How deeply does television sway opinion?

[mikeymikec]

what is worse is that now all of a sudden everyone and their mom gives a shit about gay rights. where were all these people 2 weeks ago? nobody cared or had rainbow profile pics on facebook because it wasn't the cool thing to do. now this week it's cool to care about gay rights so everyone now pretends to care.

Perhaps it's a desire to be perceived to be "on the winning team" and to pretend they care about something (perhaps after the fact so they're less likely to get in a discussion about it)?

Being less cynical for a moment, perhaps a lot more people care about gay rights than was previously apparent, they just don't care enough to actually express it until it comes to a point where they no longer have to put any effort into it.

 

[sandorski]

Even though TV Shows are known to be Fiction, the Viewer becomes familiar with the Characters and their various attributes. If Characters are likable to the Viewer, aspects that the Viewer may have been bigoted against before may become more tolerated, even accepted.

The opposite can also be achieved. You can turn the Viewer against certain people as well, just by turning the intended attributed Character into an unlikable person.

This isn't really a TV thing though, it's a Message thing that has been used for thousands of years. TV/Movies are just more sophisticated methods of spreading a Message. They leave far less to the Viewers imagination, providing a more complete experience of the Message.

All that or I have stayed up too long.....

 

[Jeff7]

How much? A lot.

Our ancient primate brains didn't evolve to handle being shown something happening, but then also having to include metadata that says "Even though you saw and heard this happening, it isn't real." That extra little snippet of information can get lost.
So, you've got people who think prime time TV CSI is real and are taking that information with them to jury duty, or that a little CPR and a defibrillator are all you need to save someone's life, or that a doctor or scientist can cure a major illness in only a few hours, or that engineers can regularly violate any inconvenient laws of physics.

you must hate yourself a shitlot.


But it's true that TV is very influential. This has been true now for 7 decades. Before that, radio was highly influential. Before that, the newspaper.

shit, the newspaper and radio are still rather influential. ...I guess people aren't "suddenly lazy entitled assholes" because of TV.
...

Didn't the radio broadcast of War of the Worlds terrify a lot of people because they thought it was really happening?

 

[Slew Foot]

you must hate yourself a shitlot.


But it's true that TV is very influential. This has been true now for 7 decades. Before that, radio was highly influential. Before that, the newspaper.

shit, the newspaper and radio are still rather influential. ...I guess people aren't "suddenly lazy entitled assholes" because of TV.

I think this ^ dude is just being angry about shit he hates suddenly falling into line with civil rights, as it should have happened years ago. Guess he's going after the firehose next, to clean the streets of all that freedom that just swept over his haterade his last week.

Damn, this must be what it was like when FDR bitchslapped this country into freedom and efficiency over a very short time. Imagine the anger from the stone-age folks of that time...

WTF you talking about? I dont care what other people do if it doesnt affect me. The countrys main problem is that its full of lazy assholes who want free shit from the government that comes out of my paycheck.

 

[KeithTalent]

Sooo deeply it hurts.

KT

 

[Anubis]

I definitely agree with the effect that mass media can have through the content they choose to show.

Out of curiosity I googled 'us households with dvr' and found this article - 76% OF US HOUSEHOLDS HAVE A DVR, NETFLIX, OR USE ON-DEMAND

I don't know how legit that survey is but it seems to jibe with the growing trend of cord cutting. Plus there was this quote.

I can actually believe that that % has a DVR as they are included with cable packages now

HOWEVER id wager they they also never use it, or only use it for specific things and watch live TV 90% of the time

I have a DVR - ive never used it. TBH im not even sure how. Time warner just gave it to us at the same price

 

[Thump553]

There was never any bias against single people and "That Girl" (who was basically dependent upon either her daddy or her boyfriend Ted) didn't change any public perceptions. MTM did help dispel the myth that a female being single was only a temporary status until the desired goals of marriage and motherhood are reached.

I also disagree that media had a big role in changing perceptions of gay people. After all the largest so-called news organization (Fox News) has railed against the evil gayness for years, and only moderately toned down their rants when it was clear the battle was lost.

What help gay rights was a brilliant and fundamental change in tactics. Rather than focus on the confrontational and mass demonstrations, many gay organizations focused on changing individual opinions one by one by showing them that gay people are ordinary people already known to them. Gay marriage initially got shot down in my state. Then the gay groups would enlist gay friends/relatives of legislators to sit with them over dinner and similar situations and discuss why gay marriage was essential. It worked. It's easy to hate flaming queers in Fire Island. It's a totally different thing to demonize your nephew and his long term roommate.

Personally I don't think mass media had a whole lot to do do with the change in public opinion.

 

[bradly1101]

The opposite can also be achieved. You can turn the Viewer against certain people as well, just by turning the intended attributed Character into an unlikable person.

Yes I think Archie Bunker helped some to realize the folly of their bigotry.

 

[bradly1101]

How much? A lot.

Our ancient primate brains didn't evolve to handle being shown something happening, but then also having to include metadata that says "Even though you saw and heard this happening, it isn't real." That extra little snippet of information can get lost.
So, you've got people who think prime time TV CSI is real and are taking that information with them to jury duty, or that a little CPR and a defibrillator are all you need to save someone's life, or that a doctor or scientist can cure a major illness in only a few hours, or that engineers can regularly violate any inconvenient laws of physics.

Yes and that a relationship can bloom and die in a half hour. Perhaps this makes worse the need for instant gratification and the inability to be patient.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I dont think television defines the times, I think television reflects the times.

 

[bradly1101]

There was never any bias against single people and "That Girl" (who was basically dependent upon either her daddy or her boyfriend Ted) didn't change any public perceptions. MTM did help dispel the myth that a female being single was only a temporary status until the desired goals of marriage and motherhood are reached.

I also disagree that media had a big role in changing perceptions of gay people. After all the largest so-called news organization (Fox News) has railed against the evil gayness for years, and only moderately toned down their rants when it was clear the battle was lost.

What help gay rights was a brilliant and fundamental change in tactics. Rather than focus on the confrontational and mass demonstrations, many gay organizations focused on changing individual opinions one by one by showing them that gay people are ordinary people already known to them. Gay marriage initially got shot down in my state. Then the gay groups would enlist gay friends/relatives of legislators to sit with them over dinner and similar situations and discuss why gay marriage was essential. It worked. It's easy to hate flaming queers in Fire Island. It's a totally different thing to demonize your nephew and his long term roommate.

Personally I don't think mass media had a whole lot to do do with the change in public opinion.

Many folks don't know any gays and haven't met one, yet their position seems to have softened.

 

[bradly1101]

I dont think television defines the times, I think television reflects the times.

Does it do anything for those who are 'behind the times?'

 

[TheSlamma]

People actually think Spartans are some kind of big muscle bound beefcakes and not 130lb guys who had sexual relations with 12 year old boys for companionship at the Agoge.. yeah it's pretty powerful to overlook that.

 

[Thump553]

Many folks don't know any gays and haven't met one, yet their position seems to have softened.

Twenty years ago your statement could have been true, in a way-most folks didn't know that they knew any gays. They may have suspected someone was gay, but they didn't know. That is most certainly not true today.

Gay people are a lot more open today also-especially sense it is no longer officially either a crime nor a mental illness to be gay. Go back twenty years and it was both in much of the country.

 

[ultimatebob]

I'd give more credit to talk shows like Ellen and reality shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy for bringing mainstream acceptance to gay causes.

 

[Sonikku]

Television overwhelmingly drives people's opinions. Take the Columbine shootings for instance. When they happened, the media blew it up. Americans everywhere were thinking school shootings were completely out of control all over the country. And epidemic. New laws had to be made. The whole country was falling apart! My own school had a security guard do quick random checks of our book bags where we would unzip the main part and he would halfheartedly peek in for a gun for a couple weeks until the story blew over. In reality school violence was down overall. The thing is, you can report something that's technically true while still giving someone a distorted view or reality. If you give disproportionate view to some things while not reporting or leaving out context on other subjects it's pretty easy to draw a warped sense of reality.

Look at the America we have today. Congress voted to allow banks to make risky gambles with tax payer money all over again after all the blood, sweat and tears suffered from the last crises. The sole lesson learned was rolled back. But what average bloke on the street heard about that? Then Congress voted to increase campaign donation limits 10 fold. The grip the elite hold on Washington is about to increase ten times in the next election. Kind of a big deal? Well most Americans haven't heard of that either. Most have heard about under inflated footballs though. I guess under inflated footballs are a more serious problem gripping the country.

 

[Jeff7]

Television overwhelmingly drives people's opinions. Take the Columbine shootings for instance. When they happened, the media blew it up. Americans everywhere were thinking school shootings were completely out of control all over the country. And epidemic. New laws had to be made. The whole country was falling apart! My own school had a security guard do quick random checks of our book bags where we would unzip the main part and he would halfheartedly peek in for a gun for a couple weeks until the story blew over. In reality school violence was down overall. The thing is, you can report something that's technically true while still giving someone a distorted view or reality. If you give disproportionate view to some things while not reporting or leaving out context on other subjects it's pretty easy to draw a warped sense of reality.

...

And just that whole attitude of "Society's going downhill! In my day, things were wonderful! Everyone was nice to everyone, there was no crime, we respected our parents, etc etc etc."

Humans have been running with the same basic hardware and firmware for many tens of thousands of years.
Remember how people in the good ol' USA used to kidnap people and make them work without pay until they died of abuse or exhaustion? And then how a lot of people got very upset when they were told that that sort of thing might not be all that ethical? And that they were in fact so upset by this that they were willing to kill to retain the ability to do that?
Or the fact that people will willingly sell a toxic product to someone else if it means that they themselves can make a little bit of money in the process.
Or how nobility in the past treated commoners as a small step up from livestock? (Or worse, in some cases. An ox can plow a field. A person isn't quite as strong, and likes to complain a lot more.)

People have been horrible to each other for a very long time. This is a very tame and peaceful time by comparison. Information simply moves faster these days, so we are more easily able to see just how much we really suck as a species.

 

[88keys]

And you "know" this because TV told it to you. 95% of almost any group really don't give a hoot, not enough to march around and make real trouble unless confronted.

I know this because I was around in the 80's and early 90's.