Does Media Violence Fuel the Fire?
Gun laws and mental illness are the two main issues raised by the Newtown, Connecticut, school massacre but now some people are questioning whether media violence is a contributor.
Actor Jamie Foxxspoke the day after the shootings as he promoted Quentin Tarantino’s super violent film that he stars in, Django Unchained, saying actors can’t ignore the fact that movie violence can influence people. Foxx said “we cannot turn our back and say that violence in films or anything that we do doesn’t have a sort of influence. It does.” But director Tarantino disagrees saying he’s grown tired of defending his films anytime there’s a shocking incident of gun violence. He said “tragedies happen” and the blame should fall on those guilty of the crimes.
Curiously enough, new research came out Friday, the day of the school killings, that found James Bond and the villains he fights have become much more violent since the first flick, DR NO, came out back in 1962.
Researchers looked at the 2008 movie QUANTUM OF SOLACE, saying Bond or his enemies were three times as likely to engage in serious violence, such as punching, kicking or using some sort of weapon.
Scientists don’t agree, however, on whether violence in movies or other media impacts behavior. Sure we become desensitized to movie violence, but how that impacts behavior is fuzzy at best.
I grew up watching THE THREE STOOGES (I still watch them) but I never wanted to drag a saw over my friends scalp or hit him in the noggin’ with a sledgehammer….then again, when I was growing up, I couldn’t escape into a world of cyberspace. My world was much more black and white.
Flirting With Disaster
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”
George Santayana
Diet Pepsi is changing its recipe. The brand’s been losing share to Coca-Cola in recent years and has 
decided to change the artificial sweetener mix as part of a rebranding campaign. Diet Pepsi’s currently sweetened with just aspartame but a second sweetener is being added to the mix. Aspartame is sensitive to heat (who knew?) and breaks down more easily, so the second sweetener’s being added as a sort of stabilizer. Pepsi officials say the change won’t alter the taste of the drink too much, but instead should make it, quote, “come across in high definition.” That’s good. I wouldn’t want to be swigging low definition diet soda.
This is the first change to Diet Pepsi’s recipe since the 1980’s.
Two words…..NEW COKE
Hey Santa, You Want Fries With That?
In a bid to boost holiday sales, McDonald’s is pressuring restaurants to open on Christmas Day. According to an internal memo from McDonald’s USA COO, Jim Johannesen, “Our largest holiday opportunity as a system is Christmas Day.”The fast food giant found that opening on Thanksgiving Day provided a huge boost in holiday season revenue.
