Magen Christensen

November 28, 2010

Although we rely on the media for information, to keep in touch and even for
entertainment, an increasingly more violent world can be linked to television, video
games, the internet and music.
It has been estimated that over one thousand studies on the effects of
television and movie violence have been done in the last forty years [cite source] .
Just in the last decade the American Medical Association, the American Academy of
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the
National Institute of Mental health have separately studied and reviewed many of
these studies that have been done. Each of these reviews done by these
organizations have come to the same conclusion, that is, television violence leads
to real-world violence. (Gerdes, 2004)
Television Violence
According to a large-scale survey, fifty-seven percent of American television
programs between 6 am and 11 pm contain violent scenes (Berk, 2005). Children
are especially vulnerable to these violent scenes as they have not yet learned to
differentiate between real life and make believe. Often times[,] children are not
capable to follow a story line that eventually brings the villain to justice, rather they
only understand that the person who shot the other person got what he wanted.
Violence is hardly ever condemned and there are rarely situations where working
out the problem in a nonviolent way is shown. (Berk, 2005)

Cartoons are especially dangerous to children as there is an extremely high

volume of violent acts. Cartoons are able to show people getting punched, kicked,
falling off cliffs or even shot and because they are cartoons they are not hurt. This
adds a very distorted view of reality for children who are in the process of growing
and learning.
Barbra J. Wilson and associates conducted a case study in which the goal was
to examine the amount of violence present in television programs that were
intentionally aimed to children 12 years of age and under. The case study relied
heavily on the National Television Violence Study for its primary source of
information. The end results of the study proved to be very interesting in that shows
directly targeted at these age groups were actually more violent than other
programming. The study goes on to categorize different genres of childrens
programming and attach levels of violent behavior to each one. It was established
that the patterns of violence viewed by children greatly influenced aggressive
behavior and the viewers became desensitized. (Wilson et al., 1989)
During the nineties a show swept through America and caught the attention
of every little boy and girl. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers has been a
dilemma for teachers and parents since its debut in 1993. While the Power Rangers
feature similarities to childrens cartoon programs, it also has more violence,
averaging more than 200 acts per hour, compared with just less than 100 for the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Levin, 1996). So real actors are doing what was
previously only done by animated cartoons.
A case study conducted by Levin and Carlsson-Paige looked into the effect
that the Power Rangers had on elementary aged children. A questionnaire requiring

descriptive answers was sent out in the winter of 1994 to interested teachers
working with young children. The sample was not random, as only those interested
were polled, but 204 respondents from 17 states who worked with children 2 to 7
participated. Most of them, about 97%, voiced at least one concern about the
negative effects of the Power Rangers. The most common concern was being able to
see increased levels of violence and aggression among children. The second most
frequent concern was how the Power Rangers affected the childrens play.
Many children tended to relate to the Power Rangers. Seeing them as being
like teenagers they knew and hoped to be like. They also saw the Power Rangers as
valued heroes who were rewarded for their violence, therefore having their
aggressive behavior reinforced and strengthened. The toys that were marketed
along with the show topped the best selling toy charts in 1994. These toys further
the tendency toward imitation. Teachers explained that some of the kids were so
effected by the show that they insisted on being called by a particular Power Ranger
name and would not answer to their own name. (Levin, 1994)
With the amount of television that children are watching now days[now days
sounds awkward, maybe use these days instead] we must be more aware of the
repercussions. Violence is always occurring on programming, its what we as
Americans are interested in, and the television networks are responding with
violence more often and more intense [intensely].
Video Game Violence
Just as with increasing violence in television, video game makers have also
latched on to Americas increased interest in violence and have changed their
games to appeal to it.

Michael Carneal, a fourteen year old boy who had never shot a gun before,
stole a pistol and fired off a few practice shots the night before bringing the gun to
his Paducah, Kentucky school. Eight shots in total were fired the next morning, four
of them were head shots, one neck, and three upper torso. Lieutenant Colonel and
psychologist Dave Grossman said of this tragic event I trained a battalion of Green
Berets, the Texas Rangers, the California Highway Patrol, the Australian Federal
Police, and numerous other elite military and law enforcement organizations, and
when I told them of Michael Carneals achievement they were simply amazed.
Nowhere in the annals of military or law enforcement or criminal history can any of
us find an equivalent achievement, and this from a 14-year old boy with no previous
experience in firing a hand gun (Berk, 2005). Young Michael Carneal had never
fired an actual pistol before, but he had fired thousands of rounds in the video
games he played. Carneal fired off eight shots, one at each victim and stood in one
place while doing so firing with two hands. The normal way of firing a semiautomatic weapon in combat or while hunting is too shoot as many shots off in a
hurry until the target drops and then moving on to the next target. The way of
shooting that Carneal used is found in most combat video games, and often the
player is given more points for a one-shot or head shot kill. In these games only one
shot is needed, and with as much practice as Carneal had with these games he was
confident enough with this one-shot approach. This is reinforced by Carnealss
blank and passive facial expression and his report that it was all like a dream which
are common reactions of someone who is in the flow state associated with
completing an operantly conditioned response under a stressful situation: like
children in a fire drill, or an expert typist finding the next key (Berk, 2005).

President Bill Clinton saidthese games teach young people to kill with all
the precision of a military training program, but none of the character that goes
along with it. For children who get the right training at home and who have the
ability to distinguish between real and unreal consequences, theyre still games. But
for children who are especially vulnerable to the lure of violence, they can be much
more (Berk, 2005). This quote is right on. The U.S. military uses the Super
Nintendo and have replaced the basic gun with a plastic M-16 and have changed
the targets that appear on the screen and call the device the Multipurpose Arcade
Combat Simulator. They use this for military marksmanship training. Similarly, the
U.S. military Corps has licensed the game Doom, a basic first person shooting
game, and use it to train their combat fire teams in tactics and to rehearse combat
actions of killing.
Of course the video game industry doesnt take any blame for their games
but perhaps they should. With advertising such as Kill your friends guilt free, More
fun than shooting your neighbors cat, We took what was killer and made it mass
murder, and Destroying your enemies is not enoughyou must devour their souls
(Berk, 2005) the video game industry is blatantly admitting that their games are
killers. The industry has its own rating system that indicates that many of their
games are inappropriate for children. Yet they spend huge amounts of money
fighting legislature designed to regulate the availability of their games to children.
Arguably this industry could be harming children as much as the tobacco, alcohol or
gun industries. If these industries acknowledged their products as dangerous to
children but then refused to accept regulation of the sale of their products as well as
intentionally marketing these products with advertisements clearly enticing to

children, they would have far more litigation on their hands than they do. This is
exactly what the video game industry is getting away with. (Berk, 2005)
Violence in Music
On April 20, 1999 two teenagers killed twelve class mates, a teacher and
themselves at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. NBC reported a few
days later that the boys idolized shock rocker Marilyn Manson. Other teenage killers
have also felt the same about Manso[n]. Kip Kinkel, who murdered his parents and
two students at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon; Andrew Wurst, who
killed a teacher at an eighth grade dance in Edinboro, Pennsylvania; and Luke
Woodham, who murdered his parents and a classmate in Pearl, Mississippi (Berk,
2005). Manson, who is ordained in the Church of Satan, writes The next bully who
Fu**s with me is gonna get my metal, pow pow pow. No time to discriminate kill
every motherfu**er thats in your way. Ill make everyone pay and you will see the
boy that you loved is the monster you fear. Im gonna hate you tomorrow because
you make me hate you today. Dismissing all this as coincidence is difficult to do.
The facts of these and other instances of youth violence parallel not just the
generally violent themes but the specifically violent acts in the music these boys
consumed. Manson often sings of his troubled youth being picked on by bullies
saying they would always kick my assso I didnt end up having a lot of friends
and music was the only thing I had to enjoy. There seems to be an eerie similarity
in the youth of Marilyn Manson and the boys from Columbine High School. (Berk,
2005)

Your paper is very well written. It seems you spent a lot of time organizing it.
I noticed you did not make very many grammar or spelling mistakes. I like how you

included a lot of strong examples to express your opinion about media violence. I
think the quote from the video game company advertisement needs to be
introduced a little more clearly. I was wondering who said it, what company, or for
what game. I think the many examples of children who played violent games and
listened to violent music who killed classmates and parents really wrapped up your
paper strongly. I also liked your transition from the children playing violent games
to the military using similar games to train to kill people. The only suggestion I
have is to include a reference page at the end listing your sources. Great job.