Subject:
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Re: Children and Violence
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Sun, 30 Sep 2001 20:04:10 GMT
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Viewed:
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216 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Richard Marchetti writes:
> Hey Y'all:
>
> I was just sitting here contemplating my navel when I began to think about
> violence and its causes. • [...]
> In allowing children to view a slasher flick are we doing the kids harm, or
> granting them a socially acceptable vent for their collective anxieties? I
> say the latter. [You can easily see how I might expand this argument to
> include other media, toys, and etc.]
>
> Other thoughts?
>
> -- Hop-Frog (the two-fisted light-gunslinger)
All I can say, Richard, is don't count on answering this question easily.
The debate is over 2,000 years old.
In Plato's _Republic_, it is stated that only "wholesome" entertainment
should be permitted in the ideal society. Violence in play is said to beget
violence in everyday life. And yet the term "catharsis" is introduced
shortly thereafter, by Plato's near-contemporary Aristotle (in
_Nichomachean_Ethics_, I think?). Aristotle believed, as you do, that an
outlet for strong emotions in the realms of play and entertainment
*prevented* violent behavior from spilling over into the real world.
Why we still haven't obtained a definite answer to this question, with the
benefit of a century of reasonably scentific psychology, is a mystery to me.
--
John J. Ladasky Jr., Ph.D.
Department of Biology
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD 21218
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Children and Violence
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| (...) This is especially interesting to me because they're part of the same intellectual "line." Plato was a student of Socrates, and Aristotle a student of Plato. They differed on that and many other points, but the idea behind both of their (...) (23 years ago, 1-Oct-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
| | | Re: Children and Violence
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| (...) Nothing (short of raising a number of kids in Skinner boxes) can *experimentally* answer this, would be my suspicion. Otherwise too many factors muddy whether it's a cause or not... (23 years ago, 1-Oct-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Children and Violence
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| Hey Y'all: I was just sitting here contemplating my navel when I began to think about violence and its causes. We have certainly been given a few jolts these past years and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. We have children shooting (...) (23 years ago, 29-Sep-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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