by Rocket

Created on: March 31, 2009

I certainly would say that the violence in TV., movies and video games are promoting that sort of behavior by numbing the public to what would once be considered too horrifying to contemplate. All of us are expected to laugh at or take casually, bank robberies, bombings, killings and kidnappings, and it is no longer the good guy we are cheering, but the smart or funny guy.

Take a bunch of impressionable children, who have two parents or maybe just one who are working all day long and are too tired to show any real emotions to their children at the end of the day, a diet of violent games and movies, and you have children with no filter of what is right or wrong, sane or insane. Add to that mix a lack of any religious faith or community and you have the possibility of raising potential killers.

To that mix add easy gun laws that make it possible for everyone to obtain guns, and it is no surprise that children are killing children!

Latest campus shootings? Isn't it shocking enough that there have been at least 10 high schools over the years where kids are killing one another?

All this violence, and yes, sex, on T.V., and movies are also indicative of society's attitude towards its' youth: society has no time or desire to protect the youth against subjects they are not ready to deal with. Commercials, T.V. serials, and movies all present the most personal and private of subjects as if they were as wholesome as apple pie. How can children differentiate what is acceptable or not acceptable if they are presented in this way?

Nowadays, with over 100 cable channels, thousands of computer sites on all subjects, uncensored video games, and no family structure, the children are not only exposed to violence, they are bombarded with its' images. With no community and little contact with other children, the consequences of actions do not seem as strong or real. The feelings of compassion and empathy are clearly missing here too.

Plays and shows were originally meant as entertainment. Then the need for meaning or making the viewer think came into view. But now, with so much money to be made, whatever it is that will sell movies goes. There are no longer censors. In "PG" movies you can sometimes hear the "F" word said every other line by the most darling of stars. I am no prude, but I wince when I hear it, because inside I know this is forbidden behavior. But kids today don't have that inner judgement as they have not been given that kind of education.

Humans are in the end fragile beings, as witnessed by our history: wars, genocide, the holocaust. In a world that is so connected to the media, these images have more influence than they should have. Frank Zappa once said at his congressional hearing regarding the language in his songs, "They are words, only words". But what he didn't realize is that words are the gates to behavior. Once that taboo has been broken, then other taboos, such as valuing others' lives get broken too, and if T.V. and movies think it is okay, without other sources of comment, then who is to say it isn't?

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