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Kid violence points to poisoning by media
By Wan Lixin |
May 16, 2013, Thursday
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LARGELY from habit many of us still identify our children as our future, the flowers of the motherland, who are the very image of innocence and simplicity.
But the following examples provide some conflicting images of children.
On April 6, in a village in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, a 9-year-old boy was playing with two brothers aged 5 and 8, reenacting a scene from "The Pleasant Goat and the Big Big Wolf," in which evil wolf tried to prepare the innocent lamb into a kebab.
In mimicking the scene, the 9-year-old tied the two brothers to a tree, and then set fire to grass under them. The brothers were seriously burned.
Rival of Hollywood
"The Pleasant Goat" animation has been widely cited as an example of how the best Chinese animation can rival Western imports, providing a welcome antidote to the deluge from Hollywood.
On May 7, in Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, a 15-year-old junior middle school student surnamed Ma was roughhousing with his classmate surnamed Lu and struck his nose, enraging him. Lu then pulled a knife and slashed Ma's throat, killing him.
Later that day, in Yanchuan, also in Yan'an, a junior middle school student sank a knife 3 cm deep into a classmate's side, because he was curious to see how sharp the knife was.
On April 21, also in Shaanxi Province, a middle school student was stabbed seven times by three other students because they didn't like that he walked with an insolent air. The boy has survived.
Last year in Nandan, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, a 13-year-old girl killed and then mutilated a classmate, reportedly because the girl was prettier than she.
A court recently ordered the culprit's family to pay the victim's parents 108,000 yuan (US$17,570) in damages.
On April 30, in Yanling, Hunan Province, 16-year-old Wan Dong was killed at his own home by a jealous classmate who reportedly learned that Wan had received a mobile phone message saying he had hit a jackpot of 120,000 yuan. The murderer just wanted to collect the non-existent money himself.
Different people are reading different meanings into these eerie tragedies.
An Oriental Morning Post column on May 13, commenting on the "Pleasant Goat" tragedy, pointed to the importance of establishing an rating system for film. For instance, the cartoon in question should be, according to US practice, classified FV (Fantasy Violence).
As a skeptic of technical solutions, I have serious doubts whether this would work.
Frankly, "Pleasant Goat" is a small-time creation in terms of violence compared with the avalanche of violence online and in computer games.
If you classify "Pleasant Goat" FV, how would you accordingly classify hundreds of other films and online games?
For one thing, the many Chinese cities aspiring to be China's Animation and Creation mecca would never hear of any attempt at such classification that could limit audience size.
But I do agree with the author's statement that we cannot overstate the impact of TV and video games on children. Children are impressionable, and they need protection. They do not subsist on bread alone.
Tabula rasa state
In their tabula rasa state, they cannot but be influenced by what they read, and watch, and therefore the adults must exercise effective control over their viewing habits.
That's a great challenge.
For one thing, media are increasingly powerful.
Just think of the amount of time a child (or adult, for that matter) can spend on TV, online games, mobiles phone and other gadgets.
There are many agents conspiring to condition and influence the children, for various motivations.
Some are talking of access to the brave new online world as an unalienable right of the good life.
Many parents would readily agree that education is critical for the future of their children, and spare no effort in securing their loved ones a "good education."
That good education turns out to be no more than another extracurricular training session that is believed to be helpful in entering a good school and eventually landing a good job.
The top priority of education - to bring out the best of an individual as a citizen, a family member, or an honest worker - is gone.
Technical progress makes it very difficult to insulate the children from the adult world, where access to everything from violent movies to sexually explicit material is sometimes protected as part of freedom or privacy.
Smashed phones
In a college examination cram course in Wuhan, Hebei Province, some students were caught using their mobile phones, in defiance of a wholesale ban of mobile phone use on campus.
The devices were confiscated, smashed and displayed as a warning to others.
Some parents approved, simply because mobiles can stand in the way of a good score.
Experts are crying foul, however, citing property rights and calling for guidance instead.
Nothing helps more in establishing an expert's credentials as a progressive today than flirting with rights' issues.
But the bloody cases mentioned at the outset justify desperate remedies in addressing the core right of children's welfare: their right to be temporarily insulated from violence and sex.
Our children really need more time in their formative years to listen to the voice of nature, or simply to be bored.
But the following examples provide some conflicting images of children.
On April 6, in a village in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, a 9-year-old boy was playing with two brothers aged 5 and 8, reenacting a scene from "The Pleasant Goat and the Big Big Wolf," in which evil wolf tried to prepare the innocent lamb into a kebab.
In mimicking the scene, the 9-year-old tied the two brothers to a tree, and then set fire to grass under them. The brothers were seriously burned.
Rival of Hollywood
"The Pleasant Goat" animation has been widely cited as an example of how the best Chinese animation can rival Western imports, providing a welcome antidote to the deluge from Hollywood.
On May 7, in Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, a 15-year-old junior middle school student surnamed Ma was roughhousing with his classmate surnamed Lu and struck his nose, enraging him. Lu then pulled a knife and slashed Ma's throat, killing him.
Later that day, in Yanchuan, also in Yan'an, a junior middle school student sank a knife 3 cm deep into a classmate's side, because he was curious to see how sharp the knife was.
On April 21, also in Shaanxi Province, a middle school student was stabbed seven times by three other students because they didn't like that he walked with an insolent air. The boy has survived.
Last year in Nandan, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, a 13-year-old girl killed and then mutilated a classmate, reportedly because the girl was prettier than she.
A court recently ordered the culprit's family to pay the victim's parents 108,000 yuan (US$17,570) in damages.
On April 30, in Yanling, Hunan Province, 16-year-old Wan Dong was killed at his own home by a jealous classmate who reportedly learned that Wan had received a mobile phone message saying he had hit a jackpot of 120,000 yuan. The murderer just wanted to collect the non-existent money himself.
Different people are reading different meanings into these eerie tragedies.
An Oriental Morning Post column on May 13, commenting on the "Pleasant Goat" tragedy, pointed to the importance of establishing an rating system for film. For instance, the cartoon in question should be, according to US practice, classified FV (Fantasy Violence).
As a skeptic of technical solutions, I have serious doubts whether this would work.
Frankly, "Pleasant Goat" is a small-time creation in terms of violence compared with the avalanche of violence online and in computer games.
If you classify "Pleasant Goat" FV, how would you accordingly classify hundreds of other films and online games?
For one thing, the many Chinese cities aspiring to be China's Animation and Creation mecca would never hear of any attempt at such classification that could limit audience size.
But I do agree with the author's statement that we cannot overstate the impact of TV and video games on children. Children are impressionable, and they need protection. They do not subsist on bread alone.
Tabula rasa state
In their tabula rasa state, they cannot but be influenced by what they read, and watch, and therefore the adults must exercise effective control over their viewing habits.
That's a great challenge.
For one thing, media are increasingly powerful.
Just think of the amount of time a child (or adult, for that matter) can spend on TV, online games, mobiles phone and other gadgets.
There are many agents conspiring to condition and influence the children, for various motivations.
Some are talking of access to the brave new online world as an unalienable right of the good life.
Many parents would readily agree that education is critical for the future of their children, and spare no effort in securing their loved ones a "good education."
That good education turns out to be no more than another extracurricular training session that is believed to be helpful in entering a good school and eventually landing a good job.
The top priority of education - to bring out the best of an individual as a citizen, a family member, or an honest worker - is gone.
Technical progress makes it very difficult to insulate the children from the adult world, where access to everything from violent movies to sexually explicit material is sometimes protected as part of freedom or privacy.
Smashed phones
In a college examination cram course in Wuhan, Hebei Province, some students were caught using their mobile phones, in defiance of a wholesale ban of mobile phone use on campus.
The devices were confiscated, smashed and displayed as a warning to others.
Some parents approved, simply because mobiles can stand in the way of a good score.
Experts are crying foul, however, citing property rights and calling for guidance instead.
Nothing helps more in establishing an expert's credentials as a progressive today than flirting with rights' issues.
But the bloody cases mentioned at the outset justify desperate remedies in addressing the core right of children's welfare: their right to be temporarily insulated from violence and sex.
Our children really need more time in their formative years to listen to the voice of nature, or simply to be bored.
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