Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

YouTube Should Monitor Content

First of all, let me say that I think YouTube is a great invention whose time had come. It is mostly enjoyable and it gives a chance to video-taping amateurs to show their work.

On the other hand, since some streets and schools have already become battleground with gang violence and unruly people, disturbing videos on YouTube seem to add applause to the turmoil.

Wouldn't it be great if the YouTube people could put some kind of a rating system like what we have in WC? This wouldn't curtail the video-makers' activities at all. Those who want to watch the disturbing videos could still do so, while the general public and especially children would not be subjected to material destructive for their psyches.

Some newspapers have published a story about an alarming development. In the story, teen gang members post photos posing with guns and boast of their talents in drug sales. There are other disturbing videos on YouTube showing teens fighting with hand-made signs at bus stops or showing other real or staged drive-by shootings and street brawls. All these things signal to the teens that acting like hoodlums is cool, whether they are part of a gang or not.

We could say the other social sites for teens promote this kind of understanding also, but photos and videos are more impressive because they are visual, and visual stimuli have more of a coercing power for the mind.

Lots of kids are happier with more wholesome activities, but with this pressure from the net, the media, and their peers can influence them the wrong way and make them adhere with what is popular.

Those who have studied gang behavior claim that the glamorization of the hooligan lifestyle has such a strong magnetism that even those who just “try” it cannot pull themselves together afterwards. With many children who are already in trouble, everyone from the net to the media should be careful what they make available to such young and impressionable people.

I’m all for the first amendment and the total freedom for arts, but I also think the young people should be protected; if not, our entire civilization, as we know it, can be put in jeopardy.