Gerard Jones Violent Media Is Good For Kids Essay

In “Violent Media Is Good for Kids,” Gerard Jones states that violence is good for children. Even with all the bad things people have said about the media and the effect of violence on kids, it has helped many kids reveal their feelings and their fears. In Jones article, he uses his own experience as an example of himself when he was a kid. Also, he uses his son and other kids experience as an example. Most kids use their imagination to pretend to be a protagonist they like. From reading this article it has helped me understand more that not all media violence are harmful for children. Violent media have helped kids express their feelings in a good way. With my own experience as a kid, I can relate to Jones experience. In his essay he uses diction, tone, organization and examples.

Jones uses

casual diction to connect with the readers. He started his article saying that at a young age, he was alone and afraid because growing up with his English teacher and his parents, they taught him that violence was bad and separated him from the outside world. As a young boy he would keep his deepest fear to himself and his desire under a nice sweet boy persona. Jones has a fantasy self as where he could show his fearless of his desires by engaging characters from comics. For example, like the Incredible Hulk this turned into a replacement through which he could imagine a life where he can let out his feelings and his fears. Jones switched his desires into more fantasy self to overpower his fear.
The next thing Jones uses is tone. It gives a natural feeling while reading the article. Jones has a thoughtful attitude towards his article. He comes off as an open-minded person. He knows what he is talking about with providing personal examples. His arguments were successful and very convincing by the way he was using tone. It made it understandable on which side he was on. Jones points out that violence media is not completely harmless. Jones states, “I’m not going to argue that violent entertainment is harmless. I think it has helped inspired some people to real-life violence” (202).
The way he organized his article was to persuade the parents telling them that violent is not bad for their children by using examples and evidence. Jone’s uses pathos in his essay by using personal stories. Jones started his article by describing his experience as a kid. I really liked how he organized his article by first starting with himself. Then he uses the example of his own son. By using personal experience, the readers can relate to him and have a connection. His ideas were easy to follow.
Jones uses personal examples in his article to show us that violent can be used to help children express their feelings.

Starting his article he first starts with his own experience as a young boy. His parents, not trusting the violence in the outside world, made him not have many friends. He was a lonely kid. His parents separated him from the other kids that were from the outside world. He always kept his fears and stress to himself because he wasn’t comfortable talking with his parents. For instance, Jones provided in his article his son experience. When his son started first grade, his friends would climb on a tree but he wouldn’t because he was afraid of bugs, falling and sharp branches. Jones then read his son old Tarzan comics, which his son lived in this fantasie for almost two weeks. After the two weeks had past, his son overcame his fear and climb the tree. Another example that Jones used in his article was when he worked with a middle class “nice girl,” who had many family problems. She used gangsta rap to express her feelings of anger. This helped her calm down and avoid drugs. It guide her to college to get an profession as a writer and political

activist.
Violent media has great benefit to children. Jones made strong points in his article that made me realize that not all violence are harmful for children. Jones uses his own personal experience as his main support. Keeping your feelings to yourself can be very harmful. I believe instead of telling children that violence is a bad thing or not letting them see violent movies or play video games, we should teach our children how to express their feelings by letting them know what is right and wrong. While a kid is watching a violent movie or a show, the parents should let them know that not all people act like this in real life. Many people are afraid that if their children are watching violence in a movie or show they will grow up being violent. People can connect to Jones because some of us when we were young we would watch violence in movies or play violent video games. It helps children understand their potential of imagination. At the same time, it feels like he is relating to everyone’s childhood.