TV Violence
A major topic of conversation nowadays is whether or not voilence on television causes children to bahave more violently. Shortly after I began to research this topic, I realized that it is not a clear cut issue. Evidence can be easily found to support each position. In the following essay I will examine the different positions that can ba taken on this topic and try ro form my own view on the affect violent TV has on chidren.
The first position I will examine is the one in which it is believed that, without a doubt, violent TV increases the likelyhood that a child will behave in a violent manner. This stands is examined in the Maclean's article intitled,"Power to the people. Television's teen Rangers Kick up a storm. The author of this article, Particia Chrisholm, explains a heated debate over the affects that the kids show "The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" has on children.
According to this article, the "hemeted lycra covered Rangers" acts as a bad influence on children. Many parents have come to believe that the childen try to act like the kids hreo's. A cocerned mother, Kathryn Flannery went so far as to petition the CRTC. The CRTC responded by saying that "the show is avassively to violent."(Chrisholm 1994 p.52) As a result of the petiton, many stations voluntarily refused to air the controversial kids show. This case shows the power that people can have over the CRTC. Unfortunately, the parents were not able to entirely shield their children from the Power Rangers TV show. Many US broadcasters, available on cable, continued to air the show.
Another study that supports this belief that TV violence causes children to act more violently is an experiment conducted by Leonard Eron and his collegues. In these studies, Leonard Eron and his collegues studied childern for a number of years and measuread peer ratings obtained from each child's classmates. By doing this, they could see if violent TV changed the attitudes of the children. In the end, it was concluded that violent TV significantly affected the way in which the children behaved.
The other position that can be taken when discussing this issue is one in which people believe that violent TV does not affect the behavior of children.
In the Canadian Forum article, "TV and The Child Savers. Bad Habits and The
Boob Tube" this position is discussed. The author, Thelma McCormack discusses the goals of the action group that refers to themselves as the Child Savers.
According to this article, the Child Savers believe that "Programs which contain gratitous violence will not be shown on television.
From the evidence gathered it is clear that things aren't always as they appear to be. Because opinions may have.
some concrete premise to build upon. Staying true to the subject at hand I will notZellner 2
What is your position on this issue? Provide two or three reasons to support your argument
The author’s purpose for writing this argument is to depict the different motives and reasons why so many
This topic is a very controversial one. The paper you are about to read could cause intense arguments between some groups of people. All that doesn’t matter to me because when you finish reading this, you will agree with me if you don’t already.
this, we need to debate various arguments of both sides and judge the merits based on scientific
has been the subject of a debate for years. It is unlikely for there to be
When families sit down to watch television, they expect to watch family type of shows. Family type shows meaning rated PG or PG13, sitcoms and movies that do not include weapons, killing, foul language, and non-socially accepted actions. When children killing, they start to believe that it is accepted. Do children think that killing and hurting others and themselves have little meaning to the real life, children can become traumatized. Most killers or violators of the law blame their behavior on the media, and the way that television portrays violators. Longitudinal studies tracking viewing habits and behavior patterns of a single individual found that 8-year-old boys, who viewed the most violent programs growing up, were the most likely to engage in aggressive and delinquent behavior by age 18 and serious criminal behavior by age 30 (Eron, 1). Most types of violence that occur today links to what people see on television, act out in video games or cyberspace games, or hear in music. Media adds to the violence that exists today and in the past few decades. It will continue in the future if it is not recognized as a possible threat to our society. When kids go to a movie, watch television, play video games or even surf the web, they become part of what they see and hear. Soaking violence in their heads long enough becomes a part of the way they think, acts, and live. The line between pretend and reality gets blurred.
Does entertainment influence society's attitude towards violent behavior? In order to fully answer this question we must first understand what violence is. Violence is the use of one's powers to inflict mental or physical injury upon another; examples of this would be rape or murder. Violence in entertainment reaches the public by way of television, movies, plays, music, and novels. Through the course of this essay it will be proven that violence in entertainment is a major factor in the escalation of violence in society, once this is proven we will take all of the evidence that has been shown throughout this paper and come to a conclusion as to whether or not violence in entertainment is justified and whether or not it should be censored.
fundamental issues of how a society works and maintains itself. The goals behind the two works,
should be viewed as both a societal objective as well as a discourse where the need to for
I just want to continue viewing our standpoints regarding the negative effect it has on society
Both sides of the issue are supported by studies, facts and opinions. Therefore, your stance on the issue is yours to decide.
depict a fantasy world are a lot more interesting to watch. People don't want to