Media Violence Essay, Research Paper
Human nature, not the media, is to blame for the violence that plagues our world.Countless violent acts are blamed on our television shows, magazines, and movies when in reality they only reflect the society that created them. Violence has existed as long as people have been in contact with each other. While the media does not necessarily
promote this violence, it does not openly fight it.
As long as man has walked the Earth there have been bloody and brutal wars and conflicts. Murder was not invented along with the television. With the help of the Crusades and the extermination of Chinese peasants by the Mongols, the middle ages were among the bloodiest times the human race has ever seen. TV and newspapers certainly didn t exist in those times. Information was distributed slowly by word-of-mouth because the media empires of today just weren t around. People did what they wanted to, and that
was kill.
To say that TV shows and movies have made people more violent is absurd. Police brutality is a big issue in our society. The Rodney King beating was not the first such episode, just the first to be so clearly shown on television. This is a problem that is caused by people s natural tendency towards violence, not too many episodes of NYPD Blue . World War I was not caused by too many movies like Rambo and Commando . The 100 Years War and the American Civil War were not sparked by a too-violent news media
that incited people to fight.
There is no concrete proof that the media makes people more violent. The mother of a young boy who burned his house down blamed Beavis and Butthead for his actions. On the show, Beavis often played with cigarette lighters while screaming fire!! . While
this action doesn t necessarily need to be displayed on television, why was the 5 year old youngster left alone at 7 p.m. ( the time the episode in question aired ) to watch MTV? Where was his mother? In the article F
Monster Of TV Violence , Brian Siano says of the Beavis and Butthead incident:
But a neighbor interviewed on CNN reported that the family didn t even have cable television and that the kid had a local rep as a pyromaniac months before.
This particular account was not followed up by the national media, which, if there were no enticing Beavis and Butthead angle, would never have mentioned this fire at a low-income trailer park to begin with.
This show was unfairly blamed for the results of poor parenting. Why were there cigarette lighters lying about in the house? Why did a five year old know how to operate one?
Many recent movies are blamed for making our culture a violent one. Trendymovies like Pulp Fiction are said to glamorize violence. Vincent Vega and Jules Winfield, the main characters, brutally kill 3 people in the first 5 minutes of the movie.
Taken out of context, the killings of these men would seem heartless and brutal. However, these men have chosen a lifestyle that involves murder and mayhem. They were killed by hit men for crossing a mobster in a business deal. By the movie s end, the violent characters have either found redemption and given up their ways, or they are dead. Thereare no violent acts in Pulp Fiction that go unpunished. Movies such as this may use violence extensively, but it is to teach a lesson.
The media is not to blame for our violent ways. The fact is, people are inherently violent. It is in our nature to destroy each other. If the media caused people to be more violent, then our current murder rates would be rising, not declining. A recent FBI report shows that compared to 1996 murder rates that 1997 will have 5% less killings. Our forms of media just reflect the brutal society that we have become. We are a people that while not openly accepting violence do little to fight it. The media is just an unfortunate scapegoat for the undesirable aspects of the way we are.