DEAR ABBY: Regarding the letter from Howard Childress, who said the media only reflect the trends of society rather than set them:
You, sans qualification, replied that there was truth in his observation. We have ample evidence that the media do, in fact, affect how people behave. Would Mr. Childress suggest that commercials are merely a reflection of people's buying habits? Aren't they actually deciding our buying habits?
Mr. Childress used stories from the Bible as substantiating evidence. Let's look at the evidence that is better documented and more reliable. Children are murdering children. Short of the original sin, children are innocent until taught to do bad things. They don't instinctively throw baby brothers out of 15-story buildings. They learn to devalue life from watching lives bring snuffed out. Where do they see people taking lives? TV and movies. I wouldn't say from books because most people don't read many books.
I remember studying a case in psychology class where a small village, similar to the one Mr. Childress described, was without TV. Cables were run into the village. Sociologists, realizing the opportunity to study TV's effect, surveyed the villagers. Two years after the installation, they resurveyed, finding that aggression and the propensity for violence had increased disturbingly.
While I agree, the media do reflect social mores, they undoubtedly influence those mores greatly.
We must hold producers and advertisers responsible for this influence; otherwise, we will likely become prisoners in our own homes. -- JEFF PAUL, MINNEAPOLIS