Seemingly unrelated events linked through media violence
January 27, 2001 Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH.
Dartmouth college professors Susanne and Half Zantop
were found stabbed to death in their home Saturday, January 27, 2001 in Etna, 3
miles from the Dartmouth campus. Susanne and Half's deaths are an enormous loss
to the Dartmouth community.
Susanne was a Distinguished Research Professor in the
Humanities and chaired the German Studies Program since 1996. Half was a
wonderful field and economic geologist and a dedicated teacher.
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Dartmouth
College professors murdered
Suspects
in Dartmouth Murders
Teens,
Tulloch & Parker Plead Guilty, Sentenced
Less than three weeks later, as news of the Dartmouth
murder investigation unfolds, CBS broadcast the graphic slaughter of a wild pig
as primetime entertainment.
February 15, 2001, CBS Survivor 2
On CBS Survivor2, in the popular Thursday night primetime
slot, players vote each other out of the reality game to determine who will win
a million dollars. In the February
16 episode, a wild pig that wandered into the campsite of one of the two
competing "tribes" is graphically slaughtered.
Before the scene, CBS flashed a disclaimer on the
screen warning that the following sequence might not be appropriate for young
children. Then Michigan software publisher Michael Skupin hacked the pig to death in a scene
typical of a bad slasher movie.
"Oh my God, oh my God," cried Elizabeth
Filarski, a contestant from Rhode Island.
Adding to the gruesome tone, Michael Skupin smeared
pig blood on his face like warpaint.
Contestant Kimmi Kappenberg was particularly
horrified. "This is sick. . . this is a sick tribe," she muttered.
Entertainment reporter Monica Collins who writes for the
Boston Herald, reported that her 8 year old son was no longer interested in
watching CBS survivor after seeing the graphic images of Michael Skupin slaughtering
the pig. Her son chooses
his TV time carefully. And he doesn't tune in to Survivor any more, after being
a devoted fan of the original Survivor series. ``Why aren't you watching it like
you used to?'' She asked him recently.
"This time, I didn't like it when that guy killed
the baby pig,” explained her son. “That was sad. I didn't want to look at it
anymore.”
The brutal death of the pig in episode four of
Survivor marked an end of innocence and broke faith with parents and younger
viewers. The scenes of Michael Skupin, the weird macho guy, hacking the
squealing pig into a silent bloody corpse were strong stuff, especially for
children.
Although CBS ran an advisory warning ``the material
may be unsuitable, particularly for younger viewers,'' many kids, including
mine, watched anyway because, really, how scary could Survivor be?
It turned out pretty scary for an 8 year old.
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Pig
graphically hacked to death on Survivor2: Boston Herald
The day following the CBS Survivor 2 broadcast, Friday,
February 16, two stabbings occurred in the Boston public schools.
February 16, Boston school stabbings
The stabbing of two students in separate Boston schools on
February 16 intensified the outcry over school violence, renewed concerns about
knife attacks in schools, and left students dealing with police tape and news
media as school let out for February vacation.
In West Roxbury, pride and payback for being shoved
at the bus stop, cultural differences, and uncounted teenage slights led to the
first attack. Before the first
period bell, a 13-year-old school mate was accused of stabbing 14-year-old
Abdullahi Jama in the rib cage. The
victim required surgery at Brigham
and Women's Hospital.
The second stabbing, which occurred about 12:30 p.m.,
was apparently touched off by a fight involving a number of teenagers.
One student spilled juice on another at lunch.
The fight started with words and then punches among several students
outside Charlestown High School. A
knife grazed 16-year-old Tim Mai and injured one of his attackers, who police
later arrested at New England Medical Center.
The alleged attacker, whose name was withheld because he is a juvenile,
was charged with assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a
deadly weapon. Police recovered a
folding knife that the perpetrator allegedly hid, across the street from the
school after the attack.
After nearly a month of widely publicized attacks in
Boston schools, including several on teachers, the city unveiled a 12-point
school safety plan, including increased security sweeps and an early warning
systems for disruptive students or parents. The plan was announced after a
student allegedly chased a teacher with a knife, and after a parent allegedly
assaulted another teacher, causing a black eye and fracturing a cheekbone.
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Two
students stabbed in separate incidents at Boston schools: WCVB TV
2
stabbed at city schools: Boston
Globe
Do you see a connection between graphic violence on
television and violence in society? Although it would be difficult to
demonstrate a direct connection between the Survivor broadcast and any of these
specific knife attacks, watching graphic violence has been linked to an
increased tendency toward acting out violent behavior.
Will you take action?
Your1voice will make a difference when sponsors of
inappropriate programming receive a torrent of email from their customers who
are offended by violent programming. Like
raindrops falling on the land, letters inspired by Your1voice will gather into
trickles, then streams and powerful rivers until we are heard.
Go to A call to action.
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