This past week my family visited Sun Moon Lake (日月潭). As a Canadian it is hard to be impressed by a lake, but Sun Moon Lake proved spectacular and I enjoyed the visit very much except for one small incident.
Climbing a set of stairs on one if its shoreline temples, I came across a Falun Gong display. Now before anyone interprets this letter as a statement either for or against Falun Gong, please understand that it is not. While I have obvious sympathies for any group that experiences hardship, what this letter is about is freedom of expression and what limits there should be, if any.
What disturbed me was not the message, but how it was being delivered. Part of the display included very graphic images of dead bodies, including a pregnant woman with parts of her skin and flesh removed revealing an unborn child within the womb.
The image was so explicit that anyone would be left shocked; this was obviously the photograph's purpose.
As an adult I do not appreciate being randomly exposed to these types of images, even if I am mature enough to handle the experience.
That said, I doubt my two-year-old daughter or her five-year-old cousin have the necessary faculties to avoid being traumatized by such photographs.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, as well as other institutions, has published findings that clearly show the negative effects of such imagery on children and youth. Testifying before a US Senate Committee in 2000, the group's president stated the following:
“Since the 1950s, more than 3,500 research studies in the United States and around the world using many investigative methods have examined whether there is an association between exposure to media violence and subsequent violent behavior. All but 18 have shown a positive correlation between media exposure and violent behavior.”
Perhaps this is why, as a high school teacher, I am not allowed to show these types of photographs to my teenage students, and would be appropriately disciplined if I did so.
I had my wife translate my concerns. Unfortunately, the group's representatives literally stood by the right for the photographs to be shown publicly. With my opinion so quickly - and ironically - dismissed I was left frustrated, but through this letter I hope that my freedom of expression can help correct what is an obvious abuse of it.
(Taipei Times, Monday, Apr 20, 2009)
Original text from: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/04/20/2003441559
