FREE ESSAY ON VIOLENCE IN SOCIETY

VIOLENCE IN SOCIETY

Running head: VIOLENCE IN THE MEDIA AND ITS EFFECTS ON SOCIETY
Violence in the Media and its Effects on Society:
Definitions, Effects on Society, Statistics, 
and Prevention
ABSTRACT
This paper discusses the effects of violence in the media and how it effects our society.
First a definition of media and violence will be presented. Then an explanation about who
violence can effect and what effects of violence are evident in our society today.
Finally, various ways of prevention are explored and a discussion of whether these paths
are just or appropriate in our present day society.
Violence in the media has been proven to be an ongoing problem in our society. The more
relaxed nature that the mass media has been moving toward has caused great disturbances
in the minds of the people in our society. In order to understand this problem, if there
is one, we must first define what exactly the mass media and violence are. Next, we must
see how it effects the people that watch it and examine the statistics to back this up.
Then, we will see why our society is attracted to violence. Finally, we should look to
see if the ways that we are addressing this problem are actually helping to resolve it. 
Definitions
Mass Media
Mass media is defined as "those means of communication that reach and influence large
numbers of peoples, especially newspapers, popular magazines, radio, and television"
(McKechnie 1976). This means that not only is television at fault for infecting our
society, but that everything from movies to comic books are as well (Larsen 1968).
Violence
Violence is defined as "to assault; to injure; also, to bring by violence; to force"
(McKechnie 1976). This means any type of fighting, blood, gore, or killing would
constitute as violence in the mass media.
Who it effects
This issue undeniably affects virtually everyone, considering that almost everyone takes
part in viewing some aspect of the media everyday. The average American spends eleven
years in front of the television set during a seventy-two year lifespan (Jeffries 1998).
Although this does effect everyone, we should focus on children because it seems that
they are the most impressionable viewers. 
It seems that "younger and younger children are committing more and more serious crimes",
and that these children are exposed to more and more violence in the media (Larsen 1968).
Whether it is an eight-year-old child watching Power Rangers or a
fourteen-year-old watching a R rated movie, it seems that our major problem lies in the
younger generation (DeGaetano 1998).
Good Effects 
Many people think that violence in the media has had only bad effects on our society.
However, there are many people who think that violence being shown and discussed has
helped society (Barbour 1994). It is obvious that the violence on television is brutal,
but the brutality makes for an unsheltered existence. It helps to show that what is going
on in the world, may be in your front yard. It helps people understand what effects may
come out of certain situations in our every day life (Barbour 1994).
The media is here to inform us, whether good or bad. We have the right to know what goes
on in the world and the media brings us this information. Movies and television shows
occupy our free time with entertainment, and the daily news keeps us informed with
current events (Barbour 1994).
Bad Effects
Through the ages, the media has seemed to loosen its morals and in turn showed more and
more violence (Dudley 1999). There are many areas in which this has caused problems. Now
I will discuss those problems and their effects on society.
The one major problem that has been brought forward by the many studies done on the
effects of violence on society, is the "monkey see, monkey do" factor. This means that if
a person, a child in particular, sees something on television, they will imitate it
(Keller 1997). Whether this is done because of curiosity, because they don't think it is
wrong, or because they think it looks "fun", most of the time they don't know what the
after effects are because they are not shown by the media (Larsen 1968). The reason this
is a problem is because there are murders every year that have definite connections to
programs on television, movies, and comic books (Easterbrook 1999). 
The recent murders in Colorado by the so-called, "Trench-Coat Mafia" were connected to
the movie "The Basketball Diaries". In the movie there is a dream sequence in which the
main character goes around his school and shoots the classmates which he did not like.
This is made attractive because of the rock music played in the background and the smile
on his face while he kills his enemy classmates (Easterbrook 1999). 
Another reason that we have problems with the violence is the fact that we are numbed to
what we are actually seeing (Kim 1998).
Repeated exposure to media violence, especially when found on television, is directly 
responsible for the increase in aggression and desensitization in our children, Madeline

Levine writes in Viewing Violence: How Media Violence Affects Your Child's and 
Adolescent's Development (Kim 1998).
The fact that a person is being killed right before our eyes is not offensive, and
anymore we may not even notice it. This is the effect of too much violence, bloodshed,
and gore in our everyday lives (Kim 1998). 
One of the main reasons that children are so susceptible to violence in the media,
especially on television, is because they are so impressionable and the television has
become like a third parent to them. In the busy lives of parents today, it is much easier
for them to just put their child in front of the television while they get some work
done. Many times cartoons have become very dangerous situations and the "real life"
consequences are not shown. Even though the parent may be monitoring the show that their
child is watching, many times there will be previews for shows which will be aired at a
later time that have violence in them (Jeffries 1998).
Statistics
As I stated earlier, there were many studies done on this topic. These studies have come
to many conclusions and statistics.
One of the reasons that acts of violence are imitated from television is because of the
easiness in which they are presented. Characters that possess qualities, which make them
attractive role models, initiate forty percent of all incidents on television that
involve violence. At least forty percent of the violent scenes on television include
humor. Many times these characters feature physical aggressions that would be lethal if
they were to occur in real life (DeGaetano 1998).
The way violence is portrayed is a problem and the amount of violent scenes in television
should be looked at. "The average prime-time show has five violent acts per hour."
"Cartoons have an alarming average of twenty-five violent acts per hour." It is also said
that by the time children have reached adolescence, they have seen more than eight
thousand killings and over one hundred thousand other acts of violence (Keller 1997).
Prevention 
There are many debates over whether television should be regulated. If it should be
regulated, then how much control should the government have over it? There are many ways
in which this can be done and each one has its own repercussions.
The V-chip 
The V-chip is a new technology that would allow parents to block television programs that
have violent or sexual context from their children. It does this through a computerized
chip that receives the rating that the government has given the program, and then if
there is a R rating, the program is not displayed (Powell 1996).
This has brought about a concern because when the government has a direct interaction
into what we see, people see it as controlling. The other downside of this is that, like
all policies that involve the family, the guardians of the children should have a more
interactive role in what they are watching and not rely on the chip to do the work. Our
society must learn to teach our children how to deal with violence, instead of just
blocking it out completely (Powell 1996).
The Rating System
There has been a rating system implemented in our television programming within the past
few years. The rating system works just like the Movie Theater rating system. Many people
would agree that this is the most sensible plan of prevention. This way leads the family
to decide what should be seen and not the government. Although this would not physically
prevent them from seeing the program, it would allow them to decide whether the child is
old enough to watch the program or not (Easterbrook 1999).
Regulatory acts
There have been a number of acts that the U.S. Senate has tried to pass on regulating
what is allowed to be posted on television. The reason that people don't like this method
goes along the same lines of the V-chip. They do not want government intervention
(Barbour 1994).
Conclusion
In order to address a problem as controversial as violence in the media, you must
understand both sides of the story. The effects of the violence can be very harmful to
our society. Though there are ways in which violence is needed to be shown, it does not
need to be shown to the extent that we see through the mass media. There are many ways in
which we can prevent violence from being seen and our society must agree on one for it to
be extremely effective. But whatever way we decide, it is obvious that the family needs
to be stronger and violence must be addressed at a younger age and not just learned from
the television.
Bibliography
References
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Easterbrook, Gregg (1999). Yes, the media do make us more violent.-Watch and learn. The
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Jeffries, Stuart (1998). Television is accused of creating a society of violent,
illiterate slobs. Yes, it can show us how to kill - but it can also teach us how to love.
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