While violence is not new to the human race, it is an increasing problem in modern society. With greater access to firearms and explosives, the scope and efficiency of violent behavior has had serious consequences. We need only look at the recent school shootings, and the escalating rate of youth homicides among urban adolescents to appreciate the extent of this ominous trend. While the causes of youth violence are multifaceted and include such variables as poverty, child abuse, family psychopathology, exposure to domestic and community violence, substance abuse and other psychiatric disorders, the research literature is quite compelling that a child's exposure to media violence plays an important role in the origin of violent behavior (Watson). While it is difficult to determine which children who have experienced televised violence are at greatest risk, there appears to be a strong correlation between media violence and aggressive behavior within vulnerable "at risk" segments of youth. Children spend more time in front of the television every week than they do on any other activity except sleeping (Muscari 31). Exposing children to violence can desensitize them to violence and cause them to act more aggressively.
To understand human attraction to violent entertainment, it is necessary to look not only at, but beyond, the mass media. Depictions of violence, bloodshed and death, are not new, and they certainly are not a product of the electronic age. Many cultures in history used violence as a form of entertainment. Interest in blood sports was as fervent in classical Greece and Rome as it is today. From Greek chariot races and Roman Gladiators to wrestling and Football games, crowds of spectators have gathered together to witnes...
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...sion and in movies, desensitizes our youth, and increases the likelihood that someone will gravitate towards violence to settle a conflict. Even though the person has to have a predisposition to kill, the issue at hand, which can not be over-emphasized enough, is that we are raising children to have such a disposition. Murderers are trained. While the media is not the only influencing factor in a child's life, it does play a significant role in teaching them what is and is not acceptable behavior in society. Without question, while not the only influencing factor in a child's life, media violence contributes to the breakdown of inhibitions, and that by over time, with repeated exposure to violence in the context of entertainment, many children exhibit decreasing emotional responses to the depiction of violence and behave more aggressively now than ever before.
According to John Davidson's essay Menace to Society, "three-quarters of Americans surveyed [are] convinced that movies, television and music spur young people to violence." While public opinion is strong, the results of research are divided on the effects of media violence on the youth in this country. Davidson wrote that most experts agree that some correlation between media violence and actual violent acts exists, yet the results are contradictory and researchers quibble about how the effects are to be measured (271). Moreover, Davidson is not convinced that the media is the sole problem of violence, or even a primary problem. He points out that other factors, such as "poverty, the easy accessibility of guns, domestic abuse, [and] social instability" may have a greater impact on a child becoming violent than the influence of the media (277). Even though other forces may be stronger, media violence does have some adverse effects on the members of society. If senseless violence on television and in movies had no effect, it would not be such a hotly debated topic. What type of effects and whom they affect are the most argued aspects of the discussion.
Does entertainment influence society's attitude towards violent behavior? In order to fully answer this question we must first understand what violence is. Violence is the use of one's powers to inflict mental or physical injury upon another; examples of this would be rape or murder. Violence in entertainment reaches the public by way of television, movies, plays, music, and novels. Through the course of this essay it will be proven that violence in entertainment is a major factor in the escalation of violence in society, once this is proven we will take all of the evidence that has been shown throughout this paper and come to a conclusion as to whether or not violence in entertainment is justified and whether or not it should be censored.
Consequentialism and deontology are two different theories concerning with morality. Consequentialism believes in the concept of the end justifies the means. On the other hand, deontology does not believe in the concept of the ends justifies the means. It believes that right actions are defined by duty. Deontology is the opposite of consequentialism when it comes to moral ethics, making it the better approach.
When families sit down to watch television, they expect to watch family type of shows. Family type shows meaning rated PG or PG13, sitcoms and movies that do not include weapons, killing, foul language, and non-socially accepted actions. When children killing, they start to believe that it is accepted. Do children think that killing and hurting others and themselves have little meaning to the real life, children can become traumatized. Most killers or violators of the law blame their behavior on the media, and the way that television portrays violators. Longitudinal studies tracking viewing habits and behavior patterns of a single individual found that 8-year-old boys, who viewed the most violent programs growing up, were the most likely to engage in aggressive and delinquent behavior by age 18 and serious criminal behavior by age 30 (Eron, 1). Most types of violence that occur today links to what people see on television, act out in video games or cyberspace games, or hear in music. Media adds to the violence that exists today and in the past few decades. It will continue in the future if it is not recognized as a possible threat to our society. When kids go to a movie, watch television, play video games or even surf the web, they become part of what they see and hear. Soaking violence in their heads long enough becomes a part of the way they think, acts, and live. The line between pretend and reality gets blurred.
In Yolanda Estes’ essay “Moral Reflections on Prostitution” she argues that “prostitution violates the Kantian ‘principle of humanity’ because it reflects a disrespectful attitude, which is expressed in the nonchalant use of the human body as a mere means to achieve some goal” (p.1). I merit Estes for arguing her belief logically using the support of five clearly outlined claims.
While violence is not new to the human race, it is an accumulative epidemic that is taking over today’s society. With firearms, ammunition and explosives becoming more accessible, this is resulting into more violent behavior and less serious consequences. Violence in the media plays an imperative role in the etiology of violent and hostile behavior in the world today. While it is difficult to determine which age group have experienced more televised violence, studies have shown that the consequences of aggressive and violent behavior have brought a great deal of human agonizing, suffering, pain and financial destitution to our society, as well as an atmosphere of apprehension, distress and doubt. Research indicates that violence in the media has not just increased in quantity; it has also become more explicit, sexual and sadistic. Most acts of violence in media and on television are laughed off and there are no consequences for these actions.
Since the 1950’s the number of households with televisions has increased from ten to ninety-nine percent. Over the past 30 years, there has been extensive research on the relationship between televised violence and violent behavior among youth, aacap.org. Eugene V Beresin, M.D. concluded in his article “The Impact of Media Violence on Children and Adolescents: Opportunities for Clinical Interventions” aacap.org.
Ethics is defined as “the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation”. “Business ethics is defined as “the study of ethical dilemmas, values, and decision making in the world of business”, which is not considered as a “separate disciple from ethics, and international business ethics, “examines many practical issues that result from international context of business” (Satterlee, 2009).
Drugs, poverty, and an unstable home life are some of the already factors that influence violence; if the already known factors are combined with media violence, “the result is an explosion of violent crime in any nation in which it takes place” suggests Lt. Col. David Grossman (par. 3). Most people who are often exposed to violence would argue, “Not all people who are exposed to media violence are murderers.” This is true, but most murderers have had some involvement with violent video games, rap music, or television. Kids tend to mimic the actions of others whether they are good or bad. For example, if a kid witnesses someone bullying someone else, they will, more likely than not, join them. Why wouldn’t this be the same if they observed someone committing violent actions through media? Some might also argue that the murder rate has decreased throughout the years. Grossman recommended looking at the assault rate rather than the murder rate be...
On average an American child will see 16,000 murders and 200,000 acts of violence by the age of 18 through the television. Thousands of studies from the 1950s to the present day have all suggested that viewing violent acts will increase violent behavior while only less than 20 have suggested otherwise (Boyse). As our children are exposed to these 16,000 murders and 200,000 violent acts one can only conclude that aggression, crime and violence can only increase in our younger generations from being exposed to the current media.
Violent media influence on the attitudes and behaviour of young people has been a hot topic of debate for decades. Critics say that violence in television, movies, and video games, desensitizes children to real effects that violence has on society and themselves. The problem is that teenagers tend to act on the behaviour seen in the television shows they watch and the video games they play every day. They shoot someone in a video game and not be able to distinguish that it is morally wrong to kill someone but to influence every day it does not affect them and they will grow up and be a savage. This subject is debated because of the profound effect that violence can in the future of society. The introduction of television violence has led many to theorize that chronic exposure to the act will desensitize some teenagers and cause them to develop the characteristics of a more aggressive.
When faced with the issue of alleviating poverty or saving nature, many would agree with the following statement: as a society we ought to use available resources and funds to help the poor. In his article “Feeding people versus Saving Nature” Rolston opposes this position and asserts his view that there are times when we ought to choose to save nature instead of feeding the poor. I will argue in favor of Rolston’s argument and against those such as Singer, who strongly opposes the notion that preserving nature and allowing people to unnecessarily die is morally wrong. In reality there are many ways in which we can address the issue of global poverty without resorting to destroying natural ecosystems that we are dependent on.
Television violence causes children and teenagers to be less caring, to lose their inhibitions, and to be less sensitive. In a study on the connection between violence and television done with 1,565 teenage boys over a six-year period in London, William Belson, a British psychologist, found that every time a child saw someone being shot or killed on television they became less caring towards other people (Kinnear 26). William Belson also discovered that every time a child viewed this violence on television, they lost a fragment of their inhibitions towards others (Kinnear 26). In addition to William Belson’s study, studies done by many scientists and doctors show that seeing violence on television causes viewers to become less sensitive to the pain of others (Mudore 1).
Are video games a negative or positive influence on children’s behavior and actions? Several studies have been pointing out that exposure to violence on television, movies, video games, cell phones and the Internet increases the risk of violent behavior in the viewer, like to grow in an environment filled with real violence increases the risk of violent behavior. Plentiful of the research on current media have focused on the violence spread by TV for experts in developmental psychology and John Murray of Kansas State University, United States, it is difficult to conclude otherwise than that violence on television has increased levels of violence and aggression in the society, and that video games have an effect even more powerful. Violent video games are more distress, than the films of the same sign and that the images of violence shown on television because they are interactive, because they use a technology environment that allows the user total immersion in the situation, while producing new objects cultural. The reason is that video games are not limited to violence to show a passive spectator, but require the person to connect with the character and act for him, while violence in film and television images whose exposure is limited only to visual perception. The video game violence has long-term real effects. Children exposed to high levels of violent entertainment can become more aggressive and develop a tremendous face the suffering of others, also increases the likelihood they interact and respond to violence in their social environment. In violent video games as success is clearly defined as killing or take, and failure as die or loses the good and evil as the wicked: they, different from us, it is just revenged, I mate,...
With the explosion of technology today, access to the media is at your fingertips, anytime, anywhere, and almost 24/7. Video games, movies, cartoons, daily news, websites, music videos, and even in commercials, violence is everywhere, and it becomes harder and harder to avoid. Violence in the media has been increasing and reaching dangerous proportions. According to Report of the Media Violence Commission, the effects are remarkably consistent regardless of type of medium, age, gender, or where the person lives in the world (336). Many studies and researches reveal the empirical evidence that links violence in movies and television shows to aggressive behavior in children, teenagers, and adults. Increasing aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, and fear are three types of negative effects contributed to by violence in movies and television shows. The article, “The Influence of Media Violence on Youth” emphasizes that violent television shows, films, and music reveal unequivocal evidence that media violence increases the likelihood aggressive and violent behavior in both immediately, and in the long term (Anderson, Craig A., 81). Violence now has gone into the mainstream. The Hunger Games, one of the top grossing films in 2013 replete with blood, gore and violence. The Walking Dead was once voted highest-rated entertainment program on TV with horrific violent scenes, killing from stabbing into the heads, bloody corpses, and disturbing, haunting images shown in most of the scenes. CBS’ Criminal Minds is television show with series of scary scenarios showing the violent murders of psychopath people. Worst of all, Silence of the Lambs deals with a psychopath who ...