Weird TV Shows Attract Weird Viewers

0 Comments | Insight on the News, June 18, 2001 | by John Elvin

The strongest predictor of whether people believe in things paranormal is whether they watch TV shows and movies that feature themes such as extrasensory perception, alien abduction or the ability to communicate with the dead, according to a Purdue University study. Communication professor Glenn Sparks and cultural analyst Will Miller said shows such as The X-Files, Unsolved Mysteries, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Charmed, as well as films such as The Sixth Sense and The Blair Witch Project were particularly influential.

The researchers interviewed 200 random respondents and found that 40 percent believed in haunted houses, psychic mediums, ghosts and prophetic dreaming. They also said that such beliefs were more likely to be found among lower-income brackets, though that factor and other demographic variables were no match for TV viewing habits as a predictor.

So are they saying the media are responsible for people believing in UFOs and that kind of thing? Well, it's a chicken or the egg sort of problem. Could be, they said, people who believe in the paranormal are drawn to shows featuring related themes. The findings are part of a larger study still being conducted on the impact of media messages on paranormal beliefs. In related news, we here in the Briefs Bunker are conducting a study to find out whether college professors are part of the UFO cover-up.

Did You Know?

* In the 1990s, the number of unmarried couples living together jumped by 97 percent in Oklahoma, 125 percent in Arkansas and 123 percent in Tennessee, while the national average climbed only 72 percent (Census figures quoted in a New York Times story on the dramatic increase in the divorce rate in "Bible Belt" states).

* A million people a year die as a result of the ban on DDT, considered the most effective antimalarial pesticide but outlawed because of damage done due to government-mandated saturation spraying of private property in the 1950s and 1960s (Study by researchers at the Political Economy Research Center, "Pesticides and Property Rights").

* The Property Rights Foundation of America, mentioned recently in Insight's article on efforts by environmental extremists to return much of America to a primitive state, has launched a Website at www.prfamerica.org (Communication from the group's president, Carol W. LaGrasse).