by Patrick Austin

Created on: February 04, 2009

Before I begin, let me present you with a thought: Why do people believe violent movies, music, and video games have negative effects of children but apparently the violence in The Bible doesn't?

Nothing annoys me more than when people complain about the level of violence movie's today (because all films back in "the day" were kid friendly, apparently nobody remembers A Clockwork Orange....hmm) but nobody brings up the fact that violence is present in many, many popular written works that people love. And it's not only violence, but sexual situations as well. Don't believe me? The "great" work Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare features murder, men discussing raping strangers on a street, talk of sex with a 13 year old, suicide, and more (sorry Mr. Price but it helps my case) but does anyone object when this is read to students? Of coarse not because people who complain about violence in movies are stupid, simple as that. According to thier beliefs, the reading of Romeo and Juliet is perfectly fine in a place where kids are forced, by law, to attend but the showing of the film Schindler's List unedited on TV, (which kids aren't forced by law to watch, by the way) is taking TV "to an all time low" and is "...irresponsible sexual behavior...I cringe when I realize that there were children all across this nation watching this program." (Tom Coburn) It just makes sense that kids would prefer to watch a long, depressing film about the horrors of the Holocaust instead of Disney Channel.

Now I'm not saying violence is okay and should be added as much as possible in films, but that people should simply not blame movies for having violence that "negatively effect children" when other mediums of entertainment are just as guilty. Before you send an angry letter to the local theater for showing a violent war film, remember that you must then send a letter to every book or video store. (A point should be made that I am not criticizing these places at all but they should be blamed as well if a movie theater is.)

The main point I am trying to communicate is violence is everywhere, in movies, on TV, in video games and in books so do not only blame TV, movies, and video games for "having a negative effect" on kids when books are just as guilty and people need to realize that. And 100% of the responsibility of not having kids watch or read violent things belongs to, you guessed it, the parents.

Thanks for reading and remember: Don't blame movies, blame yourself and yourself alone!

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