Telly influences and dangers

 (I have posted this poem of mine on several different international poetry sites everytime there is a school shooting in the U.S as I care about all children deeply and feel for innocent lives lost.

What kids are watching on telly
are crimes and crimes in all variety!
Crimes of hate
crimes of passion
acting it out at shocking rate
thinking in some wild fashion
then ending up cell mates
TV can kill their compassion
Their coffins enter cemetery gates

When kids watch their movie heroes
shoot down people with the gun
they are incited to do the same
to achieve some thrill and fun.

When they see their very film star
slash someone's throat in a fit of anger
they think well of crimes of rage
and plunge everybody else into danger.

The tendency to portray the violent scene
luridly and shockingly on the Big Screen
Ah, even for the small screen, tis the gory
that makes for the dark and thrilling story.

Now that technology's long opened
this wily pandora's box,
the dispersal of amplified social ills
just ain't no hoax

The rowdy hoodlums and reckless gangsters
are simply by-products of Tv influences
The world watches the thriving of the bully-boy pranksters
passively in helpless terror of their offences.

It's all portrayal of the vulgar, the obscene
by that devious Silver Screen
And the horror movie
though it may seem groovy
begets the horrendous
and drills evil thoughts subliminally
into the subconscious!

Viewing those gruesome swashbuckling films
gives rise to morbid sadistic whims
Flipping through the TV channels just ponder
if the telly's the perfect channel
of information is it a proper panel?

Dad always tells me, 'fear ye the roaches' flicking antennae?
While you oughtta fear the influence
of 'em' flickering images by dish antennae'.

It's an unrestrained dark faking
of real life reality exaggerating
Whether it's Bollywood in the East
or it's Hollywood in the West
they don't merely impart tactics of defence
but rather those of aggressive offence

Just verbal tougher gun laws couldn't halt
even underage shooting sprees
Rather it's stringent scanning of Tv content
and banning citizens from acquiring guns
that might make it forever cease

Parental supervision too tis gravely essential
should've been of parental code quintessential
So the next time you catch your youth or teen
absorbed and engrossed while glued to the screen
Just sleuth a bit just to make sure
that for the x-rated he's not too keen!

Only a mere single merit that I dug
as I drank cappucino in my mug
that atleast one couldn't live in a bubble
daily watching this bubblebug.

Author's Note

https://youtu.be/40KtlqpCN0I

https://youtu.be/MttSW45ren8

Plz click on side top image to view closeups and the links for the videos

Reviews

[Robert Trakofler]

Unfortunately, even the politicians are getting into the act of posing with assault weapons for election ads it makes me so angry that we have come to this state:(

[S.zaynab.kamoonpury]

Gahh that's scary to hear, that empowers and glorifies assault and weapons more.
Thanks for the comment,

[Amber Stone]

dear colleague kamoonpury, this poem just moved me, ...what a delicate and sincere-harsh style at same time, what a lovely sense of rhythm7flow and rhymes you've picked here ....what an inmense truth about risks and challenges we go through regarding our kids....and what a lovely, humbly noble way to put it all by written. thank U for sharing these miracles with us. i just bow before you, dear friend. sincerely, Amber.

[S.zaynab.kamoonpury]

Aww my warmest thanks for such a heartfelt thoughtful comment. Lets all take care of kids, and you take care too.

[Melinda McQueen]

I think it is a "Heart" problem. Kids need more attention and to learn how to deal with their emotions from an early age.

[S.zaynab.kamoonpury]

Yeah that too, yet many African children in Africa aren't given attention yet don't commit school shootings, because there is far less access to Violent movies and guns.
Warm thanks for nice comment,

[Carola]

yes i do agree with many of your sentiments zaynab.

-- personally feel that the USA has never outgrown its gun-toting 'wild west' mentality of 2-300 years ago, & improved its laws to take care of & protect its civilians from unstable, mentally people or abusive killers.
-- all their police seem to be very POORLY TRAINED & shoot unarmed people,or SLOW TO REACT to killers roaming around at large in streets, shopping centres & schools.
-- most US citizens are BESOTTED with their bill of rights & the 2nd amendment, the right for anyone to bear arms. .......WHY would a normal citizen NEED an automatic military-style weapon that's designed o kill people in wartime, for EVERYDAY LIFE ???? 🧐 ....self-protection in the US, in my opinion, is not a good reason to own an AUTOMATIC weapon.
if you're a farmer you might need to own an ordinary rifle to shoot one of your animals that got problems.

I'm convinced that gun lovers in USA go to bed & sleep with their guns & love them more than they love family!!

-- in 1996 in australia we had a young unstable guy shoot about 30+ people & the government immediately implemented a gun-buy-back rule where people surrendered any guns/rifles/antique guns they owned & the government bought them back & destroyed them. it was well over half a million weapons they bought back.
here, there is NO LEGAL RIGHT to own a firearm. & you need a genuine reason to own one, & anything automatic is prohibited.
farmers are allowed to own a registered rifle & you need a photo license as well which has to be renewed after a specific period (I think this varies from set to state.) there are gun clubs here for people to join, but I think (but not sure) they are somehow connected to the police.
so australia is pretty strict with it's firearm laws, great 👍

-->> I like both your poems for different reasons.
cheerio carola

ps. i didn't quite understand what you meant with the line in the 9th para. "Dad always tells me, 'fear ye the roaches' flicking antennae? "

[S.zaynab.kamoonpury]

Yeah that's why I also mentioned banning of guns for ordinary citizens, you are so right to question why would ordinary citizens need auto military guns , every other country has no such legal right to own guns and that's why they don't have school shootings.
And the wild west gun toting mentality indeed is influenced by their violent movies.
By the line you quoted i meant that dad tells me not to fear cockroches which also have antennae but rather to fear negative influences from TV which has an antenna too.
Warm thanks for comment.

[Archishman Rick]

Appreciate the effort put into constructing this, a solid and clear cut message you provide here. That said I do not necessarily agree on the influence of gore and horror in tele display being the main proponent in driving youngsters into violence and crime, although too much fascination with visual cruelty through a screen would definitely negatively impact the mind, quite like any bad addiction would do.
But I believe, that kids, especially boys, turn into delinquents and criminals primarily due to other foundational faults- environment, upbringing, lack of strong parental figures, unresolved childhood trauma to mention a few. You do mention in the second last stanza how supervision is necessary, which I fully agree with. When basic foundational factors are checked, it is highly unlikely for violence in fiction and movies to lead a youngster down a path of self and external destruction.

[S.zaynab.kamoonpury]

Yeah though lack of disciplinarian strong parental figures could be among the causes yet the role of violent movies in influencing them can't be undermined as research does back up what I say. For i have studied africans too who have childhood trauma and lack of strong supportive parents yet because they don't watch violent movies and have little access to guns so they don't have school shootings you see.
Thanks soo much for adding to the poem, it would be good to find and eliminate all the causes for this largely American problem.

[Archishman Rick]

You're very welcome. Yes I understand and agree that gun access shouldn't be open so spontaneously to anybody, like it is in the USA, especially to those who aren't offcially involved in peace keeping. The recent shooting tragedies speak for themselves.. :(

[Einstein Noodle]

you have hit on some important themes and elements of violence, the "screen", the role of parents ... it is complex to be sure .. personally i would not place such weight of blame on TV/Hollywood/gaming,etc. .. i think it is more subtle and insidious ... stories today seem to have no clear "hero" ... just worse villains .. and we are left to cheer for the lesser yet still horrible character or characters ... illegal drugs have a huge roll playing in the destruction of character in people ... our hearts are sick and we feed the sickness instead of taking the cure ... important theme ... strong social statement .. an hugely important topic ... thanks for providing the forum .. right here at the Cafe' ;)
E.

[S.zaynab.kamoonpury]

Yes true, movies have no clear hero and worse villains. Drugs can contribute too but drug abuse is common all over the world yet school shootings are largely mostly an American problem, and they have movie and song influences to violence plus no gun control, a recipe for disaster really. Thanks so much for comment!

[Einstein Noodle]

it's an ongoing debate here in the US ... we have plenty of laws that restrict gun ownership ... more importantly .. it is against the law to murder .. my opinion is and will remain .. soft targets especially schools need to be made hard .. our recent horrible slayings of school children had video cameras taping the murderer entering with his long gun clearly in his hands and he went through a door that was "blocked open" by a teacher ... so much is wrong with just that ... families need to be able to have more involvement with loved ones suffering .. adults, even those with mental illness have rights that usurp everything but being a threat to ones self and others .. this particular guy posted what he was do to more than once .. i don't think anyone reported it ....his friends and family included .. he could have been placed on a 3 day hold and been seen by Docs ... making guns illegal across the board will never happen in America ... but we can harden soft targets easily .. in my opinion. ;)

[alanwgraham]

Well done for choosing a very topical and serious subject matter. For us in Britain the solution of Americas problem with shootings seems simple. Here we have few guns and shootings are rare. You have covered the topic at length and parental control and media influence are both factors but it keeps coming back to availability of weapons.
Now the hard bit - difficult but the sweet tooth poem is tastier!
Cheers,
Alan

[S.zaynab.kamoonpury]

Um yeah it does come down to availability of guns ultimately but it seems that Americans have more thrill for dark, horror, macabre and halloowweenish stuff in the movies which influences killing instincts. So the Brits have more gun control and less gun availability??
Thanks soo much for your thoughts on this.

[red93]

You are entirely correct in yr message SZK and personally I watch about 5 hours a week of TV apart from the Sports. A relevant and interesting read definitely.

[S.zaynab.kamoonpury]

You mean violent movies? If you're a lady then its ok i guess. Thanks for comment,

[Fabian G. Franklin]

I think the influence of television and video on young impressionable minds is highly understated. Garbage in, garbage out. Good write.

[S.zaynab.kamoonpury]

Wow thanks for that very eloquent apt comment. My heart bleeds for the kids and bereaved. Cheers!