Fifty percent of violent acts and 15,000 murders annually have been proven to be influenced by television programs, said Ted Baehr '69, head of the Christian Film and Television Commission, in a speech in the Collis Common Ground last night.
By the age of 17, an average child will have seen 200,000 to 400,000 sexual acts and 100,000 to 200,000 acts of violence, Baehr told the group of about 50 people.
Baehr said his commission lobbies the media to decrease the influence of sex and violence in television shows and movies in order to protect children.
He said the group tries to persuade television and movie producers to make their shows more family oriented, but does not believe in censoring the programs.
By definition, "only the government can censor," he said. "You can blow a horn and stomp up and down and do whatever you want, but you can't censor."
Baehr said he spoke out against censorship because it could dangerously infringe upon the freedom of speech.
Baehr said people in the media are aware of the influence it has over public thinking. "In the media, everyone agrees upon the influence the media has upon our culture," he said.
Children are more susceptible to the influence of television because they are in a stage of development in which they are easily influenced, Baehr said.
He talked about a child whose father had taken him to see Total Recall. The child had nightmares about a scene in which Arnold Schwarzenegger shoots his wife and says "consider that a divorce."
Baehr said that while adults would see this scene as black humor, this child only saw "a mother figure being blown up."
When Baehr discussed this event with the child's father, Baehr said the father replied by saying his child "was a man and could take it."
