STORIES & COMMENTS
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The very violence that has shaken the airline industry and its
passengers starts somewhere. Research has shown that repeated exposure
to violence affects children. Whether it is a generation of children
living through the atrocities of war, children in families of domestic
violence, children bullied on playgrounds and in streets or children
exposed to a steady diet of media violence. These children are
more at risk of becoming violent or becoming "numb" to
the reality of violence in our lives. Shouldn't the airline industry
at least not add to this abhorrent situation?! What kind of society
are we leaving to our grandchildren? I was recently on an American Airlines flight where
the movie, Bridge to Teribithia, was played with the sound blaring
over the entire airplane. I was traveling with my 4 children, all
under age 6. The flight attendant informed me that the movie was
PG and that it did have a few scary scenes in it. I told the attendant,
that I did not approve of my children hearing this movie and she
told me that I was "in the minority" and would have to "deal
with it". She also said that the passengers who paid for headsets
had a right to see the film even though it would not play without
everyone on the plane being forced to hear it. I believe that the
flight crew acted irresponsibly and disregarded my parental right
to discern which films my children should be exposed to. The PG rating
states that I should be cautious for my young children. Thank you for the petition you are doing. I read the following quote in a book. I'm sorry it does not have a more specific reference: The National Pediatric Association in a report on media violence in 2001 stated, “Children younger than 8 years cannot discriminate between fantasy and reality they are uniquely vulnerable to learning and adopting as reality the circumstances, attitudes, and behaviors, portrayed by entertainment media.” So, children under the age of 8 accept everything they see as fact. This was brought home to me when my three year old was looking at a picture of a child on a cereal box. She said, “Look Mom, that little girl doesn’t have an arm.” She was right that the girl’s arm did not appear in the photo. But I assumed it was because of the way the picture was cropped and she assumed it was because she did not have an arm. I was upset several years ago when I was traveling
with my seven children on a Delta flight and a very violent film
was being shown (I don't know the name). I had activities for all
of them, but how do you keep seven children from looking at the screen
out of curiosity. It is impossible. My name is Susan Auriemma. I have just returned from
a vacation with my children on which the outbound movie shown in
the main cabin of our Delta flight was Casino Royale. While this
movie only earned a PG-13 with the MPAA, it was one of the most graphically
violent movies I have ever seen. My three children (5, 9, and 11)
were glued to the screen, even without any audio. I am horrified
that while movie theaters and TV waves are regulated to protect our
children from seeing such horrific images, airlines can air whatever
they choose. The critics who claim that we, as parents, should be
bringing coloring books to keep them from seeing the movie, obviously
do not have children and perhaps have never even met children! LOL! When my son was 2 yrs old we took a flight from NY
to Calif...I believe it was A/A... They showed Batman ... my son
was never the same..and I believe we are all paying for that intrapment I can't thank you enough for putting this petition
together. We don't fly very often and I was horrified, as were my
pre-teen children, as to some of the things they were showing on
the airlines. There was no escape! On a night flight there were showing
something very unsettling. Fortunately, the flight attendant was
trying to help us by assembling a flimsy cardboard "cover up".
It didn't work very well, but I very much appreciated his efforts. My husband and I have been discussing this issue for
years. The movie shown on the last flight we took showed a decayed
woman at the morgue, terrorists blowing up a ferry and countless
gun fights. I tried to keep the boys occupied but cringed every time
they glanced up. It was hard to miss as the screen was right in front
of us. What are the airlines thinking? Our 5-year-old son was recently exposed to horrific
violence on a film during a long trip cross country. He was frightened
by the images and we had no way of protecting him from the images.
Please take immediate action to protect our children. I have felt that we need to protect our kids from inappropriate
images on airplan movie screens for a long time, and I suport your
efforts to do so. I have written letters about this to Continental We fly a lot with preschool age twins and I was very
alarmed to learn that the airlines don't pay attention to the ratings
of films that are being shown to the entire audience on the plane. |
"Casino Royale" United Airlines
4/1/07. Why must my 6 and 10-yr-olds who would never view anything
of this nature, be subjected involuntarily to this sort of violence?
They will be sleeping in unfamiliar places and traveling after dark
as part of our holiday. These images have the potential for disrupting
their sleep and creating unnecesary anxiety on this trip. The airlines
have no concience it seems on this issue, it is time that the showing
of films be regulated. Thank you! On a recent
flight with my children, the movie was R-rated. Even without sound,
my son (7) was captivated by the images, which were very strong and
disturbing. I protested to the flight attendant, who first apologized
and said she would see what she could do, but came back and said "Some of the passengers are into it and I can't
stop it now. But it's been edited, so it's not so bad." I agree
that parents need to be vigilant, but it is increasingly difficult
if not impossible to protect children from incidental exposure to
harmful images when we are faced with billboards and in-flight screens
that we can't escape. PLEASE CREATE a more visually safe environment for
children on Airplanes. We only fly Jet Blue because of this issue
(as they have seat movie screens that we can turn off) Thank you. Airlines, this is not cool. My kids get nightmares
when they see "adult" violence
via inappropriate showing of a movie like on an airplane or the violent
movie comercials that come on during sporting events. I am one of those people who make call after call when
I am confronted with something that negatively affects children.
I am usually left frustrated by the lack of response. I so applaud
what you are doing.You have an intelligent and well thought out strategy
for change. We tend to forget that young eyes are always watching
and absorbing everything they see. Please protect their eyes. I think this something that can be easily fixed and
should be addressed as soon as possible. I know that if the day care my granddaughter attends
were to show these filmes for teacher enjoyment only but they were
viewable by the children, that school would be in trouble. Why should
the airlines be any different? My grandchildren fly frequently and I don't want them
exposed to movie material that is out of their control or not age
appropriate. We strongly agree - we have experienced this same problem
with our children. I totally agree I've noticed over the past year & 1/2
that United flight movies have gotten so bad that I refuse to watch
them no matter how long the flight is - I don't understand it there
are so many kids on the flight and they don't need to hear or see
that kind of stuff I sure don't want to see it! |
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