TV and It’s Effects on Society

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In the two essays, Don’t Blame TV by Jeff Greenfield and Who Us? Stop Blaming Kids and TV by Mike Males, both authors defend the theory that television has little impact on today’s youth and that other significant factors are to blame for the negative changes in society. While the topics may appear similar, there are many differences in how the authors attempt to defend their theses, making one more successful than the other. In any well written argumentative essay there must be a clear thesis, good supporting examples, some objections along with any rebuttals, the writing should be focused with a natural flow.

Firstly, the thesis of Greenfield’s essay is somewhat broad and it is not explicitly stated so the reader can understand the topic. He states in his thesis that TV

has been blamed for the decline of scores on scholastic achievement tests, for the rise in crime, for the decline in voter turnout, for the growth of premarital and extramarital sex, for the supposed collapse of family life and the increase in divorce rate (1).

Further along in the essay he gets to his real thesis with a Latin phrase describing false causation: post hoc, ergo propter hoc (1). In other words, it is incorrect to conclude that since these changes in society followed the rise in television usage, television must be the cause. This thesis is what he attempts to support in his essay, but it is naïve to surmise that the increase in TV and the increase in societies problems are merely coincidental. On the other hand, Males makes his thesis very simple and clear in the first line of his essay by quoting James Baldwin: “Children have never been very good at listening to elders, but they have never failed to imitate them” (qtd. in Males 1). By this refe...

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...violence directly and his avoidance of sex is less apparent. The lack of evidence in Greenfield’s essay is also a major contribution to it’s overall failure. For these reasons I would have to choose Mike Males’ essay for it’s clear and simple thesis, examples with supporting facts, confrontation of opposing views, and overall focus and continuity.

Works Cited

Greenfield, Jeff. “Don’t Blame TV” Contemporary Reader

International Association of Chiefs of Police “Recommendations from the 1997 IACP Summit” theiacp.org (1997) Web. (12 Apr. 2011)

Males, Mike. “Who Us? Stop Blaming Kids and TV - For Crime and Substance Abuse” Progressive Oct. 1997

Nagourney, Eric. “Behavior: TV in Child's Room Sets Off Academic Alert” New York Times (2005) Web. 12 Apr. 2011

Shapiro, Jeremy F. “Sex and Television: The Impact on Our Children” Daily Strength (Nov. 2008) Web. 12 Apr. 2011

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