In 1989, the Pontifical Council for Social Communications in the Vatican came out with a pastoral instruction on the evils of pornography and violence. This pastoral letter addresses seven sectors in our society; the professional communicators, parents, educators, youth, the general public, public authorities and the Church and religious groups, who have the moral obligation to be vigilant and take the necessary action regarding this matter when necessary.
The proliferation of pornographic materials has indeed increased in an alarming proportion at this point in time. We are not only talking here of bold movies being shown on theaters but also of television programs both local and foreign that enter our homes indiscriminately. Many of these programs are too vulgar and reek of promiscuity. Let us not forget the pocketbooks whose main target audience is the youth. These romances, mostly with graphic description of sexual encounters, sell like hotcakes to young people. Comics and tabloids also print stories with graphic sex scenes. On a less pornographic side but with sexually suggestive images are the MTV’s and some advertisements shown on television.
The Pastoral Instruction mentions that “even the so called ‘soft core’ pornography can have a desensitizing effect, gradually rendering individuals morally numb and personally insensitive to the rights and dignity of others.” Too much exposure to bad media has a numbing effect on the senses of the viewer. This desensitizing effect can lead the person to absorb everything he/she sees and act accordingly without becoming aware of the moral implications of his/her actions.
Some time ago I read a confession of a young mother whose husband consistently abused their two young daughters sexually. The woman discovered the husband’s addiction to pornographic materials but she did not react until it was too late. Situations such as this make us sit up and realize the gravity of problem our society is facing.
Sexual violence, however, is only one aspect of the problem. The other face of violence that media continuously assail our senses with is physical violence. They are as inundating as pornographic materials. The desensitizing effect of media violence on the viewers is as grave as pornography. I wrote once that seeing children (my nephews are not exempt) enjoy viewing violent programs on television, even clapping with misplaced glee when the good guy torture and kills the bad guy, really sends some chilling signals down my spine. The youth and children often end up as the innocent victims of media violence. Children most especially are often not capable to distinguish between reality and fantasy with regards to what they see on television or other forms of media. The various killings that happened in recent years both here and abroad perpetrated by deranged young people were like copycats of violent movies shown on movie theaters.
People in media who are engaged in this kind of trafficking (whether in print or electronic media) are often motivated by the big bucks they get in return. They seem to forget that they have also a sense of moral responsibility to fulfill. “The legitimate rights to free expression and free exchange of information must be respected, but so must the rights of individuals, families and society itself to privacy, public decency and the protection of basic values.”(Pornography and Violence).
