EDITORIAL

A ministry of the absurd ?

When programme ratings were introduced on local television stations last month, giving recommended viewing ages and advance warnings of inappropriate content for children, it was hailed as the dawn of a new age of child-friendly TV.

Perhaps this praise was so fulsome because achieving this small step, considered routine in many countries, had taken over a decade of impassioned campaigning and political lobbying. But it has not taken long for the novelty to wear off. Shrill cries are once again being heard demanding that children receive even greater protection from the forces of evil supposedly lurking behind the flickering screen. Now the Social Development and Human Security Ministry wants scenes showing criminality, violence or with overt sexual connotations to carry warnings that ''this action is illegal and punishable by law'' or ''this action is against morality'' to discourage children and youths from copying it in real life. Also targeted for similar warnings will be scenes showing men with mistresses, gambling, drinking alcohol, smoking and other negative images.

This is one way of dealing with the issue of child protection. Another would be for advocates of good taste to acknowledge that free TV has become an educational wasteland and do something about it. There is a distressing lack of knowledge-based programming which could be of real benefit to children of all ages. Its place has been taken by a procession of mindless game shows, variety shows featuring bizarrely-dressed men, women and the inevitable katoey, and featherbrained soap operas showcasing the disorders of emotionally dysfunctional people _ much like soaps anywhere in the world. Overtones of racism, intolerance and xenophobia are painfully evident.

Exceptions do exist, but far too much programming is dumbed down and cloaked in crass materialism. Throwing panicky warning messages into this mix would merely turn the medium into the theatre of the absurd, although presumably what is often daytime TV's most violent offering _ the news _ would be spared. What is urgently needed here is quality control and lots of it. Without it, we need to worry about retarding the mental health of our children long before we concern ourselves with their future moral well-being.While it is true that violence as depicted in TV and other media does influence children, it is not to the extent some people fear. Today's children are a lot smarter than many adult social critics give them credit for. We cannot ignore reality and pretend that ours is not a culture prone to violence, although we can argue with some justification that it is a great deal worse elsewhere. Sociologists point to large expanses of the front pages of the vernacular press which are often given over to scenes of extreme violence. They cite polls which show that most people support the death penalty. They claim children grow up with violence, which they become aware of through TV, the print media, computer games, websites, movies, policemen carrying guns and road accidents. They fear that this exposure leads young children to believe that this cocktail of violence somehow represents normal, acceptable behaviour.

While violence does play an ugly role in our society, there are very few societies in this world in which it does not. And yet our younger generation is not noted for its violent and aggressive behaviour. Surely there is an element of hysteria being introduced by those who campaign so fanatically to ''cleanse'' and tighten censorship on our daily TV and cinema fare. If the authorities are looking for ways to ensure a proper upbringing for our children, they should not be concentrating so much on depictions of imaginary violence they might catch a glimpse of during recreational activity.

Instead, they should be focusing on those making a deeper impression on children's behaviour, namely their parents, teachers, political leaders and others who dispense spiritual guidance. These are the role models who should be providing direction, understanding and explanation. The trouble is that too many parents shirk these responsibilities, and warning labels on a TV screen just cannot take their place.

General News
Bangkok Post
Saturday January 27, 2007