I really am not the most qualified person to comment, of course (but since when did that stop anyone else?) because I hardly watch the things any more. Emmerdale was still just a farm when last I looked, with Annie Sugden looking disapprovingly at Dolly Skilbeck's choice of tight knitwear; The last time that I dared venture into Walford, Michelle Fowler was just taking her last ride out of town in a taxi; And my last visit to Weatherfield was when Stan Ogden had just been buried. Meanwhile, in the altogether different medium of radio, even Ambridge was abandoned when Nigel Pargetter had just plummeted to his doom which is when I finally gave up on "The Archers…"
However from the impression I get from all of the pre-publicity and trailers and headlines that I do catch when see the papers when I'm buying petrol, or when I'm watching other forms of televisual entertainments and they trail "Hollyoaks or "EastEnders", the wretched things have got even worse, and they were getting pretty bad back in the days when I did watch some of them.
I vividly remember rolling my eyes and thinking that "this is not good" when Cindy Somebody-or-other found herself trapped in a bad marriage but, rather than using the usual means to escape it, she took out a contract on her husband via a dodgy geezer who knew a Hit Man who wasn't Pete Waterman…
Yep! That dates it…
Somehow, I felt even then, that this was not a good example to be giving about how to solve your problems in life, and that lines were being crossed, or, at the very least, blurred.
Yes, I know that it's only meant as entertainment, and that the plots have to be extreme in order to keep people interested, but I do think that because so many people are constantly being exposed to these story lines, events which are supposed to reflect "real life" (albeit in some warped, hyper-real way), after a while they might just begin to believe that such ideas are perfectly normal behaviour, and are, perhaps, ways in which ordinary, real people in the real world should also go around dealing with their problems.
Had a disagreement? Have a violent punch-up, leaving someone in intensive care... (Duff, duff DUFF, da-da-da-da-DAH!!!) rather than, I don't know, just having a reasonable discussion about things...
Don't like the neighbours? Pour petrol through their letterbox… (Duff, duff DUFF, da-da-da-da-DAH!!!) rather than just having a reasonable discussion about your differences...
Someone mildly slighted you? Tamper with their brakes (Duff, duff DUFF, da-da-da-da-DAH!!!) rather than, again, having a reasonable discussion...
Don't like what someone said about your kids? Have a screaming slanging match in a public place (Duff, duff DUFF, da-da-da-da-DAH!!!) rather than having a reasonable discussion…
Don't just solve your problems in a rational, harmless way, take a bloody great knife along and turn it into an over-glamourised murder mystery… (Duff, duff DUFF, da-da-da-da-DAH!!!) rather than having a reasonable discussion...
The problem is that even if only a few people soak up this nonsense, and some of them begin to believe that this is how real people choose to sort out their problems, there begins to be a trickle effect when kids start to carry knives into schools and, when they get told off for doing something wrong, instead of being suitably contrite and apologetic, they think that lashing out is the best way to get their point across, which, of course (and sometimes horrifically tragically), it never really is, especially if the "murder mystery" has only one wretched suspect ruining any number of lives.
Just ask the relatives and friends of Ann Maguire...
I'm not trying to preach, nor do I wish to make an entertainment out of a tragedy, but I did want to share a few of my thoughts and observations upon the terrible events which unfolded in one of our schools in Leeds at the beginning of last week, and I can't help but think that it might be related to some of those insane story lines that angry teenagers are getting exposed to almost daily, and I'm wondering whether this cultural shift might very well be related to our tolerance of these insane story lines dressed up as everyday stories of ordinary people.
Teachers getting killed, children arrested for plotting to kill others, or shooting and knifing each other in street fights - I can't help but think that this is at least partially the long term result of years of watching soap opera and seeing the way those characters solve their problems in such dramatic ways, dressed up to be all exciting and getting talked about all over the place.
Real tragedy is, of course, far more brutal than all those fictional ones, and I'm not going to suggest that anyone could find a direct link between the events on TV and those in real life, but if we keep on lowering our thresholds and putting these ideas in front of impressionable minds, then, perhaps, we only have ourselves to blame if such things start to happen…
I have lived on my road for over 25 years and in all that time we have only had 2 murders and 1 fatal car accident. Of course it could have been worse, machete wielding thugs did hold the bowling club to ransom stealing money and valuables from around thirty people and we have had the occasional drugs bust. Oh, and there was the IRA millionaire gangster who lived just a two minute walk up the hill away. All this in one of the most sought after post codes (the girls grammar is top 5) in England.
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