Violence On Television Essay, Research Paper

Television has changed over time. It used to be a

wholesome activity for the family to sit in front of the tube together. It was a new technology that brought the outside world

into the living room. Now TV, as it has so lovingly been dubbed, has become a source of corruption for the nation’s children.

As the world becomes more and more violent the sanctity of the home becomes occupied with the extremities of violence.

Television and other media have caused unnecessary violence and effected the children of the entire country. Television

causes violence in children. It also inspires harmful behavior in adults. Some say that television programs do not contribute

to the violence, just depict it. Further study proves this theory wrong. Children mimic what they see. This was exceptionally

so in a group of preschoolers that were shown a tape of a man hitting a doll (Leland 47). “Afterward the kids who saw the

violence were more likely to mimic it on a similar doll” (Leland 47). Not only are television programs harmful to Allred 2

children, many violent crimes have been stimulated by TV. Movies have given people malicious ideas that led to actual

crimes. John Leland tells of a man that was a victim of a crime inspired by the movie “Magnum Force” (47). The man was

forced to eat Drano and had his mouth duct taped, just like in the movie (47). The perpetrators had watched “Magnum

Force” three times the day before (Leland 47). A similar incident occurred concerning the 1995 film “Money Train”. A man

named Harry Kaufman was killed in a Brooklyn subway tokenbooth (Leland 46). The booth, which he was clerk over, was

torched the same way a booth was in “Money Train” (Leland 46). The movie had only opened three days earlier and within

the next week two more booths had been attacked (Leland 46). Clearly violence is infecting the minds of the world with

suggestive ideas. Although some say that television violence is the effect of actual violence, surely actual violence is also the

effect of television violence. Now the question is how TV violence affects children. When children see too much violence they

become desensitized to it and/or imitate it. They may also gain a distorted world view. “Studies indicate that people who

watch a great deal of television are more likely to hold fearful or negative views of the world than those who watch less TV.

However, some researchers argue that people who watch a lot of television already hold such views” (World Book). Those

who are fearful of the worldly violence should monitor the violence in their own homes. In Allred 3 “Parents Magazine” Anita

Diamont says “Thirty years of research have proved that exposure to TV violence is hazardous to children’s health and

welfare. It makes youngsters fearful of the world, desensitizes them to the pain of others, and teaches them that it is normal

for adults to resolve conflicts with fists and guns” (40). Children cannot understand pain and death if they are watching

cartoons of coyotes falling off cliffs, just to get up and do it again. Kids are impressionable. They do imitate what they see. In

Canada a town that had recently been introduced to television noticed an increase in fighting between young children

(Leland 48). Murder rates were twice as high after only a decade (Leland 48). The media should take more initiative in this

pressing issue. Parents cannot always be watching their children and the media should be doing what they can to help

American citizens better themselves and their children. The government has conflicting priorities. If they want less violence

in the United States they should start censoring what the nation is seeing. They are just sending out reminders of what they

do not want. Although many people believe that parents should control the censorship of programming they cannot do it all.

The V-chip has been proposed. This would give parents an opportunity to take the block off if they wanted their children to

watch something. That way the government can prevent most violence while letting the parents have final say over what

their children watch. It would be a helpful reminder. Allred 4 “There are parents who are not going to use it at all. But it

does give parents some control” (Zoglin 59). Children are impacted by all education in every part of their existence. It

changes their news on life and people (Tice 37). If their views can be saved purely then everyone should be doing everything

in their power to keep it that way. The media should take some responsibility in creating a decline of corruption in the

nation. If they do not, who will? Many parents do not know that their children are watching morally and emotionally

deteriorating things. TV should be censored if only for the sake of the children.

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