Speaking at the valedictory programme of the national seminar on 'Art vis-à-vis Violence' held at University College, Mangalore, on Thursday, he said that the violence that occurred in pre-new media era was unimaginably harsher.
“The number of bombs used by United States in Cambodia was thrice the number of bombs used in World War II. It was due to the efforts of mediapersons such as war-cameraman Neil Davis and documentary filmmaker David Bradbury that such horrors of war were brought to light,” he said.
Talking about representation of violence in new media such as websites, blogs and networking sites, he said that the political and economic forces behind the media and its ideology were the enemies, rather than the media itself. “We need to combat these forces through activism. If you want to attack new media, attack the ideology behind them. One kind of representation of violence is that which generates consciousness among people. There should be a proper convergence of the new media technology with the right ideology. A proper moral representation of violence in media generates proper moral anguish, which is necessary for activism. Contextualisation too, along with the right ideology, will go a long way,” he said.
In his presidential address, Registrar of Mangalore University Prof P S Yedapadithaya said that there should be an attempt to understand the political or economic forces behind the violence represented in the media, or the contradiction between two ideologies. “We must look at the ideological content in the media. Instead of answering the questions, we must question the answers,” he said.
Principal of University College Dr H R Laxminarayana Bhatta, associate professors Dr M P Ammalu Kutty, Vincent Alva, H Pattabhirama Somayaji and secretary of Association of English Teachers Baburaj T were present.
The seminar was organized by the Department of English at University College, in collaboration with the Association of English Teachers (AET) and has been sponsored by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
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