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Media's influence on paranormal perception


Still Waters

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The paranormal is a popular and enduring theme in the media, stretching from Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula to the newest installment of Paranormal Activity, which opened last week. Television shows cover the spectrum from fiction, like the CW’s Beauty and the Beast, or CBS’s Ghost Whisperer; to quasi-factual shows like SyFy’s Ghost Hunters, which has spawned copycat shows on networks from Biography to Animal Planet.

Paul Brewer, professor of communication at the University of Delaware, was intrigued by the omnipresence of paranormal entertainment. Brewer wondered what makes viewers believe or not believe what they see on the screen.

http://www.redorbit....l-media-102612/

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Pretty logical when you think about it.

People will pretty much take what they read or hear on tv at face value.

Now if just believing would let me make a Sam and Dean Winchester sandwich, I'd believe with all my heart!

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That`s one of the reasons I`ve never watched TV for 10-15 years . Newspapers are no better . I`ll stick to Shortwave Radio and form my own opinion from the various worldwide sources . Providing they`re not conspiring together !

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Well, I like watching the paranormal shows, but my belief in ghosts doesn't hinge on that.My dad used tell some ghost stories brought over from Germany, things that happend to relatives there,long before there were any ghost shows on tv.And I believe in an afterlife,that there is more to the world than this.Also, all cultures have tales of ghosts and spirits and a belief in the afterlife.

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Agreed about the newspapers! Certainly, people don't conduct their own research into things they hear on TV or read about. Some of the old ghost stories I've written about over the years are fairly easily debunked (or, at least become rather dubious) when one digs a little deeper, and yet people still believe them in their droves.

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That`s one of the reasons I`ve never watched TV for 10-15 years . Newspapers are no better . I`ll stick to Shortwave Radio and form my own opinion from the various worldwide sources . Providing they`re not conspiring together !

No one is stopping a person from forming their own view regardless of where they get their misinformation from.

I understand that when kids see stuff on tv or read something in a book it is reasonable to expect that they might believe it

but as adults we have a responsibility to do our own research and not blame the tv or and media because one chooses to believe in imaginary monsters.

In my view ALL forms of information have the propensity to be misleading and deceptive.

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No one is stopping a person from forming their own view regardless of where they get their misinformation from.

I understand that when kids see stuff on tv or read something in a book it is reasonable to expect that they might believe it

but as adults we have a responsibility to do our own research and not blame the tv or and media because one chooses to believe in imaginary monsters.

In my view ALL forms of information have the propensity to be misleading and deceptive.

what does Propensity mean please ?
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what does Propensity mean please ?

It means to have the ability to or be likely to.

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It means to have the ability to or be likely to.

I must have led a sheltered life . Suppose I must have had the propensity to do so . That doesn`t sound right . Wrong context maybe . Edited by sergeantflynn
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I must have led a sheltered life . Suppose I must have had the propensity to do so . That doesn`t sound right . Wrong context maybe .

Here's the dictionary.com version:

a natural inclination or tendency: a propensity to drink too much.

I majored in English, that comes with a large vocabulary. Plus my kids are in college so I have to answer a lot of questions. lol

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Here's the dictionary.com version:

a natural inclination or tendency: a propensity to drink too much.

I majored in English, that comes with a large vocabulary. Plus my kids are in college so I have to answer a lot of questions. lol

Aye , coldethyl , I`m English and have always been `good` at it (written & spoken) but that word seems to be bandied about a lot . I had it in my mind that if one had the propensity to do something then it meant that they had the nerve /cheek to do it . Dammit , I`ve forgotten what this thread`s about now..NURSE.........
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Aye , coldethyl , I`m English and have always been `good` at it (written & spoken) but that word seems to be bandied about a lot . I had it in my mind that if one had the propensity to do something then it meant that they had the nerve /cheek to do it . Dammit , I`ve forgotten what this thread`s about now..NURSE.........

Nurse, I have a propensity for wanting more morphine, please, my back still hurts.

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Fact or Faked on SyFy usually does a pretty good job of tearing apart hoaxes or misperceptions or at least showing how easily things can be hoaxed.

They do make mistakes and often reduce their credibility by ending an investigation with a "mysterious" event that is supposed to placate those who still want to believe some paranormal activity happened. It's usually an audio recording that sounds something like "Mmmum mrprhphurph mummurmurph" which they claim sounds like someone saying "I am the god of hell fire" or something like that.

They utterly failed to see the painfully obvious CGI in nearly every frame of the "Glowing Gargoyle" video. If you step through the frames, the camera motion is causing lights in the background to leave long trails due to the show shutter speed yet the "gargoyle" is perfectly sharp in every one of them -- its bright glowing eyes are sharp as pins. It turned its head to the camera in a single frame leaving no motion blur proving it was an animation and the motion of it jumping off the playground castle was so unnatural that it had to be poor CGI. None of this was brought up even though in that very episode they had rejected a video because when they stepped through it, they saw a jump in motion which indicated CGI. Argh!

I think they just wanted a free trip to England.

Edited by scowl
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While people have the ability to form their own opinions by doign research, they don't. The general public is naive and wants to believe anything they see and read in the papers/i-net/TV because it's easier. I this weren't true, car salesmen and conmen would be out of business. :whistle:

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Fact or Faked on SyFy usually does a pretty good job of tearing apart hoaxes or misperceptions or at least showing how easily things can be hoaxed.

They do make mistakes and often reduce their credibility by ending an investigation with a "mysterious" event that is supposed to placate those who still want to believe some paranormal activity happened. It's usually an audio recording that sounds something like "Mmmum mrprhphurph mummurmurph" which they claim sounds like someone saying "I am the god of hell fire" or something like that.

They utterly failed to see the painfully obvious CGI in nearly every frame of the "Glowing Gargoyle" video. If you step through the frames, the camera motion is causing lights in the background to leave long trails due to the show shutter speed yet the "gargoyle" is perfectly sharp in every one of them -- its bright glowing eyes are sharp as pins. It turned its head to the camera in a single frame leaving no motion blur proving it was an animation and the motion of it jumping off the playground castle was so unnatural that it had to be poor CGI. None of this was brought up even though in that very episode they had rejected a video because when they stepped through it, they saw a jump in motion which indicated CGI. Argh!

I think they just wanted a free trip to England.

Can you say Road trip! Sometime Fact or Faked has to choose the best videos they have whether they know it's faked from the start. This why the season is so short and long gaps bewteen seasons.

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There are some mighty strange things . But nowt as strange as folk !

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Can you say Road trip!

I can say "Free trip to England!" I don't think that's a road trip. ;)

Sometime Fact or Faked has to choose the best videos they have whether they know it's faked from the start. This why the season is so short and long gaps bewteen seasons.

They also have to pick the ones that they have a good chance of figuring out or duplicating and making good television from.

They do have an "out" for things that are easily explained yet they still wanted to investigate. At the end, one of the investigators "notices" something that they didn't notice before and this blows the lid off the hoax. In this case they could have revealed in the "debriefing" the clear discontinuity between the real things in the video and the "gargoyle" who was perfectly sharp during all camera motion. Oh shoot, I didn't notice that! We went to England for nothing!

The reason they have such short seasons with long gaps is because SyFy isn't ordering entire seasons. They've been ordering only six episodes at a time with no guarantee for more.

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The media has a surprisingly influence on minds. I can definitely see it influencing opinions on certain matters, including the paranormal.

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While people have the ability to form their own opinions by doign research, they don't. The general public is naive and wants to believe anything they see and read in the papers/i-net/TV because it's easier. I this weren't true, car salesmen and conmen would be out of business. :whistle:

Uh... where else do we get our news?

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Just look at the maturity level, grades, drop out rate, attitude, respect, etc,etc,etc.....How they changed since TV started, and cable came out. ( the ladder more then anything )

TV and Movies has been teaching our youth for a while, and do now. Look how we are de-evolutionising.....

DEVO was right.

Serious though, to many people using TV as a learning tool....We need a plague.

Edited by Sakari
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So, where do we get viable news? Anywhere?

Or is just left to social networking that twist minds more-so than media.

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So, where do we get viable news? Anywhere?

Or is just left to social networking that twist minds more-so than media.

There are things on TV and the internet that are good....But, the majority comes down to money, and entertainment.People have forgotten how to distinguish the reality from the entertainment.

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So, where do we get viable news? Anywhere?

Or is just left to social networking that twist minds more-so than media.

Well without as many tv channels and just your local paper (not the papers like Enquirer, Daily Mail, etc) you had more news that was not based on sensationalism.

Now every magazine has sensational headlines, and there are reality tv shows on every channel. And there are a lot of channels. Before the internet, if you wanted to know something, you had to go to the library, or ask someone. Weird concept, but all knowledge and instant gratification was not at your fingertips.

Pagers were all the rage before cell phones (there were car phones but not many people had them and they didn't work everywhere) and when you were paged, you had to find a phone somewhere to call someone back. Now you're lucky to see a phone booth or call box anywhere. All these things have made this generation..well different.

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Well without as many tv channels and just your local paper (not the papers like Enquirer, Daily Mail, etc) you had more news that was not based on sensationalism.

Now every magazine has sensational headlines, and there are reality tv shows on every channel. And there are a lot of channels. Before the internet, if you wanted to know something, you had to go to the library, or ask someone. Weird concept, but all knowledge and instant gratification was not at your fingertips.

Pagers were all the rage before cell phones (there were car phones but not many people had them and they didn't work everywhere) and when you were paged, you had to find a phone somewhere to call someone back. Now you're lucky to see a phone booth or call box anywhere. All these things have made this generation..well different.

pussies....just say it.

" Pussifaction of America "......Hell, the entire world.

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