated remains of my sister,
Gertrude. She died three years ago.'
The next morning, the bullet-riddled corpse of a local drug dealer known as
Hoochie Pevens* was found on Nathan's doorstep. The cardboard box was there
too; about half of Gertrude's ashes remained
Scotch taped to the box was this note which said: Hoochie sold us the bogus
blow, so we wasted Hoochie. Sorry we snorted your sister. No hard feelings.
Have a nice day.
And you thought California was the land of fruits and nuts!
*no novelist could have had the temerity or ingenuity to invent such a name - therefore this story must be true
burglar burgled burgling burgle all surely concise?
but no - people prefer to write burglarise
from which they then get burglarised wait for: burglarisator
I reckon it can be carried further burglarisation
and burglarisationise
and eventually burglarisationisated
am I burgling on too much?
Very often seen nowadays is the hyper-professionalised "word" (it's longer - therefore thought to carry more clout - like those mediaeval broadswords the fighter could hardly lift); here's
incentivise (from incentive - like motive
from which we get incentivisation from incentivise - and "motivise"
no we used to be content with motivate and motivation (not motivisation)
imagine reading a job advert for a new Head of a Bank
it might include: "you will be incentivised by ..."
a massive salary quite out of proportion to the good you might do,
though auguring (augurisating? augurisationising?) the scale of harm
which you might achieve ...
Such adverts exist; I've seen them.
This cancerous growth in the word-system should surely be arrested (arrestivisated?).
First, the situation has to be comprehensively diagnosed and many examples assembled.
Do any other hyper-inflationisated words thumping around the cosmos and eventually being stored in an amazingly ungreen hypercooled cave owned by Google in Colorado (I think they are relocationisating to Alaska to save electricity costs?) occur to you?
M
BURGLARY IN FLORIDA
When southern Florida resident Nathan Radlich's house was burglarized
recently, thieves ignored his wide screen plasma TV, his VCR, and even
left his Rolex watch. What they did take, however, was 'a generic white
cardboard box filled with a grayish-white powder.' (That's the
way the police report described it.)
A spokesman for the Fort Lauderdale police said, 'that it looked similar to
high grade cocaine and they'd probably thought they'd hit
the big time.' Later, Nathan stood in front of numerous TV cameras and
pleaded with the burglars: 'Please return the cremated remains of my sister,
Gertrude. She died three years ago.'
The next morning, the bullet-riddled corpse of a local drug dealer known as
Hoochie Pevens* was found on Nathan's doorstep. The cardboard box was there
too; about half of Gertrude's ashes remained
Scotch taped to the box was this note which said: Hoochie sold us the bogus
blow, so we wasted Hoochie. Sorry we snorted your sister. No hard feelings.
Have a nice day.
And you thought California was the land of fruits and nuts!
*no novelist could have had the temerity or ingenuity to invent such a name - therefore this story must be true
Dengl 22 New York Times runs proposal for Peace between Israel and Palestinians
If not now: when?
I was sent this article. It suggests to Israeli "hardliners" that the prospect of a secure half-cake today, is better than a whole cake in the unforseeable future, with a great deal of indigestion on the way. I might be tempted, if I was in Israel as the "midliner" I reckon myeslf to be, to go for the half-and-now.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/opinion/28friedman.html?emc=eta1
In the first century BCE, Babylonian born Hillel (later known as Hillel the Elder) migrated to the Land of Israel to study and worked as a woodcutter, eventually becoming the most influential force in Jewish life. Hillel is said to have lived in such great poverty that he was sometimes unable to pay the admission fee to study Torah, and because of him that fee was abolished. He was known for his kindness, gentleness, concern for humanity. One of his most famous sayings, recorded in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers, a tractate of the Mishnah), is
"If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?"
The Hillel organization, a network of Jewish college student organizations, is named for him. Hillel and his descendants established academies of learning and were the leaders of the Jewish community in the Land of Israel for several centuries. The Hillel dynasty ended with the death of Hillel II in 365 CE.
I was sent this article. It suggests to Israeli "hardliners" that the prospect of a secure half-cake today, is better than a whole cake in the unforseeable future, with a great deal of indigestion on the way. I might be tempted, if I was in Israel as the "midliner" I reckon myeslf to be, to go for the half-and-now.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/opinion/28friedman.html?emc=eta1
In the first century BCE, Babylonian born Hillel (later known as Hillel the Elder) migrated to the Land of Israel to study and worked as a woodcutter, eventually becoming the most influential force in Jewish life. Hillel is said to have lived in such great poverty that he was sometimes unable to pay the admission fee to study Torah, and because of him that fee was abolished. He was known for his kindness, gentleness, concern for humanity. One of his most famous sayings, recorded in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers, a tractate of the Mishnah), is
"If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?"
The Hillel organization, a network of Jewish college student organizations, is named for him. Hillel and his descendants established academies of learning and were the leaders of the Jewish community in the Land of Israel for several centuries. The Hillel dynasty ended with the death of Hillel II in 365 CE.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Dengl 21 Regulated Society and Monarchy
The Republic of India has just put up with the latest of a series of violent affronts to its peace and propriety. It appears th at reports of the incident tended to be from members of the elite upper/middle classes, upset with threats to their elite way of life; less was said about the poor who perished.
Discussing with a friend, the nature of press and broadcast coverage of the Bombay invasion, and further background matters in India, I was told the following ....
.... the wealhy middle classes in India do often have both personal home guards - at least one of whom will accompany any member of the family venturing out, even if it's only to buy milk; have whole armouries of weapons within the home. Indeed, I visited the homes of such people and a favourite was to have what seemed like modern wood panelling wihin the home. Only they would know where the spring releases were for certain panels which opened to reveal sub-machine guns, rifles, grenades, pistols, semi-automatics and ammunition galore. They all had cameras all over the place feeding images on to a centralised computer system, so in the event there was any attack upon the house they could tune in to any section of the house and grounds. Many of the homes employed not only two or three guards at the gatehouse 23-hrs a day but also one to specifically guard the roof by night (the latter mostly in urban areas where they deemed people might come across from neighbouring buildings). How or why should those people be crying out for protection from the government? Perhaps their arms are unregistered so they cry out in the hope of gaining a legitimacy for their weaponry?
.....
to which I commented:
good heavens!
is there any track record indicating how many times such provisions have come in useful?
whom do they fear? dacoits? tax inspectors?
in how many countries does this kind of thing go on?
where are the blessed places where it is not (yet) necessary?
IF UK keeps its nose clean, then it may be that this continues as one of the "hidden" reasons why rich non-UKers want to bring their money here ...
(occasionally)
we don't really offer much else in terms of manufacturing xmas toys, mid-range electronics, usefully carbon neutral ways of delivering energy or motion ....
...but although London is in many ways a terrible mess, one can still buy a nice old fashioned copy of Wind in the Willows (printed in Singapore or somewhere far away) and newer legends (something post-Potter) spring up to add to them ...
... there is also an "industry" of recycling UK soap opera sets - one can now occupy someone called Norah Batty's house (not a real person, but a TV character) in Yorkshire
Another 'export' we could offer (no charge) is that of a spare Prince; would Prince Harry see fit to stand for Monarch of Australia? Elective monarchy was the system in early (pun not intended) Saxon England, and in mediaval Poland (lots of websites to look at...) - the Doggies of Venice were (sort of) elected monarchs as is the Pope - it's not a bad system (and looking at the monsters who occupy "popularly elected" ? presidential positions - Mugabe anyone? Bush? - it could hardly be worse...)
could Australia take to a 'refreshed' monarchy? - I wouldn't be surprised ...
... the idea needs to be positively reported (little chance, since the corps of journalists seem to t hink that viewing the world is much the same as ruling it, and resent glamorous interlopers ...)
...might it do well for India to find a "super-Rajah"?
(where, is a problem we could disentangle ...just give me the nod and I
will provide suggestions)
Pakistan would prefer a Caliph I've no doubt - which would stand in the way of a re-union of the subcontinent ...from the Bhutto dynasty?
er - North Korea seems to have a de facto monarchy - lets not drag in that example ...let alone the American tendencies to consider repeating Bushes, Kennedys, ...
... I wonder what the results might be of an international poll exploring degree of respect for Heads of State in - a range of a few score countries ...
Gallup does these things ....any other agencies? might one find a way of doing it on the internet? publishing results would make quite a good article or doc programme ..
Discussing with a friend, the nature of press and broadcast coverage of the Bombay invasion, and further background matters in India, I was told the following ....
.... the wealhy middle classes in India do often have both personal home guards - at least one of whom will accompany any member of the family venturing out, even if it's only to buy milk; have whole armouries of weapons within the home. Indeed, I visited the homes of such people and a favourite was to have what seemed like modern wood panelling wihin the home. Only they would know where the spring releases were for certain panels which opened to reveal sub-machine guns, rifles, grenades, pistols, semi-automatics and ammunition galore. They all had cameras all over the place feeding images on to a centralised computer system, so in the event there was any attack upon the house they could tune in to any section of the house and grounds. Many of the homes employed not only two or three guards at the gatehouse 23-hrs a day but also one to specifically guard the roof by night (the latter mostly in urban areas where they deemed people might come across from neighbouring buildings). How or why should those people be crying out for protection from the government? Perhaps their arms are unregistered so they cry out in the hope of gaining a legitimacy for their weaponry?
.....
to which I commented:
good heavens!
is there any track record indicating how many times such provisions have come in useful?
whom do they fear? dacoits? tax inspectors?
in how many countries does this kind of thing go on?
where are the blessed places where it is not (yet) necessary?
IF UK keeps its nose clean, then it may be that this continues as one of the "hidden" reasons why rich non-UKers want to bring their money here ...
(occasionally)
we don't really offer much else in terms of manufacturing xmas toys, mid-range electronics, usefully carbon neutral ways of delivering energy or motion ....
...but although London is in many ways a terrible mess, one can still buy a nice old fashioned copy of Wind in the Willows (printed in Singapore or somewhere far away) and newer legends (something post-Potter) spring up to add to them ...
... there is also an "industry" of recycling UK soap opera sets - one can now occupy someone called Norah Batty's house (not a real person, but a TV character) in Yorkshire
Another 'export' we could offer (no charge) is that of a spare Prince; would Prince Harry see fit to stand for Monarch of Australia? Elective monarchy was the system in early (pun not intended) Saxon England, and in mediaval Poland (lots of websites to look at...) - the Doggies of Venice were (sort of) elected monarchs as is the Pope - it's not a bad system (and looking at the monsters who occupy "popularly elected" ? presidential positions - Mugabe anyone? Bush? - it could hardly be worse...)
could Australia take to a 'refreshed' monarchy? - I wouldn't be surprised ...
... the idea needs to be positively reported (little chance, since the corps of journalists seem to t hink that viewing the world is much the same as ruling it, and resent glamorous interlopers ...)
...might it do well for India to find a "super-Rajah"?
(where, is a problem we could disentangle ...just give me the nod and I
will provide suggestions)
Pakistan would prefer a Caliph I've no doubt - which would stand in the way of a re-union of the subcontinent ...from the Bhutto dynasty?
er - North Korea seems to have a de facto monarchy - lets not drag in that example ...let alone the American tendencies to consider repeating Bushes, Kennedys, ...
... I wonder what the results might be of an international poll exploring degree of respect for Heads of State in - a range of a few score countries ...
Gallup does these things ....any other agencies? might one find a way of doing it on the internet? publishing results would make quite a good article or doc programme ..
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Dengl 20 Tymobyl Cwm?
The Tate Modern has opened an exhibition of the work of Cy Twombly (in calling up the website, my google page wanted to be sure I wasnt really after Wombling) - no - but CyTwombly certainly presents a challenge to anagrammers - I failed on my own to make anything coherent in English, and the first website I went to also failed, even with dropping one, or even two - or is that three - of the letters in his improbable name*. Maybe it is not his real name but was born as a handful of pasta letters he took out of a packet and artfully threw them on a glue-based surface ...
coincidentally, I have just received a copy of Kings Parade, a six monthly periodical designed to make me feel good about (and cough up a legacy in my will to) my old college; and that prints a charming picture of Frances Morris who graduated in 1978 in Art History. She is quoted as saying of herself that she was "a rather strident and opinionated person who smoked a pipe and wore women's land army breeches". Many of us change our ways after undergraduatehood, and(?)/but(?) Morris is now "Curator of Tate Modern where, as Head of Collections, International Art, she is in charge of acquisitions for the collection of modern and contemporary art from all over the world".
*might (Pseudo)Welsh accept something like: Tymobly Cwm ?
the Evening Standard gave the assembly a five star mark:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/arts/artexhibition-20646808-details/Cy+Twombly:+Cycles+&+Seasons/artexhibitionReview.do?reviewId=23496933
the spectator, also offered a lot of praise from its art critic
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/arts/797131/traces-of-self.thtml
yet the Spectator chose to follow its eulogy of twombly with an article from someone who writes seldom, as he is a sculptor who expresses himself that way. Alexander Stoddart has made a much larger than life statue of Adam Smith, unveiled on Independence Day in Edinburgh's High Street.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/arts/797141/how-the-west-was-won.thtml
Stoddart is uncharacteristically articulate and choate for a visual artist. We can see exactly what he represents in his monument to Adam Smith. I can see exactly what he says in his reflections on what he calls modernism, in various arts (I think there might be some challenge to those he includes, whom others might like to categorise as postModern .... - but that's a minor matter, alongside the very cogent and serious case Stoddart makes).
In a crucial paragraph he puts it this way:
The Left, early in the last century, failed to secure direct revolution in the West, so another tactic was adopted — to dismantle the institutions of the Occident in a long, piecemeal slog. The focus fell on the arts, and this explains why the high music and visual arts of today are so startlingly different from anything you might encounter in undeconstructed times. Where the family, say, was singled out as a sinister and coercive societal institution, so certain artistic forms likewise became suspect: the tune; the rhyme; the moulding; the plinth. Today they are half-heartedly trying to reconstruct the family; but the cultural institutions are proving harder to patch up and this can be attributed to something in the artistic forms of traditionalism that the newly barbarised human being deeply dreads. The Modernism of the last century has forged a sub-sensibility, where man is engineered to be a healthy kind of ignoramus — a Superman — unneedful of the analgesic mercies that art of the old sort delivered into the veins of suffering humanity. The pain is the gain — so let’s write poems that are merely chopped prose, boil our testicles to win the Turner prize, build houses that look like washing machines for living in and, if we make statues at all, make sure they are bolted down at pavement level, so we can ‘interact’ with them (usually with some vomit on a Saturday night).
We may expect a lot of people to have been bruised by him, and to hit back. I'm with Stoddart. Good for him and his work and good for the case he has spoken out.
coincidentally, I have just received a copy of Kings Parade, a six monthly periodical designed to make me feel good about (and cough up a legacy in my will to) my old college; and that prints a charming picture of Frances Morris who graduated in 1978 in Art History. She is quoted as saying of herself that she was "a rather strident and opinionated person who smoked a pipe and wore women's land army breeches". Many of us change our ways after undergraduatehood, and(?)/but(?) Morris is now "Curator of Tate Modern where, as Head of Collections, International Art, she is in charge of acquisitions for the collection of modern and contemporary art from all over the world".
*might (Pseudo)Welsh accept something like: Tymobly Cwm ?
the Evening Standard gave the assembly a five star mark:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/arts/artexhibition-20646808-details/Cy+Twombly:+Cycles+&+Seasons/artexhibitionReview.do?reviewId=23496933
the spectator, also offered a lot of praise from its art critic
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/arts/797131/traces-of-self.thtml
yet the Spectator chose to follow its eulogy of twombly with an article from someone who writes seldom, as he is a sculptor who expresses himself that way. Alexander Stoddart has made a much larger than life statue of Adam Smith, unveiled on Independence Day in Edinburgh's High Street.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/arts/797141/how-the-west-was-won.thtml
Stoddart is uncharacteristically articulate and choate for a visual artist. We can see exactly what he represents in his monument to Adam Smith. I can see exactly what he says in his reflections on what he calls modernism, in various arts (I think there might be some challenge to those he includes, whom others might like to categorise as postModern .... - but that's a minor matter, alongside the very cogent and serious case Stoddart makes).
In a crucial paragraph he puts it this way:
The Left, early in the last century, failed to secure direct revolution in the West, so another tactic was adopted — to dismantle the institutions of the Occident in a long, piecemeal slog. The focus fell on the arts, and this explains why the high music and visual arts of today are so startlingly different from anything you might encounter in undeconstructed times. Where the family, say, was singled out as a sinister and coercive societal institution, so certain artistic forms likewise became suspect: the tune; the rhyme; the moulding; the plinth. Today they are half-heartedly trying to reconstruct the family; but the cultural institutions are proving harder to patch up and this can be attributed to something in the artistic forms of traditionalism that the newly barbarised human being deeply dreads. The Modernism of the last century has forged a sub-sensibility, where man is engineered to be a healthy kind of ignoramus — a Superman — unneedful of the analgesic mercies that art of the old sort delivered into the veins of suffering humanity. The pain is the gain — so let’s write poems that are merely chopped prose, boil our testicles to win the Turner prize, build houses that look like washing machines for living in and, if we make statues at all, make sure they are bolted down at pavement level, so we can ‘interact’ with them (usually with some vomit on a Saturday night).
We may expect a lot of people to have been bruised by him, and to hit back. I'm with Stoddart. Good for him and his work and good for the case he has spoken out.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Dengl 19 Will Suicides Prompt A Tighter Rein on Broadcast Violence?
Effects of Contents of Broadcasting (and press?)
A number of fields exist in which concerned observers have alleged that what is shown influences what is done.
Some of these fields or areas include:
violence breeds violence
violence breeds fear
violence and other victim displays breed homophobic,
mysogynistic or other harmful attitudes (and behaviour)
paedophilic examples prompt imitation
lifestyle displays (swearing, taking drugs, overeating ...) prompt
imitation
suicide (in fiction and in fact) prompts imitation
In most of these areas there is a body of research.
Most of these bodies of research contain more studies that suggest imitation occurs, than which fail to show this.
Virtually no studies are reported which show that the posited harmful examples lead to varieties of reflective, positive behaviour.
The exception in the above list appears to be the contention that violence shown, breeds fear (and in somse cases it was alleged in the USA, breeds prejudice).
Three possible interpretatons of this situation are possible:
the general weight of evidence supports the phenomenon of imitation
therefore let society do something
the existence of some 'neutral' or inconclusive studies undermines any
conclusion being drawn from those which suggest imitation occurs
therefore, nothing need be done
none of the effects-indicating studies are wholly watertight (the
general predicament of social science)
therefore, nothing need be done
The American discourse weighing in the direction of harm following problematic display runs into the barrier of the First Amendment to the Constitution which appears to be interpreted to refer to protect 'freedom' (of utterance - rather than from effect) for every form of expression - even those outside the normal political discourse, which it may have been the Amendment's first concern to protect.
The UK discourse (without a first amendment) to some extent is influenced by the American one. A professional zeitgeist probably reflects this caution - partly perhaps to keep UK and US interpretations of what needs to be done, in terms of precautions or even of prevention, in parallel.
A recent spate of suicides - mostly amongst teenagers - in South Wales has led to concern and a piece has appeared in The Psychologist monthly, attributed to the BPS' psychology journalist Christian Jarrett. He quotes a less equivocal judgement from an Oxford scientist, in the area of suicide imitation (see below).
http://www.bps.org.uk/publications/thepsychologist/extras/pages$/2008/
suicide-the-media-and-prevention.cfm
The report, necessarily brief, does not distinguish between various "media" (press and broadcasting by inference being lumped together). Some of these message systems are (still ?) regulated, and the extent of influence attributable to each message system may well thus be different. There may also be interactions between message systems.
"Society"appears to be unwilling to tolerate suicide and willing to act on the evidence that it may be influenced by what is shown or said.
Society seems unwilling to tolerate racist attitudes and behaviour and regulates content of mass message systems which may encourage such things.
Society is perhaps less willing to act on similar kinds of evidence with regard to some of the other (violent) dangers above.
It is possible that regulatory response to the dangers of suicide from imitation will influence tighter requirements with regard to other sources of possible malign influence. It is also possible that the 'guilt' of tighter regulation vis a vis suicide will be accompanied with a laxer treatment of other matters. It is thirdly possible that what is done about suicide may have no influence on what is done about other matters.
A number of fields exist in which concerned observers have alleged that what is shown influences what is done.
Some of these fields or areas include:
violence breeds violence
violence breeds fear
violence and other victim displays breed homophobic,
mysogynistic or other harmful attitudes (and behaviour)
paedophilic examples prompt imitation
lifestyle displays (swearing, taking drugs, overeating ...) prompt
imitation
suicide (in fiction and in fact) prompts imitation
In most of these areas there is a body of research.
Most of these bodies of research contain more studies that suggest imitation occurs, than which fail to show this.
Virtually no studies are reported which show that the posited harmful examples lead to varieties of reflective, positive behaviour.
The exception in the above list appears to be the contention that violence shown, breeds fear (and in somse cases it was alleged in the USA, breeds prejudice).
Three possible interpretatons of this situation are possible:
the general weight of evidence supports the phenomenon of imitation
therefore let society do something
the existence of some 'neutral' or inconclusive studies undermines any
conclusion being drawn from those which suggest imitation occurs
therefore, nothing need be done
none of the effects-indicating studies are wholly watertight (the
general predicament of social science)
therefore, nothing need be done
The American discourse weighing in the direction of harm following problematic display runs into the barrier of the First Amendment to the Constitution which appears to be interpreted to refer to protect 'freedom' (of utterance - rather than from effect) for every form of expression - even those outside the normal political discourse, which it may have been the Amendment's first concern to protect.
The UK discourse (without a first amendment) to some extent is influenced by the American one. A professional zeitgeist probably reflects this caution - partly perhaps to keep UK and US interpretations of what needs to be done, in terms of precautions or even of prevention, in parallel.
A recent spate of suicides - mostly amongst teenagers - in South Wales has led to concern and a piece has appeared in The Psychologist monthly, attributed to the BPS' psychology journalist Christian Jarrett. He quotes a less equivocal judgement from an Oxford scientist, in the area of suicide imitation (see below).
http://www.bps.org.uk/publications/thepsychologist/extras/pages$/2008/
suicide-the-media-and-prevention.cfm
The report, necessarily brief, does not distinguish between various "media" (press and broadcasting by inference being lumped together). Some of these message systems are (still ?) regulated, and the extent of influence attributable to each message system may well thus be different. There may also be interactions between message systems.
"Society"appears to be unwilling to tolerate suicide and willing to act on the evidence that it may be influenced by what is shown or said.
Society seems unwilling to tolerate racist attitudes and behaviour and regulates content of mass message systems which may encourage such things.
Society is perhaps less willing to act on similar kinds of evidence with regard to some of the other (violent) dangers above.
It is possible that regulatory response to the dangers of suicide from imitation will influence tighter requirements with regard to other sources of possible malign influence. It is also possible that the 'guilt' of tighter regulation vis a vis suicide will be accompanied with a laxer treatment of other matters. It is thirdly possible that what is done about suicide may have no influence on what is done about other matters.
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