Media and Social Problems

                 On our last class we watched two documentaries: Bowling for Columbine and Paradise Lost: The Robin Hood Hills Murders. On both documentaries media was treated as supporting evidence to murder case.  Both documentaries show people base their sides upon the suspects’ likes and dislikes. For instance, because he dressed all in black, long hair and read witch related books suggest to people he is capable of murdering someone. On Bowling for Columbine, however we see it more explicitly how the suspect’s music preference –Metallica & rock - is used trivially.  We have the example of the Marilyn Manson band and their song Fight Song. Because their lyrics are out of the usual, and mention: “fighting,” “cutting wrist ,”“ I’m not a slave to a God,” people think it brain washes kids into doing this. At the interview with Marilyn Manson, he poses an interesting question. Society blames him for what’s happening to the youth but what about the government and its weapon factories. In society exists the acceptable, normal and abnormal. The acceptable is a realm walked by those people in the higher economic rank, it almost as if they make their own rules as long as it doesn’t completely contradict the “normal.” The standards for normal are usually determined by the biggest group which in return becomes the popular group. Then we have the abnormal which goes against the normal and acceptable. Actually, I think the whole purpose of people like Manson is to be different to stand out from the normal not because they have different morals but rather different tastes of fashion. Yet many people like in the videos use media as a target to blame it for a persons actions. A song doesnt give a person a weapon, a song doesnt say kill X person and yet in the trial media becomes evidence even when there is no factual correlation.