What is worse for the children, Pornography or Violence?

Its hard to tell, however, the problem of violence/pornography is that what is portrayed on television allows children to disassociate themselves from these things. In a way, unrealistic violence and unrealistic portrayals of sex is what is damaging their minds, removing them from reality.

reply to post by SaturnFX


I've always noticed the medias backwards standards when it comes to sex and violence and "bad language". They'll bleep out tons of words and cut the scene when its too steamy but leave plenty of violence and gore in.

Sex is natural, violence generally is not (unless its self-defense). So I think violence is worse. Neither is appropriate and both could have jarring psychological effects but I feel violence is worse.

reply to post by Titen-Sxull


Being desensitized to violence allows the population to not worry much about wars.
Vietnam was broadcast in its ugly form. This was the first for Americans seeing this form of brutality playing out in their living room. People rebelled and revolted (to no end).

Since then, there has been a sharp rise in violent media, making people not care anymore. We are now in the longest war in our history with no end in sight...and the public pretty much doesn't care.

I would say, well done

assuming your kid don't turn into a violent murderer which vast majority don't, then i would say 'Porn' is overall worse.

so basically i guess it boils down to HOW YOUNG the kid is...

because i would say seeing super violent stuff at a really young age (say 8-9 years old or younger) is obviously worse than Porn... but say if your kid is like 12-15 years old or so i think in vast majority of cases Porn would be clearly worse because by that 12-15 years old age they are usually mature enough not to turn into a violent murder if they where to see some violence especially if they generally got some decent loving parents etc.

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reply to post by SaturnFX


Neither are okay, and both subvert the will of the observor.

Being exposed to violence promotes thoughts of violence - especially in children which dont have the conscious guards to not act in those ways.

but i think even worse is being exposed to pornography. There is no urge stronger or more persuasive than the sexual urge. This makes being exposed to it very difficult to overcome, again, if you dont have a ideological opposition to it - and even than its highly difficult to overcome.

So in the scheme of things, proumulgation of indecent images, "pornography" is more effective in controlling others than is violence. But violence also isnt something you want your child being exposed to either. I just think fundamentally speaking, one urge is much more strong and tyranical than the other. and being overexposed to sexuality - in Tv, magazines, video games, and in every day society in general, has a more detrimental effect on the development of a selfless, spiritual personality than exposure to violence has. When one is motivayed by sex; he is unbelievably easily manipulated. His entire life becomes constellated around this one desire; what clothes he'll wear, a culture he'll subscribe to, music he'll listen to, television, sports etc etc, become motivated in some fashion by sex, and being over-stimulated by sex by pop culture. Freudian psychology was all about making this attitude dogma. And indeed, the governments have since ancient times controlled their peoples by controlling their behavior; which is manipulated by exposing them to certain stimuli which compels people to follow certain thought patterns and thus behavior.

Originally posted by SaturnFX
Very short thread..
Pornography = makes people look at others as mindless sex machines
Violence = Encourages people to solve all matters with violent ourbursts

Television and games are rife with violence that kids can watch with the typical parents blessing, however, parents become simply flipped out if some flesh is shown (that doesn't have bullets in it).

I am wondering what a general survey is...what is more unacceptable for their little darlings to be exposed to...violence, or sex...and more importantly, why one is ok and the other isn't.

Enjoy

Edit/Add: I do not mean allow exposure to kids, but rather...what shall we remove from adults (and society) to protect the kids.

edit on 19-12-2010 by SaturnFX because: clarification

Do I have to pick one, because I find both tasteless and detrimental. I don't know that's a tough choice to decide.
Pornography makes the males think of women as nothing more than an item to obtain, possess, and use, then discard and violence teaches them the wrong way to solve differences, and even leads to domestic violence against women, again because they think of women as sex objects to be possessed like a material possession. I truly double despise the freaking game vice city and the whole G_d darn series, I think it's the most disgusting game that ever was released and makes kids want to be drugged out thugs and pimps. It's disgraceful, however I have no problem with Resident evil or any other game that kills zombies and monsters even if they show a little flesh because the characters are the ones showing skin and there typically isn't any actual sexual content like with vice city.
Vice City =

I contributed to the thread that spurred this one so I should probably contribute here.

You cannot entirely avoid either sex or violence. Both are what we are and are a part of nature. Desire for sex and capacity for violence is a part of all of us. The extent varies by individual.

The point is managing exposure and providing context for that which occurs.

I'm all for avoiding unnecessary exposure to either for the very young. Thats down to parental control in private and common sense in broadcasting and advertising.

The rate at which a child's exposure can increase should be based on the parents determination of the child's maturity.

For older children/teens more damaging than exposure to sex and violence is exposure to unrealistic sex and violence devoid of the realities. Violence should hurt. Sex should be non violent and consensual. Its when you present violence or sexual violence without the reality or the aftermath that real problems emerge. You get teens thinking you can baseball bat somebody and they'll just be 'knocked out'. Or that girls really all like it rough.

Watching with children and providing guidance is essential.

In my opinion far worse than either, and destroying our youth, is the incessant programming that happiness is consumption. Empty celebrity is good. Pretty and dumb celebrity is the ultimate for females. Wealth and a pretty female celeb is the ultimate for males. Anything less is deemed failure. Hard work and academia is for geeks and so on.

Fighting these memes is the real challenge for modern parents. My 2 cents.

Pornography is worse in my mind.

I grew up playing violent video games and i still play them regularly. I don't feel that it has effected my attitude or my personality adversely. Growing up i was able to detach my self from the violence. I think it would have been a lot harder to detach from viewing pornography at that same young age.

I cannot believe it is even worthy of debate. Actually, I can believe it because government and the controllers have such an influence on our thinking.
Come on people, think!
Violence. Harm. Hurting, maiming, injuring, scarring, destroying, killing. This is real. This is a tangible wrong.
Pornography. Entertainment. Acting, performing, fantasy creation, mild or potentially major exploitation, potential and sometimes real harm to participants.
The "sin" is that people from the dark ages can ruin your life for viewing images, instead of pursuing real action against exploiters of youth and those that do real HARM. Fantasy is not a crime in and of itself, and should never be. Actions, or VIOLENCE, against another is another thing altogether.
Pornography has a long history, and is as natural as childbirth, but we allow others to dictate our humanity.
Sad.

reply to post by Stewie


As natural as childbirth?

Read Hesiods theogony. The part from ouranos and gaia - their incestuous relationship, and hate for one another, and their children who joined with Gaia in their hate for their father. Gaia fashioned a sickle for cronus to kill his father with. Ouranos was castrated by kronus with this sickle. The blood from uranous' wound dripped into the ocean and from that combination was born the 'furries'. Eventually, this blood and water generated a foam, and from this foam Aphordite was born. If you even knew what is being theologically alluded to here you wouldnt be this naive in your belief that pornography is less harmful.

The culture you find "beautiful" - goddess worship, is the most vicious form of slavery there is. Its a slavery where females are in love with themselves and men seduced and entrhralled with the goddess/females.

Pornography and the promulgation of sexual liberality has a much more corosive impact on a culture, and its collective psyche, than violence can ever have. Infact, if you look at it from a purely causitive angle, many times a man is motivated to fight because of an unconscious desire to impress a woman.

Goddess worship is created by stimulating the passions; towards sex, AND violence (since they do go hand in hand, archetypally) are both bad. But porngraphy has a more subtle,fundamental and less apparent but much more powerful influence on the structure of the personality than watching violence does...

Read this

www.savethemales.ca...

reply to post by dontreally

I do not find pornography beautiful. I believe it is created because there is a desire for it.
Pornography is not the highest accomplishment of man, but neither is it the lowest...random and needless violence occupies that space for it does REAL, as opposed to POTENTIAL harm.
But, I find your post more interesting than most, and I will read your link.

reply to post by Stewie


I agree that violence is worse. But spiritually speaking, pornography reaches deeper into someones being and consciousness. Being exposed to pornography and having a craving for it, makes one even more spiritually unable to cope with feelings of anger, and other egotistical urges. This is why the elite have forever used sexuality, and specifically woman to enchant and controll the masses. The woman falls in love with herself (as well all can see) and men fall for them.

Its sort of like prevention. Prevent over exposure to pornography and you can solve issues of violence (the furries - which obviously is related to the concept of "fury" - rage and anger, along with Aphrodite - sexual desire, both came forth from the blood from ouranous severed member).

I also dont think its healthy at all to have video games like GTA. Ya, i get it can be fun on some very primitive and animalistic level, but its not good. its not good for children and spiritually it is not conducive to a spiritually healthy society.

reply to post by dontreally

I agree with much of what you say.
There are a host of influences in our lives, some we invite in and others we don't, that are hostile to our spirituality. Things we eat and drink for instance. Games we play, shows we watch.
The trouble with an argument like this is "pornography" has not been really defined...it can and does include a lot of imagery that may well be psychologically harmful, I just don't know.
But, like Playboy for instance, some forms have a long history as simply adult entertainment.
So, there is a lot of gray area.
I wonder what Buddha would have said about it?

reply to post by Stewie


Youre right about the gray area. Pornography can be a host of things. Sometimes, pornography can be a sultry dressed woman who dresses that way for the singular purpose of inciting male desire for her; in which case, shes a walking pornographic image.

I think it takes maturity and self responsibility. A woman does not need to dress that way in public,. I completely agree with the more conservative christian/muslim/jewish viewpoint here. Insecure woman feel the need to dress that way. And a woman tends to feel insecure because the media programs her to feel that way. But even deeper, and primally speaking, a woman desires to meet a man who will make her feel like a trillion dollars. A woman simply wants to be important, and loved, and when she meets a man who makes her feel that way she wont feel the need to dress herself up to entice other (possibly married) men. So. You can almost say that its a mans responsibility to make sure his wife feels loved and cherished so she wont have these feelings.

In anycase, i think the issue is an intrinsic problem with western culture and society. This isnt something that is essential to the human condition, but more so a symptom of a sick, unhappy society that seeks cheap and superficial thrills to fill its void.

Im not sure what the buddah would say here. Avraham, would probably prescribe what im writing here, That we all act more conscientiously and seek to live in tune with the spiritual energies in creation. Pornography, is not a cure for unhappiness. Thats a pagan and dionysian idea that works into the favor of demagogues (that is, if you want to be exploited by the powerful, by all means, trust in the supposed stability in this philosophy). The idea that athena and dionysus cures mankinds 'ills' is a lie and forgery that only egyptian and hellenistic tyrants find nice: because they know it makes people spiritually weak and suscepitble to manipulation.

So... Obviously in this "world" nothing can be change about it. it seems to be getting even worse. But in a perfect world, all of us would be thinking, and most of all, conducting ourselves in spiritually mature ways. With an emphasis on Family values - which is a microcosm of the cosmos, and an honoring of ones spouse, which children will see and reciprocate when they get older and meet someone. Its very simple. Theres no need for pornography, or violent video games or any of these meaningless and cheap things. Whats needed is a deeper understanding in the purpose and unity between each other (thus excluding the value of violence. One who sees himself in his neighbor wont want anything negative to happen to him) and a respect for the spiritual sanctity of life (Thus obviating the cheap objectification of woman and sex as an end in itself. Sex is meant to reflect a deep love and complimentarity between polar forces)

Of course violence. What one would you rather be a victim of?

What is worse for the children, Pornography or Violence? Both are bad but violence is worse.

Violence can influence more impressionable, young minds of children, who would tend to believe that fictional characters could do acts of violence in reality. Those prone to violent "thoughts and feelings" via pornography could be potentially criminal, too.