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mrplunkey
New member
We're immersed in media and entertainment everywhere we go. That's a fact.
And the industry has brought us women who can't seem to get enough rough-and-dirty sex, friends who resolve all their interpersonal struggles within a 30-minute episode, and heroes who kill scores of villains with no legal or emotional consequences. Even the news media is to blame -- if it bleeds, it leads.
Does this cause all the ills of society today? Certainly not. But does it desensitize us to sociopathic behavior and increase violent urges? Yes, research has shown that it does. It doesn't mean it drives people to "go off", but it does seem to be a common denominator in some very antisocial behaviors.
So we've got a trillion-dollar industry to reaps profits at the expense of our citizens and leaves our families and broken health care system to deal with the consequences -- a classic example of a negative externality. We already tax other negative externalities:
- Tobacco is taxed specifically to recover some of the downstream health care costs.
- Cars that are deemed "gas guzzlers" are taxed specifically to recover their disparate impact on the environment.
- Firearms are hit with a "violence tax" to recover the cost of their periodic misuse
- Sugary drinks are taxed to compensate society for their contribution to obesity and diabetes.
So why not a modest (i.e. 5%-8%) tax on entertainment industry gross revenues? Why not tax movies, television... even news networks? The money could go into a mental health fund and help offset the downstream costs of identification and treatment of the mentally ill, particularly as it pertains to children.
Hollywood doesn't seem to have an issue with higher taxes anyway. Wouldn't this be a great way for them to contribute to the greater good? What's more important than the mental health of children?
And the industry has brought us women who can't seem to get enough rough-and-dirty sex, friends who resolve all their interpersonal struggles within a 30-minute episode, and heroes who kill scores of villains with no legal or emotional consequences. Even the news media is to blame -- if it bleeds, it leads.
Does this cause all the ills of society today? Certainly not. But does it desensitize us to sociopathic behavior and increase violent urges? Yes, research has shown that it does. It doesn't mean it drives people to "go off", but it does seem to be a common denominator in some very antisocial behaviors.
So we've got a trillion-dollar industry to reaps profits at the expense of our citizens and leaves our families and broken health care system to deal with the consequences -- a classic example of a negative externality. We already tax other negative externalities:
- Tobacco is taxed specifically to recover some of the downstream health care costs.
- Cars that are deemed "gas guzzlers" are taxed specifically to recover their disparate impact on the environment.
- Firearms are hit with a "violence tax" to recover the cost of their periodic misuse
- Sugary drinks are taxed to compensate society for their contribution to obesity and diabetes.
So why not a modest (i.e. 5%-8%) tax on entertainment industry gross revenues? Why not tax movies, television... even news networks? The money could go into a mental health fund and help offset the downstream costs of identification and treatment of the mentally ill, particularly as it pertains to children.
Hollywood doesn't seem to have an issue with higher taxes anyway. Wouldn't this be a great way for them to contribute to the greater good? What's more important than the mental health of children?
