New Democrat Update - April 2005
DEFINING DECENCY UPWARD
Raising children may be the most important - and difficult - job of families and communities. Indeed, it does “take a village.”
Getting help from the village has never been more critical - or more necessary. Increasingly, parents are fighting a losing battle over the messages their children receive. New and old media are influencing kids’ values and views more and more. The new media are computers, the Internet, instant messaging, cell phones, iPods and video games. Traditional media includes television, radio, print and music.
Unfortunately, the hours on new media are not replacing old media time. Children are just spending more hours watching television, talking on cell phones, surfing web sites, playing video games and listening to music from a variety of sources. Incredibly, they somehow manage to pack 8 ½ hours of media into 6 ½ hours every day, seven days a week, according to a study by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
The content of both traditional and new media can be disturbing, is often outrageous and sometimes directly contradicts the messages kids should be getting. Good parenting conveys self-restraint while the media often says “do whatever it takes.” Good parenting teaches children that virtue and character matter, the media emphasizes that self-indulgence and instant gratification should rule. The list goes on.
The deck is stacked against parents. The media have multi-billion dollar budgets to research what kids like - and the considerable means to constantly promote their products. Meanwhile, families are overworked and the communities surrounding them grow increasingly weaker. It is no wonder the media is winning the war for the hearts and minds of our children.
The destructiveness of such media saturation is showing. A 2001 Iowa State University report concluded that children exposed to graphic violent images results in more aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The National Institute on Media and the Family found in 2003 that adolescents who expose themselves to greater amounts of video game violence were more hostile, reported getting into more arguments with teachers, were more likely to be involved in physical fights, and performed more poorly in school.
Of course, parents are the first line of defense. The Kaiser study indicates that mothers and fathers, who impose rules and enforce them, reduce their children’s daily media exposure by two hours. The government or even communities will never be good substitutes for healthy parenting.
At the same time, society has a real interest in helping out. As Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton indicated at the forum which unveiled the Kaiser study, “It is a little frustrating when we have this data, that demonstrates there is a clear public health connection between exposure to violence and increased aggression, that we have been as a society unable to come up with any adequate public heath response.”
Government should give parents a hand with information and tools that help them control the content of the media their children consume. Public policy should also strongly restrict children’s access to material that is clearly violent or sexually explicit.
For example, the sexism and violence of rap music has increasingly gone out-of-bounds. Some artists are actually engaging in violent acts as publicity stunts to promote record sales. One highly visible case involves a feud between rappers 50 Cent and The Game. A member of The Game's entourage was shot outside of a New York hip-hop radio station while 50 Cent was conducting an interview.
Democrats should join the Rev. Al Sharpton and pressure the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to impose a ban denying airplay for 90 days to artists involved in violent confrontations. Additionally, radio stations encouraging such behavior should be reviewed and possibly fined by the FCC.
Video games, played by 92 percent of kids between the ages of 2 and 17, are also doing some serious damage. While the games are labeled by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, the industry refuses to implement an effective self-regulation system. Not surprisingly, the Federal Trade Commission found that 69 percent of teenagers were able to easily purchase violent and sexually explicit games.
The damaging messages from the game, NARC, are far from the exception. The players are narcotics officers who arrest drug dealers and use the confiscated drugs to improve their progress in the game. Smoking marijuana slows the game down giving the player more reaction time. Taking LSD changes the other characters’ appearance, making it easier to distinguish “enemies” from non-enemies. Using crack increases the amount of damage a player can inflict on enemies and causes the game controller to vibrate, simulating the actual physical effects of taking the drug.
Think of the message this particular game sends to children. It glamorizes drugs, has kids pretending to be drug addicts and dismisses the severity of substance addiction. Other violent games like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas have players shooting police officers and killing prostitutes if they do not want to pay her.
Some elected officials are saying “enough is enough.” Illinois Governor and New Democrat Rod Blagojevich is pushing a ban on the rental and sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to children younger than 18. Violating retailers could face up to one year in prison or a $5,000 fine.
His initiative also requires retailers to label violent and sexually explicit video games, similar to the “Parental Advisory” label found on music CDs, and to post signs explaining the video game rating system. A retailer’s failure to properly label games or place proper signs is punishable by a $1,000 fine for the first three violations and a $5,000 fine for every subsequent violation.
Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson has banned violent video games from city property and has fought to prohibit children under the age of 18 from playing certain coin-operated games based on their age. Businesses violating the law would be subject to a daily $200 fine per violation. Vendors with three violations would be prohibited from offering such games and could possibly lose their amusement location licenses.
Court rulings on such measures have been mixed. Unfortunately, the Indianapolis law was ruled unconstitutional by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. However, a federal district court upheld a St. Louis violent video game law, which is modeled after the Indianapolis measure.
Clearly, this is a fight worth fighting. Parents, families and communities - with the help of government - must win the war over raising our children, determining their values and shaping their characters.
“WHAT WE STAND FOR”
The latest edition of Blueprint magazine, “What We Stand For” argues that the Democratic Party must boldly define itself to Americans, focusing on our core values of opportunity, security, responsibility and community. The Democratic Party has to change - by surprising people and presenting a bold and clear vision for America - to win both base and swing voters, and take back the White House in 2008.
"If Democrats want to make a lasting difference in American life," DLC Leaders Al From and Bruce Reed write, "we have to define ourselves by what we're for, not simply what we're against." The agenda includes keeping America safe, building an Opportunity Society, standing up for responsibility and reforming politics.