CLAIMING BACK CONTROL OF OUR CHILDREN'S MINDS -
VIOLENCE IN THE MEDIA

Can we stop the flood of violence to which our children are
subjected daily?

There is more violence than ever before on television, in
video games and in music lyrics.  Feeble measures , such
as the laughable 9 o'clock watershed on terrestrial channels
do little to prevent it becoming the large part of our
children's daily lives it now is. It is of course fashionable to
deny any connection between this and the spectacular
increase in real violence committed by children. Indeed,
despite all the evidence, the idea of there being a
connection is usually laughed at, by the journalists and
commentators. But since the middle classes regard all
suggested causes of this real violence in our society with
the same sneering scepticism, their hopelessly optimistic
view can hardly be taken seriously, as the plain facts before
have put it out of date. The time for such self serving
wishful-thinking, and cowardice in the face of such a
serious problem is gone; now we have to face up to it, and
deal with it, before any more damage is done.

For too long the ocean of simulated violence to which our
children (and ourselves) are subjected, has been taken as
an inevitable and unavoidable part of the "modern" life, in a
way it never has been in the past. But what has actually
happened is that the normal instincts and restraints of
human decency and common sense have been replaced
and silenced by the needs and dictates of the powerful
marketing and advertising, American film making and
broadcasting industries,as if they were natural laws before
which all other considerations must give way.

It is now up to us to take back control of our own lives, and
our own children, from the powerful forces which influence
them. At stake is the very nature of the future of our society.
For too long parents have felt powerless to resist the
overwhelming influence these various agencies have over
their children's minds. This is too often referred to as "peer
pressure" without a thought for where the pressure comes
from in the first place. "Peer pressure" only describes the
way in which children who have been brainwashed in this
way act as instruments of the propaganda upon each other,
in their typical insistence, sometimes literally on pain of
death, on complete conformity. The source of this peer
pressure are the concentrated forces of persuasion in the
advertising, , music, fashion, clothing and film and
television making industries. The aim is simply to sell. The
powerful executives of these industries , be they in
Chicago, or New York, or Los Angeles or London, care
nothing of course for social or personal consequences.
That is up to us, the people; and it is high time we stood up
for ourselves and our children.

It is time then to no longer see it as inevitable that children
should be led into paths not of our choosing as parents. It
is NOT inevitable that our children should be rude,  violent ,
aggressive or stupid. It is our responsibility to guide our
children, and if that requires us first to take back control of
what goes into their minds, then we must do it. We as
parents must exert the political will to take control over our
children's upbringing.

So, how is it to be done? How can the powerful industrial
agencies be resisted when they operate precisely through
the channels of personal freedom which we are instinctively
reluctant to interfere with? Is it even possible, let alone
desirable, to stop violence on the media by banning it?

Well, to start with, we already do, to a very limited extent.
Censorship already exists; once again, it is a word which
the middle class left hypocritically likes to paint as some
sort of sinister instrument of government control or
oppression; but of course it is quite the opposite. It is the
people's only defence against the enormously powerful
media (far more powerful in the realm of propaganda and
mind control than mere government). It is not government
which controls everything we see and hear, it is the media.
Some of the media consists of people who make money
from peddling violence to children and adults alike. We
need to protect ourselves against them.



To advocate any form of censorship in the present political
situation , (one where middle class values and interests
have complete dominance) seems like asking for some form
of oppression or extreme conservatism; but actually it is
the opposite; we need censorship as we have never needed
it before, to protect the values of our civilisation and our
society against those who are unscrupulous about how
they make money. We have to weigh up what we need most
- more freedom for big business to make increase their
power and wealth by whatever means necessary, and for
middle class media executives and professionals to make
their huge salaries , or do we need protection from the
excess of violence which now infects our whole society,
especially working class areas, so that life can be fit for
normal people to live in peace and safety.

Remember the future doesn't have to be what they are
telling us it is going to be. We can take control. There is
hope of something better.
CLAIMING BACK CONTROL
OF OUR CHILDREN'S MINDS -
VIOLENCE IN THE MEDIA
The Working Class Party