programming - Forum/Discussions - TheBlackList Pub2024-03-29T12:42:40Zhttps://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/feed/tag/programmingWe Are Being Desensitizedhttps://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/we-are-being-desensitized2023-04-27T18:16:10.000Z2023-04-27T18:16:10.000ZJunious Ricardo Stantonhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/JuniousRicardoStanton<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong>We Are Being Desensitized</strong></p><p style="text-align:center;">Junious Ricardo Stanton</p><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}11037061677,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}11037061677,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="11037061677?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p><p> </p><p><span style="color:#212121;">“<span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">Long-term socialization effects of the mass media are also quite likely increased by the way the mass media and video games affect emotions. Repeated exposures to emotionally activating media or video games can lead to habituation of certain natural emotional reactions. This process is called ‘desensitization.’ Negative emotions experienced automatically by viewers in response to a particular violent or gory scene decline in intensity after many exposures. For example, increased heart rates, perspiration, and self-reports of discomfort often accompany exposure to blood and gore. However, with repeated exposures, this negative emotional response habituates, and the child becomes ‘desensitized.’ The child can then think about and plan proactive aggressive acts without experiencing negative affect.” The Impact of Electronic Media Violence: Scientific Theory and Research by L. Rowell Huesmann </span></span><span style="color:#000080;"><u><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2704015/"><span style="color:#212121;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2704015/</span></span></a></u></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color:#212121;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> As we look at what is happening in our country we are forced to admit we live in a violent society, a culture where we are inundated with daily reports and images of hurt, harm and murder, individual attacks, mass shootings and assaults. It’s as if we are going mad but when we stop to analyse what’s going on we see the culture we live in condones and encourages antisocial behavior. The ongoing escalation in violence in the US, in my opinion, coincides with the increase of violence promoted and shown in the mass media which is now ubiquitous and omnipresent. </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#212121;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> The availability of violent programming in film, television, streaming services and video games are having a devastating impact on our psyches and behavior, especially in young children. “Children in the United States spend an average of between three and four hours per day viewing television and the best studies have shown that over 60% of programs contain some violence, and about 40% of those contain heavy violence. Children are also spending an increasingly large amount of time playing video games, most of which contain violence. Video game units are now present in 83% of homes with children. In 2004, children spent 49 minutes per day playing video, and on any given day, 52% of children ages 8–18 years play a video game games. Video game use peaks during middle childhood with an average of 65 minutes per day for 8–10 year-olds, and declines to 33 minutes per day for 15–18 year-olds. And most of these games are violent; 94% of games rated (by the video game industry) as appropriate for teens are described as containing violence, and ratings by independent researchers suggest that the real percentage may be even higher. No published study has quantified the violence in games rated ‘M’ for mature—presumably, these are even more likely to be violent.” The Impact of Electronic Media Violence: Scientific Theory and Research by L. Rowell Huesmann </span></span><span style="color:#000080;"><u><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2704015/"><span style="color:#212121;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2704015/</span></span></a></u></span></p><p><span style="color:#212121;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> You say, so what? Just watching violence on television or playing violent video games doesn’t make a person violent or induce them to act inappropriately. Well, that is the question. Do watching violent programming and playing violent video games impact our psyche and undermine human impulse control? There are studies that show this is indeed the case. “More recent studies have confirmed that high exposure to television violence for children and adolescents is also associated with higher levels of aggression and violent behavior. Exposure to violence shown through media is consistently associated with problem behaviors, such as increases in aggression and anxiety. Children could also end up with </span></span><span style="color:#000080;"><u><a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/0002764215596554"><span style="color:#212121;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">lower empathy and compassion</span></span></a></u></span><span style="color:#212121;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"> for others.</span></span></p><p>Some children exposed to various forms of media violence – not just television violence but violence on the internet, in movies and in video games – can come to view the world as a <span style="color:#000080;"><u><a href="http://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.26.021304.144640">mean, scary place</a></u></span> where they are not safe and they can do little to protect themselves from harm. This is a particular problem for very young children, such as those under the age of six, who have difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy.” Here’s how witnessing violence harms children’s mental health <span style="color:#000080;"><u><a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-witnessing-violence-harms-childrens-mental-health-91971">https://theconversation.com/heres-how-witnessing-violence-harms-childrens-mental-health-91971</a></u></span></p><p>What we are experiencing is more and more children are showing less empathy and compassion for others. While media is not the sole cause, media consumption is a major factor. Our children watch around five hours of television per day and this doesn’t include other media. “Most television programming contains violence. <span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">Children who witness considerable media violence can become desensitized — or less shocked by violence, less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, and less likely to show empathy for victims of violence. Violent media — and specifically violent video games — desensitize children. Many popular games are even similar to modern military training techniques that desensitize soldiers to killing. For example, only about 20 percent of soldiers in World War II actually were able to shoot the enemy. However, during the Vietnam War, 90 percent of soldiers could shoot and kill without hesitation. The change was attributed to new training procedures that included having soldiers practice shooting human-shaped figures rather than bulls-eyes (Grossman and Siddle, 1999). Lifelike video game violence desensitizes children in the same way, and leads to automaticity — or the learning of a behavior to the point that it becomes reflexive.” How violence in media effects children’s behavior by Terry Levy </span></span><span style="color:#000080;"><u><a href="https://evergreenpsychotherapycenter.com/violence-media-affects-childrens-behavior/"><span style="color:#666666;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;">https://evergreenpsychotherapycenter.com/violence-media-affects-childrens-behavior/</span></span></a></u></span></p><p>Many parents lack empathy or they are chronically stressed out, frustrated and angry; and their children emulate them thus passing their dysfunction onto another generation. What can we do to address this pressing problem? In future articles we’ll look at practical ways we can heal ourselves and our community.</p><p style="text-align:center;">-30-</p><p> </p></div>Wrestling Against Evil Part 1https://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/wrestling-against-evil-part-12023-01-24T17:08:42.000Z2023-01-24T17:08:42.000ZJunious Ricardo Stantonhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/JuniousRicardoStanton<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Wrestling Against Evil Part 1</strong></p><p style="text-align:center;">Junious Ricardo Stanton</p><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10948501052,RESIZE_180x180{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10948501052,RESIZE_180x180{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="10948501052?profile=RESIZE_180x180" /></a></p><p> <strong><sup> “</sup></strong>For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.<strong><sup> </sup></strong>Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Ephesians 6:12-13</p><p> Humans have long pondered the origin and nature of evil and wrong-doing, trying to fathom the origin of in the world. Various ethnic groups, tribes and cultures have attempted to give reason for the existence of malevolent behavior and actions, they have tried to practically deal with the negative ramifications of evil in society. By evil I am not referring to calamities or misfortunes that befall mankind but rather the behaviors and actions committed by humans against the well being, stability and safety of the community and the environment.</p><p> Our ancient African ancestors viewed the world from a spiritual perspective postulating that consciousness; energies/spirits permeated the universe and are interwoven throughout all creation. Evil then had its roots in spirit. Evil itself is not of God or THE CREATOR but exists in the world the result of a mix of spiritual (invisible) and human (visible) causes. “The Yoruba trace the perpetration of evil in a society to two sources: namely, visible and invisible causes. The visible ones are the consequence of human action or inaction. These include murder, violence, oppression, victimization, stealing, and refusal to help those in need. Invisible sources have a spiritual origin…Yoruba religion exonerates God from the blame of evil and misfortune that befall human beings. The problem of evil is attributed to the concept of ori (head) and akunleyan (fate). It is held that whatever one asked for in front of eleda (creator) before one was born becomes one’s ayanmo (lot or destiny) in life. Therefore, whatever happens to one depends on one’s choice of ori when one was making one’s choice (akunleyan)” Encyclopedia of African Religion Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama</p><p>Page 249-50</p><p> Today in our society we are experiencing evil on every level. Immorality, wickedness and corruption have metastasized throughout our world from the local to the national and international levels. In the Black community we see, a rampage of evil: murders, shootings, hit and run, home invasions, robbery theft and a general pall of immorality, incivility and lawlessness. It is as if a large percentage of our people have lost their minds, and we have.</p><p> This process was not organic; we did not all of a sudden become irrational, immoral or suffer brain damage. Much of this has been induced; it is what the late great psychologist Dr. Bobby Wright called <strong>menticide</strong>. Menticide is the deliberate attempt to destroy a people’s mind. <strong>The Dictionary of Psychology</strong> says this about menticide: “literally mind murder, brainwashing, the systematic attempt to break down one’s beliefs, attitudes and allegiances in favor of the ultimate adoption of those of another.”</p><p> This is what is happening to us today, it is evil and it is deliberate! The human perpetrators of this wickedness know what they are doing; they know and anticipate the consequences of their malevolent actions. We have long known the adverse effects of television on the human brain, “While much research has been done on television’s effects on children, adults have often been left out of these data collections. It’s no surprise that the sedentary behavior of binge-watching TV can negatively impact our physical health, but recent studies show it’s also a bad habit for long-term brain health and function. Studies have also found a link between high television consumption and the onset of depression.” Is Binge Watching TV Bad for Your Brain? <a href="https://www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org/en/HealthU/2022/08/10/Is-Binge-Watching-TV-Bad-for-Your-Brain">https://www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org/en/HealthU/2022/08/10/Is-Binge-Watching-TV-Bad-for-Your-Brain</a></p><p> As bad a TV watching is, binging on Social Media and Internet content is even worse. Social media impacts our brains in ways we are totally unaware of but the engineers, designers and programmers know what is happening. “Many people have been aware of the negative effects on mental health caused by social media, but people often neglect to look further into how social media is programmed. Platforms have designed their apps to target a part of the brain many people are unaware of. This part of the brain is known as the ventral striatum. When humans experience a social reward, a rush of dopamine and oxytocin is experienced, or in medical terms, a positive intermittent reinforcement. <u>Receiving the positive feeling of dopamine creates an unconscious habit</u>. <u>By using psychological methods to create an addiction to social media platforms, companies are able to increase interactiveness on apps which benefits them economically.</u> <u>Significant interaction with social media platforms caused a 151% increase in suicide among middle-school-age girls.</u> More effects from social media usage include alienation, election hacking, inability to focus on current issues, and mass chaos due to fake news. Therefore, social media negatively affects people.” How Social Media Companies Consciously Affect Society, Allie Daudelin <a href="https://bfamercury.org/6152/opinion/distracted-by-distraction-by-distraction-t-s-elliot-how-social-media-companies-consciously-">https://bfamercury.org/6152/opinion/distracted-by-distraction-by-distraction-t-s-elliot-how-social-media-companies-consciously-</a> Underlined emphasis is mine.</p><p> This is deliberate on the part of the creators of social media; they know what they are doing. This is unvarnished evil! We will explore this deeper in future articles. Needless to say we need to monitor our media, legacy and digital, consumption and balance it with positive real world engagement and interaction.</p><p> </p><p style="text-align:center;"> -30-</p><p> </p></div>