Response to "Personal Paranoia: Fuelled by Law and Order or the media?"

Here is my response to Kathleen's post, which can be viewed here: http://lifeisbetterinblackandwhite.blogspot.com/2011/03/personal-paranoia-fuelled-by-law-order.html

Hey Kathleen! I'm probably not as avid in watching crime and investigation shows as you are, but we do share the same love for Criminal Minds. Some of the events that happen in that show are so realistic, like that episode about the serial killer who specifically targeted families or that other episode about the killer who would kidnap women and kill them in alleyways. Some of these episodes definitely made me more paranoid at night. Whenever I'm on my way home alone during nighttime, I would always sprint through the catwalk that leads to my neighbourhood...thank you, Criminal Minds.

Your question "...is my irrational fear of something happening to me rooted in my love for crime shows and overactive imagination? Or is it driven by the media's constant reporting on violent crimes?" is a good one since it signifies the differences between subjectivity and objectivity. More importantly, it denotes how influential mass media can be on an individual and ultimately, society as a whole. I think the media's constant broadcasts of violent crimes greatly attributes to the sudden attainment of paranoia. It signifies that violence is real and can happen to just about anyone. Most of the time, news reports explicitly focus on crimes, tragedies, and/or deaths, which further fuels personal paranoia.

In regards to television shows, particularly Criminal Minds, there are many episodes that depict violent crimes so extreme that most people dismiss it as unrealistic. For instance, that one episode where a killer would abduct women and bring them into an abandoned house, overdose them with drugs that causes them to pass out, and then mutilate them. Personally, I consider this an improbable event but in some cases, there are people who deem this event likely to happen. This illustrates the concept of perceived actuality, where "a viewer perceives media depicted portrayals of events, settings, and characters as existing, or being able to exist, in the real world." This concept is a significant factor in determining the influence of media violence.

So with all that said, I think paranoia is oftentimes attained subjectively. If an individual greatly believes that what they are watching on television will undoubtedly happen in real life, then they are more likely to become paranoid.

If you want to know more about the idea of perceived actuality and other concepts pertaining to media violence, here is the link: http://www.geneseo.edu/~kirsh/vita/AVB360.pdf