Television Perpetuates Violence
Bullets whizzing, knives twirling, fists flying -- not an uncommon sight on the television set of today. From cartoons to sitcoms, television shows depict violent acts that go unpunished and contain no painful consequences. This view of the world does not reflect reality nor does it teach our children the values, morals or behaviors we constantly tell them to practice.
Many parents don't realize that their children view the most violence watching the most innocent of shows. For example, Nickelodeon's "Loony Tunes," actually contains 80 acts of violence per hour and prime-time shows register at 60 acts of violence per hour. Children's programs are the least likely to show negative and harmful consequences of violent acts.
Even more appalling than the neglect of consequences is that 2/3 of children's programs depict violence as humorous. With violence conceived as funny, children are less likely to be bothered by violence in general or see anything wrong with it. This desensitizes children, who become more willing to tolerate increasing levels of violence in our society and also become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others. When the typical American child witnesses 200,000 acts of televised violence by age 18, this desensitization becomes inevitable.(1) Children predisposed to this violent behavior accept violent acts and consider it more "normal".
Television shows give children the false belief that they are invincible. On the cartoon "The Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote", the coyote miraculously survived countless acts of violence. On one such episode the coyote attempted to catch the roadrunner by rigging a catapult to throw a huge boulder as the roadrunner ran past. As us...
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...arents to violent or sexually explicit programs, backfires because it attracts children to such shows. Parents must stand up and take control. Watch television with your children and talk about what you see. Limit your child's exposure to inappropriate programs.(5) Television ruthlessly allows a parade of losers, con-men, murders and rapists to march through our homes and influence our children.
Works Cited
Murray, John. "Children and Violence." Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy 04.3 (1995): 7-14
Solutions to Violence. http://edie.cprost.sfu.ca/gcnet/iss4-21d.html
Television. http://www.local.access.com/hardebeck/killtv4.htm
Vasta, Ross, Marshall M. Haith, and Scott A. Miller. Child Psychology. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1995.
Endnotes
1. Murray
2. Television
3. Vasta 47-49.
4. Vasta 49.
5. Solutions
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In 1989 the results of a five year study by the American Psychological Association indicated that the average child has witnessed 8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence on television by the time he or she has completed sixth grade. In further studies it was determined that by the time that same child graduates from high school he or she will have spent 22,000 hours w...
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.
Ecology is a strong literary element in the novel Dune. plays a quite large part in Dune. Dune is a desert world, a sterile planet, devoid of life. Not uUntil one goes underneath the surface of Dune, then a whole new ecosystem is seen, based around water or the avoidance of it. Fremen use technology called "stillsuits" to conserve their body's water. Stillsuits recycle any moisture that is excreted by the body. This water is then drunk again, and used again. The Fremen, used to life that requires hoarding water, are astonished at the fact that there are other planets with open water on them. Sandworms are a quite important part of Dune's ecosystem. They, wWhile infants, sandworms produce the spice melange, the spice so precious to human life on Arrakis. These infant sandworms, after being in a spice blow and surviving, eventually grow into the monstrosities that are adult sandworms, the "Old Men of the Desert." (citation) The Water of Life is a potent poison and prescience drug, only obtainable by drowning a sandworm. Its opposite is the Water of Death (citation), ...
dunes covered with marram can grow in height by a metre a year. A dune
American Psychological Association. Violence on Television: What do Children Learn? What can Parents Do? Washington: Brochure, 1997.
When you think of fate it is always bad but sometimes it can be a good thing here is some of the fates that I have found.When Tybalt says his life is worth noting and he should be killed,“And [if] I were so apt to quarrel as thou art, any man should buy the fee simple
Violence and explicit themes on television have been a main benefactor in behavioral problems in children, causing educational issues as well. Studies have shown that “excessive TV viewing can lead to poor grades in school” (Boyse Online). TV has even been shown to affect the mood of the child, usually “TV doesn’t improve their disposition. They’re grouchy and irritable right after they watch” (Winn 19). When violence is included in speech or an action a child’s favorite show or movie it wouldn’t be uncommon if that youth would try to imitate it. “Many shows glamorize violence. TV often promotes violent acts as a fun and effective way to get what you want, without consequences, Even in G rated movies violence is common” (Boyse Online). As children are growing it’s important what parents put in the stomach’s of their child so it’s also important what being fed to their brain. This makes them vulnerable and susce...
Everyone’s seen the classic cartoons. Wile E. Coyote chasing the Roadrunner around a bend, only the Roadrunner turns, but our comedic--and usually stupid--villain doesn’t. So, he falls from a height of what looks like about 500,000 feet, only to become a small puff of smoke at the bottom of the canyon. After all, if what happens to you when you fall from that height were to have happened to Mr. Coyote, that would have been a very short lived cartoon series. Maybe this example is an exaggeration, but the idea is the same: violence comes streaming into our homes every single day through our TVs not to be viewed, but to be devoured. It’s been proven that sex and violence sell. For those of us who can tell the difference between reality and fantasy, the effect of TV violence is miniscule. But for our children--who think when the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers come to the local shopping mall, that it’s the biggest event since Bert told Ernie he snores too loud--the violence seen on TV seems like a logical reaction to life’s problems. And that’s a problem within itself. The impact of televised violence on children is only a slice of the pie that is the problem with the endless stream of violent acts on TV.
Violence is everywhere on television, and media has become a part of our daily lives. It is difficult to avoid the exposure to violent media. The violent scenes harshly affected children’s innocent minds. Children imitate what they see in media. It should be a wake up call for everyone to realize that television shows and video games reinforce the development in aggressive behaviors. It provides negative thoughts to children, loss of reality, and prevents people from taking responsibly from their acts. Producers should be conscious of what their products have done to the society. Instead of violence, they should have a different (or a bit educational) themes as a representation for their games or
Violence is on the news and on everyday action shows. Theses everyday shows are targeted for the kids of the world who are in the stages which are important for their lives. At this point in their lives the kids can make life changing decisions the violence on TV has some effects on that decision. One might watch a scene from “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” which may show them betting up a bad guy for trying to hurt someone. “The consequences of killing, especially by the "good guys," are seldom shown.” It doesn’t show the turtles getting in trouble for hurting someone it shows them as being the good guys. In real life you won’t be going around betting people up with out getting into trouble as well. It’s not like the kids won’t see so act of violence on TV for there is 50-60 times more violent commercial TV for the children then for the adult’s prime-time programs. Do you try to stop that by putting up parental controls on your TV? If you do that you have the protection on your TV but what about the TVs at their friend’s houses?
low As one dead in the bottom of a tomb. Either my eyesight fails, or thou look’st pale”. Juliet
Society has been bombarded with violence from the beginning of time. These concerns about violence in the media have been around way before television was even introduced. Nevertheless, there have been numerous studies, research, and conferences done over the years on television, but the issue still remains. Researchers do acknowledge that violence portrayed on television is a potential danger. One issue is clear though, our focus on television violence should not take attention away from other significant causes of violence in our country such as: drugs, inadequate parenting, availability of weapons, unemployment, etc. It is hard to report on how violent television effects society, since television affects different people in different ways. There is a significant problem with violence on television that we as a society are going to have to acknowledge and face.
Television violence causes destructive behavior in children, however; television can be a powerful influence to young viewers in our society. Unfortunately, much of today's television programming are very violent. Many researchers like scientists, pediatricians, and child researchers in many countries have studied to find out what it is about television violence that makes it such a big affect on the way kids act and behave. Sometimes, children think that is a normal thing in our real life, by watching only a single violent program, which can increase aggressiveness on children and become violent, aggressive, and vicious.