Violence on Television Does Not Impact Behavior

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Violence on Television Does Not Impact Behavior

TV heroes endorse tanks of noxious,flesh-eating gas The complex age of elaborate laptops, portable color televisions in every room, and pocket radios the size of a basic calculator have all taken their toll on American society. In a furious outburst reflecting the contemporary society in which we live, television has come to represent all that is evil and wicked for our children. Through gruesome, explicit, and often unrealistic portrayals of death and violence, the impressionable clay of our children's minds are being molded into vicious statues incapable of comprehending the gap between what is real and what is injurious. What you see is what you get has taken on an all too terrifying reality. It's not just an escapist ideal, denial, or unavailable evidence that define why people equate violence on TV with the violence in their lives and in other Americans lives. It's a founded and plausible justification. Over 1,000 detailed studies confirm this link. Advanced scientific research illustrates the horrific results we hate to hear: television is bad for kids. Our electronic babysitter has reached the end of her employment - she shoots out too many intensely violent acts in a surprisingly perfunctory way. Leonard Eron, PhD at the University of Illinois, conducted a close study of television viewing from age 5 to age 30. The results hurt our television-loving brains: the more hours of television violence viewed, the more the tendency for aggressive behavior in teenage years becomes as does the likelihood of criminal acts and arrest in later years. Brandon Centerwell, professor at the University of Washington, depicted the doubling of the homicide rate after the introduction of tele...

... middle of paper ...

...atment begins with attacking and ultimately

eliminating the virus itself. Then, the body will be able to heal itself. The same is true in society. TV is merely a

symptom of violence in life. Once our value systems, akin to a virus, are reevaluated and altered, only then can society

begin to improve.

Violence is everywhere. It is an impossibility to avoid it. Refusal to address the issue will not solve it. The parents must

stop allowing TV to be the baby-sitter and sole educator of their children. TV is a medium for entertainment, not

instruction. The parents must seize responsibility of properly raising their children. Herein lies the solution. Do not

look to TV land for salvation, because it stands like a mirror, reflecting your image. Just as one cannot complain to a

mirror that one is too fat or too ugly, one cannot impugn TV for our own evils.

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