Media violence begets societal violence

  

Date Posted: 9/18/2011 4:54:12 AM

Posted By: foro  Membership Level: Bronze  Total Points: 63

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Different media channels have impacted positively on modern societies. They have played the role of informing people about happenings in all areas of life as well as educating them. The influence these channels have had on human lives has resulted from technological advancement that has enabled information gathering to be swift and accurate. Despite having had positive effects on human lives, media channels have also impacted negatively on the society. These effects have been experienced by different members of the society with varied degrees, the young people being the most affected. Media has greatly contributed to the violence that is very conspicuous in the society today.

The television is one of the most common types of media that is widely used in the world. Moreover, it is viewed by people of all demographic characteristics including children. Children at tender age, who watch television, are exposed to a lot of violence which instill fear in them. The impact of television violence on children can be well understood by looking at how advertisements affect the behavior of adults. It has been found that a short exposure to an advert can influence a person to make a buying decision. Children, who have less reasoning abilities, are therefore more prone to influence than the adults. The media propagates violence by giving a lot of coverage to issues related violence (Bushman and Anderson, 2001).Children who watch news of rape, war and abduction almost on daily basis are likely to fear the world. This denies such children the freedom they are entitled to; to walk around freely with their security guaranteed.

The youths of today have a lot of freedom at their disposal. This has been facilitated by the hard economic conditions in the world. Many parents cannot sacrifice their jobs to monitor their children. Youths who are

left to make decisions on their own are left with a lot of free time to watch television. The materials that these youths watch include rock music which is filled with a lot of violence. The youths thus pick characteristics such as rebellion from television broadcasts. These youths easily pick fights even with their parents over petty issues. In extreme cases, such youths end up being involved in organized crimes which include killing and rape. On the other hand, there are those, when exposed to violence, take it as part of life. As such, they are less sensitive to violence directed to others. This creates a society that cannot rise up against violence since they are indifferent to it.

Many of the video games of modern times involve characters killing each other. The youths who play these games yearn to win in the games. Bearing in mind the long hours spent playing these games, the killing notion in the minds of the youths become the order of the day such that there is no clear line between reality and fiction in the games. Inability to define the boundaries between fiction and reality lead to youths being violent in real life which may cause a lot of chaos in the society. The aggressive thoughts in youths exposed to high level of violence have been found to extend to adulthood (Freedman, 2002). The adults who were exposed to media violence at a tender age are more likely to abuse their spouses and may even get involved in rape and murder.

Both newspapers and television contribute the occurrence of violence. The decision to fit the v-chips in television sets by the former United States President is an acknowledgement of how media violence begets violence in the society (Stephens and Leach, 1998).The v-chips were meant to filter violence from television to prevent its effects from sipping in to the society. Violent gangs have been found to commit crime after the media highlights the likelihood of an occurrence of crime. According to Garbner, (2002), people who have been exposed to a great deal of violence from the media get engulfed with fear of being attacked. The fear originates from the belief that the real world is more dangerous than it is. The violent images are perceived as representatives of the real world in the minds of the viewers. The youths who do not watch the television more often and those who talk regularly with their parents have a more clear view of the world as compared to those who talk less and watch the television frequently. They are therefore better in terms of estimating how vulnerable they are to violent attacks than the quiet frequent television watchers.

The potential of the media violence to influence the magnitude of violence in the society cannot be over-emphasized. The more the violence in the media, the more violent the society and the larger world. Social order is essential for a good relationship between people and their survival is dependent on it. Creating violence in the society through the media threatens the peace and existence of the human race. The media can play a big role in ensuring a violence free society.

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