Why in the world would Plugged In post a warning about this year’s flu outbreak? What’s a virus got to do with entertainment?
Well, we’re not talking about the flu, actually. And contagion may have more to do with entertainment than any of us thought.
I was working my way through a wired.com story about violence spreading across a culture like a disease, transmitted through witnessing it and experiencing it. The story was interesting, but the research it referenced seemed intuitive, even ordinary. After all, it just makes sense that growing up in a violent 
environment might change the way you act later in life. If you see six random shootings in front of your house by the time you’re 7 years old, you’re going to feel and act differently than the kid living a zip code over where the worst thing that happens is the newspaper delivery guy throwing the paper into the bushes every Sunday.
I had almost stopped reading when I saw “perhaps even media” crop up in the fine print. And from Plugged In’s perspective, that changed everything! Here are a few details we published yesterday in our weekly Culture Clips:
Some scientists are beginning to look at violence in our culture as a contagion that causes epidemics, like an outbreak of a deadly virus. Summarizing the results of a 153-page study titled “The Contagion of Violence” published by epidemiologist Gary Slutkin of the University of Chicago, wired.com contributor Brandon Keim writes, “According to their theory, exposure to violence is conceptually similar to exposure to, say, cholera or tuberculosis. Acts of violence are the germs. Instead of wracking intestines or lungs, they lodge in the brain. When people, in particular children and young adults whose brains are extremely plastic, repeatedly experience or witness violence, their neurological function is altered. Cognitive pathways involving anger are more easily activated. Victimized people also interpret reality through perceptual filters in which violence seems normal and threats are enhanced. People in this state of mind are more likely to behave violently. Instead of through a cough, the disease spreads through fights, rapes, killings, suicides, perhaps even media, the researchers argue.”
It’s sobering to think about the possibility that maybe the stuff we watch on TV and at the movies has some of the same effects on us as actually witnessing or experiencing the real thing. Even if it only has a fraction of the same effect, it’s still a pretty big deal.
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