Phil Mushnick

Phil Mushnick

TV

Violent culture spawns youth violence

The psychiatric post-mortem on 20-year-old Newtown, Connecticut, mass slayer Adam Lanza contained few answers but fewer surprises: The mentally defective young man who shot and murdered 27 people — 20 of them grammar school kids — had a big thing for violence, starting when he was in grammar school. He held a special regard for violent video games.

But what if . . .

What if that same report concluded that Adam Lanza represents the end of a beginning, one that began with the 1999 Columbine High School massacre?

What if the report suggested that such domestic massacres are now widely believed to be the result of an entertainment industry that specializes in shoving vulnerable kids — and whose kids aren’t vulnerable? — over their edges?

What if that report concluded that either our entertainment industry undergo a radical change, or dig in for Phase 2: Many, many more Columbines and Newtowns, coming at us, faster than speeding bullets?

What would TV, cinema and the video- game industries do?

Nothing. Nothing except what they always do — throw the blame back on inattentive parents, as if all kids have parents, as if all parents can always be attentive, and as if the entertainment industry bears no responsibility for mass producing goods that both rely on kids’ patronage and rot kids’ mental health.

Recall the calamity following the CBS/MTV 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, when Janet Jackson’s breast made a “surprise” guest appearance?

America’s TV network bosses were called to Washington, D.C., where they vowed to unilaterally wash their own mouths out with soap, to get cleaner, to reverse course.

How long did that cleansing last? Two days? A week?

That’s what happened to that “what if” after “what if” actually happened.

During the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade on NBC, Ariana Grande, a pretty child star suddenly turned 20, stood on a Dora The Explorer float and sang/synched a Christmas ballad.

Hmmm, 20, pretty and talented. Unless she’s willing to strip down to a thong and bra and “twerk” for a living, her days in show business — the entertainment industry — could be just about over.


Nice holiday job by Fox, a “let’s give thanks” at Thanksgiving promotional campaign that was purposefully loaded with poo-poo and pee-pee “gags” — none of them funny — from its Sunday night animation menu.

The coarsening of America breeds and feeds young wise guys, and young wise guys often “grow” to what we now identify, condemn and even incarcerate as “bullies.”
So, help me with this: Are there are any natural born bullies, or do we have to make them?


This Is Not A Drill: The state of local TV newscasts is so corrupt that Ch. 7 anchor Phil Lipof last Sunday had to emphasize to viewers that the derailment and ensuing fatalities and injuries from that Metro-North train is a legitimate “breaking news” story.


Just in case we need a fresh reminder of what makes successful, long-running TV, “The Steve Wilkos Show,” offspring of “The Jerry Springer Show,” recently presented its 1,000th edition.


Help me out, here:

1) Why does it matter that we know what Kanye West thinks about anything?

2) If Alec Baldwin weren’t confronted by photographers would he go looking for them?

3) How long before Toronto Mayor Rob Ford guest hosts “Saturday Night Live”?

4) Why, in early December when demand for Christmas ornaments is presumably the highest, would stores advertise 60 percent off all artificial Christmas trees? They’d cost more in June? You don’t suppose these stores are trying to slicker us, do you?