Stars must oppose violence
by Lawrie Kavanagh
Sunday Mail, Brisbane
4 June 1998
Having just heard yesterday of the latest episode in the fashionable pubescent trend towards schoolyard massacre, I wondered whether there was any international front working towards its solution?
It will take a truly international effort to stem the tide, because all nations subscribing to “Western culture”, in which the so-called entertainment industry has usurped the responsibility for adolescent morals, are involved.
It’s only a matter of time before one of their, or our, misguided little brats feels the need for public revenge, or maybe it’s a twisted need for attention, before blood is spilt in schoolyards other than in the United States.
I don’t know the answer but a firearms ban is not it. That’s no solution to any crime problem. The trick is to defuse the mind behind the finger that squeezes the trigger.
It’s more to do with our upbringing and the amount of self-discipline with which we were imbued. Two generations ago that was a caring parent’s duty - teaching kids the basics of right from wrong, with stern back-up from schools. Those parent/teaching kids the basics of right from wrong, with stern back-up from schools.
Those parent/teacher lessons included a healthy section on respect for others’ lives and property. What was it they used to drum into us? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you? Yeah! It was something like that.
What it meant was if you don’t like being hurt or having your property stolen or broken, then don’t do it to anyone else. It made sense to most kids and those a bit slow on the uptake usually found out the hard way, a lot of it through what we now know as “peer pressure “. Cute isn’t it?
I reckon 99 percent of today’s parents believe in that old-fashioned code and no doubt try to influence their kids down that track. Trouble is, today parents face formidable opposition from the rich and powerful giant of international entertainment, in all its many slick movie, computer and video forms.
I don’t think the majority involved in that industry set out to be bad influence on our kids … it’s their kids, too, remember. Trouble is, over the years they’ve discovered screen violence is a sure-fore money-maker, the surest way to box office hit.
That means money and nothing, not even public morals, murder and mayhem for innocents, stands in the way of making big money.
So on one hand you have parents saying this is the way to go for a happy life and on the other you have the entertainment industry, the magazines, the videos, the television, the radio screaming: “That’s a load of $@#^&^%$! This is how we do it in the land of make-believe”.
Parents, teachers and public-spirited citizens are on a hiding to nothing when it comes to setting a willful child straight today, the more so in these politically correct days when the more revolting the child’s behaviour becomes, the more civil liberties it is perceived to have.
So yesterday, in Oregon, USA, a 15 year old student murdered his parents and attempted to murder many more of his mates at school because the poor little fellow was expelled for some wrongdoing.
And so the chain of violence goes on … just one more reason, one more blueprint for the next disillusioned student to grab a school yard massacre headline and, in his or her video -programmed mind, make it up there with the stars on international television.
Have you ever wondered about the bag stars who play the violent role models that so influence weak minds to violence and slaughter? Do they sloop well at night after hearing of some lame brain acting their role in real life?
I interviewed a big star once, before her was a really big star that is, Arnold Whatsisname. He was Mr World, whatever, and I was the only reporter at the old Brisbane tin-shed airport to meet him.
I asked did he think his body-beautiful influenced others to live a more healthy life and he said he certainly hoped so. I would have asked him the other question about on-screen violence influencing people but he wasn’t on screen at that stage.
Since I haven’t interviewed any other big Hollywood stars I thought I might never find out if actors ever felt guilty about the bad influence they might have on weak minds.
Then a letter to the editor from a local actor on Thursday gave me hope that even the superstars in Hollywood might feel conscience stricken by their bad role model status and, it organised in the right direction, collectively might do something about it.
The letter was from Chick Hanson who acts in happy advertisements for various gambling outlets on radio and television. He is conscience-stricken that the winning image he portrays may influence suckers to gamble away their lives.
His letter said in part: “Having been an actor, paid for giving the illusion of how to ‘have a good time’ and how to ‘win millions’ on various television and radio commercials over the years, it disturbs me to see people being grossly misled by advertising.
“I do not gamble, which, for a start means I do not own the yacht I ‘won’ on Gold Lotto; I do not own the house I ‘won’ in the Casket, the fortune I ‘won’ on the pokies and so on. Not once during those and other commercials were the odds of winning even a minor prize displayed anywhere…
“How about some legislation to force the truth from those who suggest that winning is just a matter of turning up and taking home your profits…?
Nice one, Chick? Now how about that on an international scale with superstars like my old mate Arnie Whatsisname organising such massive opposition to violence in the entertainment industry that even the most twisted producers cannot ignore it?
I saw a ready-made catch cry for such a movement in The Spectator recently:
“If everyone agrees television had unrivalled efficiency at selling goods, services, culture, music, politics and fashion, why does the industry continue to claim the one thing it cannot sell is violence?”
Would someone in the industry care to set me straight?
Home > Research archive > 1998 > Stars must oppose violence