So Much for "Small Town Values"

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KennyFlys

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Could this be due to the violence shown on TV? There are a lot of questions to be answered from this investigation.

Third-graders plotted attack on teacher, police say

3 children face charges in plot to attack teacher

Waycross, Ga. -- A group of third-graders plotted to attack their teacher, bringing a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape and other items for the job and assigning children tasks including covering the windows and cleaning up afterward, police said Tuesday.

The plot by as many as nine boys and girls at Center Elementary School in south Georgia was a serious threat, Waycross Police Chief Tony Tanner said Tuesday.

"We did not hear anybody say they intended to kill her, but could they have accidentally killed her? Absolutely," Tanner said. "We feel like if they weren't interrupted, there would have been an attempt. Would they have been successful? We don't know."

The children, ages 8 and 9, were apparently mad at the teacher because she had scolded one of them for standing on a chair, Tanner said.

They could be expelled, but a prosecutor said they are too young to be charged with a crime under Georgia law.
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Continued.
 
KennyFlys said:
Could this be due to the violence shown on TV?
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Blaming TV is a cop-out, unless it's the news in which case it's not really TV that's giving them the idea, it's the Harrises and Klebolds of the world.

Blame bad parenting.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Blaming TV is a cop-out, unless it's the news in which case it's not really TV that's giving them the idea, it's the Harrises and Klebolds of the world.

Blame bad parenting.
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Actually, I didn't go far enough with that question. I've heard the far right complain about all the sex shown on TV. But, there's no talk of the violence depicted they allow the kids to see. The problem is most show it as "get shot and survive" or along those lines.
 
Hmmmm...

My first love (a '57, C172) now resides in Waycross, GA. Both the guy who bought it (Bob) and his wife are teachers. I heard about this on the radio but didn't realize it was Waycross. That brings it much closer to home.

I stay in touch with Bob, I'll have to find out more.
 
KennyFlys said:
Actually, I didn't go far enough with that question. I've heard the far right complain about all the sex shown on TV. But, there's no talk of the violence depicted they allow the kids to see. The problem is most show it as "get shot and survive" or along those lines.
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Actually, the various groups that want to dumb TV down to pablum also complain about the violence. If *some* of these folks got their way, the only thing you'd see on either over-the-air or cable TV would be along the lines of The Partridge Family.
 
Pi1otguy said:
What happened to the free market WRT censorship? Maybe they would have done something similar even if the Brady Bunch was on 24/7.
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I just threw it out there for fodder. Violence on TV can be an influence. That's a given. But, anything can be an influence if not looked at with guidance and proper parenting.

The way the MBL has gone, steroid use is the way to go if you want to be a powerful athlete. Let one of those players appear with reporters before a game and admit to being stupid for using steroids. It will never happen.
 
While I do not blame TV as the sole cause, it IS a factor in our behavior today. To say otherwise is idiotic.

People today are desensitized, over informationalized, and have lost a lot of decorum and
plain understanding regarding "right and wrong" (especially since the new mantra is "it is all good".)
 
tdager said:
While I do not blame TV as the sole cause, it IS a factor in our behavior today. To say otherwise is idiotic.

People today are desensitized, over informationalized, and have lost a lot of decorum and
plain understanding regarding "right and wrong" (especially since the new mantra is "it is all good".)
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There is a feedback mechanism, but let's face it, TV has always reflected what's already going on. TV is about advertising, and advertisers want to lure customers with something they can relate to. The lower the common denominator, the better. Hence the fact that most TV programming today is imitative garbage... especially the news. Titillation, anxiety-mongering, and a growing penchant for violence presented tongue-in-cheek as "unbiased coverage" , or "drama."

"The people have a right to know" has devolved into "the people are eager to wallow in trash"... although it's always been true to some extent. I read somewhere once that the very first newspaper, made on a hand press, was a gossip rag. It's continued from there, I guess.

I think the big problem with TV (and movies, and music, and video games, etc.) isn't so much that there's "unwholesome" content, or not enough "wholesome" content, but that there is less and less guidance and inspiration in the home, at school,and in communites in general, so kids today, more so than when I was a kid, seem to look to media to teach them how to behave.
There's a vacuum being created, and the media is rushing in to fill the void.

Lots of people think media is responsible for this decay in values, but I disagree, even though we're all bombarded with crap more and more as the technology expands. There's something else going on...the decline of a culture. TV illustrates it more than creates it.

When I was a kid, we had the same notions, for the most part, as today's youth as to what is "cool", but because we were actually raised by our parents, neighbors and teachers, we recognized where "cool" stepped outside the boundaries of "right" into "wrong". "Forbidden" stuff has always had its allure to youth, but now it seems the whole meaning of "forbidden" is fading.
 
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