5 reasons to stand with Quentin Tarantino on violence in media

Credit: Miramax Films

3.  ‘Moral Purity’ Often Leads to Oppression

Again, while not all critics advocate forcing media to be pure, there is always a danger of increased censorship, and whatever moral panic accompanies it. Remember when Ozzy Osbourne made some kid kill himself in the 1980s? That sounds highly ridiculous now, but people used to really believe it.  England went well out of its way to censor movies (what they referred to as “video nasties”).

Legendary, frequently risqué musician Frank Zappa testified before the United States Senate against censorship. (Credit: LANA HARRIS/AP)

We often forget that high tech is new. Not very long ago, television didn’t even exist. Throughout most of human history, there was no Kardashian menace, and no Rod Serling to creep us out (or warm our hearts and make us think). In fact, the internet broke big during my lifetime. Yet — shockingly — the world was a violent place before either technology existed. In fact, in some ways it was actually more of a violent place.

How could that be? Quentin Tarantino wasn’t always around, and Jason Voorhees (or his mother) weren’t throwing any corpses through windows. There weren’t as many violent movies and TV shows. We still had world wars, institutionalized violence, racism, slavery, you name it. In fact, women weren’t allowed to vote and were basically chained to their husbands.