Madam, - In answer to Terry Gillespie's letter of September 20th, I do not think it amazing that TV stations "are unwilling to give up using violent death as entertainment for just one day each year".
There is too much money to be made through peddling violence and pornography. They do not care that the effects of the contempt for the dignity of the human person, witnessed daily in the mass media, could be a time bomb. The attitude that "arrogance will get you everywhere" permeates all levels of present-day society. We witness it every day on our roads, in our political discourse, in the supine attitude of the legal system to the powerful and influential compared with its domineering stance in relation to the marginalised and the powerless, in the obsequiousness of the political commentators to the great and the good, some of whom have outrageously betrayed the trust vested in them as public representatives.
The fact that, as Mr Gillespie writes, "violent death has become an essential part of our television entertainment diet" is just another symptom of the destruction of the basic values of trust, integrity and decency in our society. I welcome his campaign to generate informed debate on violence in the media. - Yours, etc,
A LEAVY, Shielmartin Drive, Sutton, Dublin 13.