Cogito, ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. (René Descartes, mathematician and philosopher,1599-1650)

Saturday 27 February 2010

Lockington's Everyday Fiji ... Life Goes On

Allen Lockington is a self-employed customs agent and business consultant who has regular articles published in www.connectme.com.fj/news/opinion. I thank Allen and Connect for permission to reprint some of them in this political blog. They remind us that life goes on, whatever the political situation. And it's good to know that.

Promoting Violence Unintentionally

A very good friend asked if I had ever watched the TV show Power Rangers that is shown every afternoon during children’s prime time sessions.

I said yes, and he asked if I saw any story line and if our children could learn anything from it.  It got me thinking. The movie is about a bunch of kids who turn into robots and take revenge on the enemy.

I said slyly, “Oh, but they are out to save the world from bad guys, kick their butts and kill them.” He said, “Don’t you find it violent and soon after watching Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Winnie the Pooh they get a good lesson on revenge and violence. Then in the evening adults get a dose of sex and violence in adult movies?” “Well I suppose so.” I said.

Then he added, “We take for granted violence in movies, we constantly read and hear about it.” Don’t you think if we see it so much we will become immune or indifferent to it, or it will soon catch on? It's like the advertisements on TV. They are so repetitive that kids soon learn the words and sing along. Some adults have also been caught up; you can hear them humming a jingle or two. ”

I reassured him that our TV station was not promoting violence and they mean good and it’s cheap because it’s made in New Zealand.

But wouldn't it be nice for our children to watch reruns of the Classics. Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe and many more. Surely they will be cheap by now. At least will be educational and they have fantastic story lines.

A more difficult option would be to not allow children to watch TV at all.

9 comments:

Qanibulu said...

@ Allen ..

Life is a balance. In today's world with all our technology it would be unrealistic to shield our children from all the negativity and violence around us. As parents it is our duty to provide that positive and moral influence to give their lives some balance.

You yourself experienced the kung fu craze of the 70s with heroes like Chen Xing and Wang Yu splattering blood teeth and intestines on the big screen. Violence has always been part of our society. Nothings changed.

There is a beautiful narrative that goes,

"A hundred years from now it will not matter what car I drove, the house I lived in or what my bank account was. But the world will be a different place because I was important in the life of a child."

We can influence future generations by providing the best upbringing for our kids. It is the challenge of being good parents.

Allen said...

Very true Qanibula... I agree with you.

There are times when I feel that it’s the naivety of our people that causes our problems. Things that are deemed bad, after a time of us constantly doing or watching it, will no longer be seen as bad. It becomes a way of life for some.
That article is from a friend, he never allows his children to watch Power Rangers.

As for me, I watched my first movie when I was in form 3 in Marist Brothers High School. It was the Peking Man. It was a class fund raising project and I paid my 10 cents lunch money to watch it in the Lab.

I never told my parents about it because I was not allowed to go to the movies. I entered my first movie theater when I got to form 4 with my dad. It was a children’s movie. They were very strict with me.

Times have changed and so has the way people see things and how parents chose to bring up their children.

And of course it’s a free world.
One of the things that I've noticed living in Waiyavi is parents getting the child to light their cigarette. They give the child the roll to put it against the firewood. Sooner or later that child may become a smoker.

But of course shielding our children for the ills of the world can work both ways. It’s how we deal with the issue that matters.

Qanibulu said...

@ Allen ..

You said it - "it is how we deal with the issues that matters".

Communication and involvement becomes all important, right from an early age.

The problem with parenting in a lot of countries is that many believe that the real learning process for a child begins when he/she starts school. The expectation therefore is that the school will provide the necessary tools to best equip the child for life in the real world. This is the great fallacy.

The learning and the communication process is the responsibility of the parents and this begins from the cradle. By the time the kid goes to school his/her character will already have been formed.

I have two great boys who are now in their mid twenties. I was one of those "new age" parents who like your father was actively involved in every aspect of their upbringing. Communication was always open and encouraged. I knew of the pitfalls like gangs, drugs and alcohol among their friends which I could not control but I did my best with what I could control - good advice, listening and talking.

Looking back, raising my two boys was an absolute joy. They never got into trouble because I guess they believed I cared about their well being always, thereby earning their respect.

Family before country said...

Qanibulu, reading all this makes me think you might be human after all. You seem to be very well adjusted when it comes to fatherhood and the demands of family life. Vinaka, truly, for your pearls of wisdom on these issues of vital importance to us all. Unfortunately, your wisdom doesn't extend to the major issues of state facing our country, I'd suggest you stick to your agony aunt musings on family life and leave politics and national affairs to the experts. I know you make a big effort in these areas but regrettably, your judgement and analysis falls far short of the role you seem to have in mind for yourself - that of some kind of tui rara for the whole country. My advice is to keep beating your lali but only when you receive instructions from those in the vale levu who have more wisdom and foresight than you've been able to muster thus far in these columns. But a blessed family Sunday to you and yours. They're lucky to have you as a father but the rest of us would benefit considerably were you to spend more time with them and less time lecturing us from your usual position of weakness.

Anonymous said...

@ family before country..

Your personal attack on me added nothing to the topic - it only highlighted what a small minded person you are. But I will indulge your nonsense.

What happens in the family translates into the community, into the country. The values that we hold in the real world have everything to do with what happened in our formative years.

No I will not allow selfish people like you who systematically try to destroy the integrity of those who have risked everything to make Fiji a better place.

I will not engage in a slanging match with you on this blessed Sunday. Instead I will leave you with something to think about. It is an article written by the spiritualist, author and psychiatrist the late M.Scott Peck MD who wrote the bestseller, The Road Less Travelled.

"There really are people and institutions made up of people, who respond with hatred in the presence of goodness and would destroy the good insofar as it is in their power to do so. They do this not with conscious malice but blindly, lacking awareness of their own evil -- indeed, seeking to avoid any such awareness. As has been described of the devil in religious literature, they hate the light and instinctively will do anything to avoid it, including attempting to extinguish it. They will destroy the light in their own children and in all other beings subject to their power.

Evil people hate the light because it reveals themselves to themselves. They hate goodness because it reveals their badness; they hate love because it reveals their laziness. They will destroy the light, the goodness, the love in order to avoid the pain of such self-awareness. My second conclusion, then, is that evil is laziness carried to its ultimate, extraordinary extreme. As I have defined it, love is the antithesis of laziness. Ordinary laziness is a passive failure to love. Some ordinarily lazy people may not lift a finger to extend themselves unless they are compelled to do so. Their being is a manifestation of nonlove; still, they are not evil.

Truly evil people, on the other hand, actively rather than passively avoid extending themselves. They will take any action in their power to protect their own laziness, to preserve the integrity of their sick self. Rather than nurturing others, they will actually destroy others in this cause. If necessary, they will even kill to escape the pain of their own spiritual growth. As the integrity of their sick self is threatened by the spiritual health of those around them, they will seek by all manner of means to crush and demolish the spiritual health that may exist near them."

Peace to all on this blessed Sunday.

Qanibulu said...

The previous article was by Qanibulu.

Dr Evil said...

Qanibulu, all I can say is that with your sense of self righteousness and your fondness for homily, you must be a talatala. I don't quibble with your spiritual values and can see that you're a person of substance and achievement. But when it comes to politics, you're an anti-democratic, pro-dictatorship bigot. Anyone who makes even the mildest criticism of the regime becomes a target for your scorn and derision. That is your right because this site isn't subjected to the same censorship you so evidently prize. Well, I reserve the right to put the opposite case with as much vigour and to heap scorn and derision in equal measure whenever necessary. I happen to approve of the regime's broad agenda to remove racism from national life. But to treat the people of Fiji as idiots with the current censorship regime is eroding the justice of that higher cause. You going on about me being selfish and even obliquely suggesting that I'm evil just because I dare to deviate from your own line is utterly totalitarian. I don't think this "us and them" attitude of the regime's supporters is in the national interest at all. Just because our tongues have been silenced in Fiji doesn't mean we've forgotten how to speak. So the calm that censorship has brought is merely the cap on a volcano that continues to rumble. Fiji is a dictatorship only until democracy is restored. And people are biding their time just waiting for the moment to strike back. Doubt that and your finger isn't on the national pulse but lodged deep within your own fundamental.

Fundamental error said...

Sorry, that should be fundament.

laminar_flow said...

Real News interviews the authors of "The Death & Life of American Journalism"

If US is a democracy and free independent media is few and far between; perhaps in Fiji's situation, this would ensure the press capitalists don't become a monopoly and follow basic rules.