OPPapers.com

Media Violence

“TV Bloodbath”
A viewer watching TV last fall might have found a woman’s decapitated body hanging from a ceiling fan and a man with railroad spikes driven through his eye sockets on CSI or a deranged killer holding a knife to the neck of a kid at a birthday party, urging him to shoot his own mother with a gun on Criminal Minds (Eggerton). It is no secret that there are concerns about the impact of television violence on society. Over the years, TV viewers have examined the connection between media violence and violence in real-life. Six of the nation’s top public health organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, summarized their results in a joint statement. "The conclusion of the public health community, based on over 30 years of research, is that viewing entertainment violence can lead to increases in aggressive attitudes, values and behavior, particularly in children” (Violence on Prime Time Broadcast TV).
Concerns about media violence date back as early as 1952. A hearing by The United States House of Representatives concluded that the "television broadcast industry was a perpetrator and a deliverer of violence" (Violence on Prime Time Broadcast TV). The Surgeon General’s office conducted an overview of existing studies on television and in 1972 concluded that it was "a contributing factor to increases in violent crime and antisocial behavior" (Violence on Prime Time Broadcast TV). However, more recently, as television has become more demented, many shows look to violent acts to intensify attention.
Media violence is somewhat like a drug. Once it is seen, people cannot get enough of it and then are immune. Being exposed to the media violence repeatedly, even the most gruesome descriptions of violence, eventually seem tame. In order for Hollywood to keep making the hit shows and films they must keep pushing for more to generate the same reaction. Lt. Col. David Grossman, author of Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill, explains: "Violence is like...