Should violent videos be banned?

Facebook's decision to remove videos showing people being decapitated leaves the firm in a quandary: should or shouldn't it impose a wider censorship policy?



Since publishing the article, readers have contacted the BBC to complain about other videos, including:


- one that shows killings which do not involve beheadings
- clips involving cruelty to dogs and other animals
- a smartphone recording of a schoolgirl being punched to the ground by another pupil


In all cases they said the network had refused their requests to remove the material. A spokeswoman for Facebook confirmed its policy had only been amended in regard to decapitations. - bbc

Back in the 70s, people criticised The Waltons, Little House on the Prarie, etc, for not reflecting 'real life'. Thereafter came 'real life' shows which basically killed of the Idyllic family in real life or any inclinations towards it.  It became 'corny' or 'embarrassing' to be close to one's family that way, and it contributed to the perceptions of the young. What we have here now is juvenile individualism. Family, the elderly, etc, etc, are all perceived as 'past it' and irrelevant.  People forget that in the quest for ‘real life’ depictions as opposed to ideal ones, the only way to sell the former would be to make it ‘entertaining’.  In that, such ‘reality’ is promoted, rather than depicted.

People forget that in the quest for ‘real life’ depictions as opposed to ideal ones, the only way to sell the former would be to make it ‘entertaining’.  In that, such ‘reality’ is promoted, rather than depicted.

The point here is, when we fight for the availability of everything, we are not simultaneously mindful of what is not available and which people don't miss. It is these that can play a significant part in softening the impact of what is available.

People in the past weren't the worse for not having the gore that is available today.

The future is made from a combination of what is available today, and what you have forgotten about yesterday.  If you are not mindful of the latter, you become an unwitting victim of the former.



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