CompuServe Messages

Michele, >> I think you're right, the women in the industry will have to speak up, but the men will probably support them if they make a stand. << It may be even more complicated than that. As Don mentioned, it was women promoting and producing these CD's. Which means that the battle will be fought not men against women but women and men against women and men. But I do feel that if women don't speak up it will continue unabated. It is interesting to watch as women continue to enter the "male dominated" arena, that of course they approach it all in the same way men do, ie: female producers exploiting females the way some men did when it was their exclusive domain. I personally find the "battle of the sexes" abhorent and I think that it will be even more important that thinking men and women stand together to fight against any kind of exploitation whether it be perpetuated against women or men. And while my views may be considered idealistic, ie: there will always be exploitation, I think that if society takes a position of low tolerance for it, that it can be minimized, which would at least discourage displaying graphic material on CD ROM's at Comdex. Karl Marx predicted that capitalism would lead to decadence and debauchery and while he was wrong about many things he certainly seemed to understand the predisposition of capitalism toward that. The fact that capitalism has won out over communism doesn't mean we can ignore the inherent evils of either system. And the reason I mention this is that I see the profit motive driving the marketing of CD ROM's of graphic exploitive content. >> Right now it feels like we're a bunch of eight-year-olds dancing around the maypole… << Well you certainly don't sound like an "eight year old" but I get what you're saying. <g> My comment to Don to which you responded, was that in fact I think that NAB and probably Siggraph are mature industries. I know that Broadcast is because its considered the "Fifth Estate". My experience in this industry has been through the revolution caused by cable. During my study at Univerisity, one of my courses was on Media and Social Responsibility. At the time the Networks were in control and had social guidelines with regard to content and substance of programming. They took it upon themselves to develope these guidelines for two reasons. One was because the FCC licensed the "public" airwaves and as such the FCC felt Broadcast had a social responsibility to the public. The other reason was that they wanted to develope credibility with the public, much as the "Fourth Estate" has enjoyed. With the advent of cable this view of social responsibility has radically changed. The point here being, that as a result the Networks now have to compete with the socially irresponsible programming now being propagated on cable, and we are now witnessing the effect. So while "Broadcast" and its event of the year, NAB has been restrained, in coming years it is quite possible that it will follow suit with content of the nature displayed at Comdex. I think its going to be up to the industry to determine its own standards and that I hope that it will choose not to follow suit, but money and ratings are a powerful motivator and if the industry doesn't take a stand we'll be seeing more exploitive graphic content. And Siggraph will follow as a logical extension and representative of Broadcast, especially as "character animation" becomes more prevalent. Looking at the future as depicted in many new shows, human value is portrayed as there for the purchasing, not a very optimistic portent of things to come. A trend I hope the public will reject. There is hope as shows like Star Trek TNG are quite popular which explore and develop the concept of human value and dignity. It will be interesting to see how the storyline of "Voyager" develops, whether it will follow "Deep Space Nine" and the "everything can be bought" philosophy or will follow TNG tradition. I have a fascination with Television as I see it as a reflection of the values of the masses, either by design or desire. Stay tuned… <g> -JE