Quote:
Originally Posted by mr ploppy
The children who grew up after the great horror film purge of the mid-80s UK were one of the most violent generations we ever had. While they weren't the first generation to carry knives and stab each other, it was never anywhere near as widespread as it was with them.
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as an american child of the 80s, we grew up with some pretty violent cartoons. we had a cartoon and action figures based on rambo for gods sake. however my generation was nowhere near as violent as the one that followed the government's and 'concerned citizens' attempts to nanny it up. thundercats and gi joe have been replaced by phineas&ferb and dora, guns are harder to get than ever yet the kids are far more violent than they were when i was growing up. there weren't kids shooting up their schools after viewing a particularly boisterous episode of ghostbusters or teenage mutant ninja turtles.
i'd need a sociologists input on his but i think kids running around outside, pew pew pewing it up with gi joes and laser tag gave them an outlet for their energy and impulses. todays kids sit staring blankly, playing call of duty all day long with no socially acceptable outlet for their energy,anger or real exposure to the consequences of violence. hell, they say the wrong thing and they're up the creek without a paddle, let alone roughhouse or horseplay. tv has always been a babysitter but i think as a result of today's bland, nerfed programming parents see absolutely no problem with letting it literally babysit their kids all day. everything is so nerfed that they abandoned all parental responsibility (generally speaking). kid acting up? pop in a dvd. kid getting antsy on a car ride? pop in a dvd. kid won't sit still? hand them your ipad or phone to watch videos on.
i didn't have the greatest parents. i remember watching horror movies from a young age. but i think that exposure showed me the consequences of violence and as a result i've made it through 34 years of life without even being in a fist fight (for better or worse).
kids today don't respect death because its not 'real' to them. as a result, they don't respect life. i'm not saying plop your kids down in front of 'a serbian film' but they can't go through life thinking that the only consequence of pain and death is having to wait 30 seconds to respawn.