Thread: Is the Media(TV,Movie,Video Games) related to vioence?

I'm writing a report for english on the relation between the media and violence. I'm interested in hearing your serious opinions. Please, if you check off a box, state your reasons... sentence, paragraph, whatever... and tell me if you'd like me to quote you in my report... as anonymous, your user name, your real name... whatever.

Edit: Oops forgot to put a poll... whatever... just post your opinions... I'll ask a mod to put up a poll for me.

"Seeing a gun fight on television will no more disrupt a well-balanced person's disposition to violence than watching a romance movie would change a hardened serial killer for the better."

Amen. thats a really great way to put it.

i agree with blackrat however i think violence in media can have an effect on younger people (people < ~10yrs). young kids learn from example and many have issues separating reality from fiction. just look at all the gun related accidents with young kids. they wouldn't be playing with the guns in the first place had they not viewed it somewhere else first.

This is the classic english paper and is always a great debate heh.
Anyways the media does not cause violence, saying the media caused some kid to go out and kill his friend Timmy is just a way of finding an excuse for the kid. This is the number one problem in society today, nobody takes responsibility for their own actions.

Goodluck with your paper, if I was you I'd definitely take the side of saying that the "media does not cause violence". It's much easier to make a strong arguement in your paper if you take that side. Either would work though, just gotta find enough BS to write about You should post your paper here when you're done, really helps if someone else reads your paper to find any parts that need improvement. You'll get an A for sure that way heh.

I think that we need to be careful saying outright the violence in media has no effect on society. It's more of a backlash thing. Watching a violent movie or playing a violent game is not going to make the person more likely to commit violence, but it changes our perceptions of violence. It makes it easier to justify violence.

At the very root of the problem is in how society decides on what is moral. Morals are typically decided by law or, more commonly, religion, both of which have proven to be tremendously unreliable in creating a balanced system to ensures the safety of citizens of that society. Violence is the result of greed, whether by wanting what someone else has, or revenge for what someone took from you. The problem exists because greed is forever promoted. Be all you can be. Don't let anyone stop you from achieving your goals. All of this can be attributed to the quest for personal wealth or power. We measure people by their material possesions or by the people they have control over. We consider celebrities to be of a higher standard than "regular" people because they have wealth and influence, yet only the very few can achieve that level of celebrity. The rest are forced to either live in a self-defined world of anonymity, or to turn to violence as a way to justify their own existence.

Anyway, violence in media is a symptom of violence in society, not a cause :P

i agree with blackrat however i think violence in media can have an effect on younger people (people < ~10yrs).

Some kids learn right from wrong very quickly. My first computer game I ever played was Wolfenstein 3D when I was 6, then I moved on to Doom. I played Eternal Champions as well. And I am a pacifist. No, not hippie pacifist, but I don't believe in going out and punching someone just because they looked at your girl, or accidently spilled some ketchup on your shirt. I only fight if someone throws the first hit, and usually just enough to get him on the ground and allow me to get away.

Background, and teaching right from wrong / real or not real from parents determine if a kid is going to take the stuff in. My Dad explained to me before I ever started playing, that it was just a game, and not to get scared.

Actually I think games can help you out. If you start playing when you are young and keep playing them, you'll learn to face your fears, and you won't get nightmares whenever you watch a scary movie or junk. I have been playing violent games ever since I was young, and I can't remember the last time I had a nightmare. I think I've only had like 2 in my entire life. One I fell off a cliff, and another I got hit by a train.

Oh, and BTW my name is Josh Taylor. Dude that replied to your post named his name, so I guess I'll name mine.

I think the media can influence some people, but when it gets to serious violence like columbine should we be $$$$$ing about the media or should we be $$$$$ing about how guns get into the hands of minors?

and for the record for your paper I'm the little voice in your head that tells you to kill people. Quote me too plz

EDIT: $$$$$ = bithc

There is no doubt that movies and especially cartoons, the kind of movies children mostly watch, have doen great harm in so many children world wild and still do. The problem is with society and parents of the children who accept these films to be plaid. If you want to show a film, ok show it. But show it late in the night where children are supposed to sleep, not in the afternoon. In fact they bombard children( and not only ) with so many crazy behaviours and they try to instill them their own principles. Parents should work here. Some cartoons should not even plaied.

I'm going to post the entire essay on my websitewhen I'm done with it, that way you can check it out.

I think the media plays a larger role in how we construct our worldview and make our decisions than we would like to believe. Think about it: Where does most of your information about the world come from? How do you learn about some cultural norms (like sex and even religion)? For many people, it's TV and movies. Boys and girls dress to imitate their favorite pop star or hip-hop artist. I wouldn't be surprised if some people become used to violence in the real world after seeing so much in the media.

For the media, this isn't about social responsibility. It's about the bottom line. I see daily how the media panders to a brutish adolescent subculture and promotes the "virtues" of selfishness, extreme impulsiveness, rowdiness, etc. This provides encouragement and solidarity for the aggressive, anti-intelligent types who strangely enough dominate the social structure of adolescent and then even adults.

At the same time, requiring the media to censor themselves would be no better. It comes down to who should determine what is right and wrong, and censorship is the bigger wrong. Ideally, the media would be agents for the free exchange of new ideas, uninterrupted by interest in preserving profits however possible. The unfortunate reality is that, as long as some people care about having a nicer house and car than everyone else, this can never happen.

There is no doubt that movies and especially cartoons, the kind of movies children mostly watch, have doen great harm in so many children world wild and still do.

Little kids are eaven worse, there so young and nieve.. And will imitate just about anything, which later in life they will see no problem in. For an older audience it's diferent, enjoy the moovie but don't try this at home.

Television, vedeo games etc. have a rating (PG, T etc.) that shouldn't be ignored.. A mature audience meens this moovie is for a mature audience not for a little kid.

I think the attention of the media on the violence in movies and video games is largely a function of a generation of parents who are hesitant to fulfill their parental responsibilities. Instead of taking the time to teach their children the differences between right and wrong (fantasy and reality, etc), these parents find an easy scapegoat in today's popular entertainment.

It's partially related to the whole concept of sex education: why do schools have to teach this to their students? Because parents aren't willing to!

Of course, the hesitancy of some parents to teach their kids isn't always a bad thing; some adults have questionable morals and flawed paradigms. However, many adults find it too easy to blame a media that is so pervasive in our lives. They lack the confidence in their own ability as parents to influence their children more than TV, video games, movies, etc. Consequently, they choose to restrict the exterior influences on their children, creating a more sterile growing-up environment.