Does Publicity need Screening?

It was just the other week that I received a questionable email containing pictures of a middle aged man and a lady in her mid thirties, well formed actually, but both were stark naked being chased by an angry mob. I wondered what my friend Nathalie thought sending me such an obscene message since she is not the naughty type, but when I scrolled down the images and read the story, I was flabbergasted! It was the story of a pastor who had been caught red handed in bed with someone’s wife, a policeman at that! Well, the policeman assisted by angry onlookers gave the adulterous couple a heavy beating and paraded them naked to repeat what they had been caught doing, only now in public! The message showed appalling pictures of the man and woman being forced to kiss with blood gushing from the wounds they had earned from the thrashing. Well I only felt sorry for them as not only would they suffer from immense guilt and shame but also from pain and hatred from the society that once looked up to them (the pastor at least). As if that was not enough, I received another forwarded email, this one contained ghastly images of a young lady who had been slain to pieces in a public highway and onlookers at the crime scene were staring in shock as the story unfolded. The 21 year old girl had been attacked by a 35 year old cousin, who had been stocking her for ages claiming that she was his wife, and hacked to death for denying him her love. The scene was just too terrible for words and I apologize to readers for this unpleasant narration but I am trying my best to mince my words. However it is today’s event that made me desperate enough to share with the public my contempt for what is unfolding behind our society’s colourful publicity. This one was on facebook, I am sure you know the Network I am talking about as it is the one that brings most people together online. One of my friends had uploaded a news piece containing an image that I feel too shy to elaborate on, but in brief it contained a man performing bestiality with a goat. What shocked me most was that it was in broad daylight with onlookers including some policemen watching closely. I immediately felt sick and wondered what the world was coming to as the incident happened in one of the countries bordering ours! My only consolation being that none of the mentioned scenes has unfolded live before my eyes, I am tortured by the fact that these and many more are what top the FrontPages and headlines of most news agencies. I am also aware that everyone in our society has unlimited access to news but wondering whether our children should not be sheltered from such destructive publications. Psychology has it that the mind is easily influenced by the power of suggestion in that one may easily commit crimes they have seen than those they know nothing about. Well I am not saying that we should conceal the evil that looms in our society, but I am only suggesting that children who are not yet able to make independent judgments and decisions should be protected from becoming victims. Just a suggestion! Ends