It is unfair to blame the media for American violence, which increases yearly, as statistics show. But, the media must shoulder a lot of the blame, by showing "reality" episodes of real life- car chases, shootouts in malls, such as just happened this week in Tacoma. And we cannot forget the scenes of battle casualties that the news brings us at dinner time every night.
Kids have come a long way from innocent "Cowboys and Indians" or "Cops and Robbers" games. Now there are graphic violent video games which kids can access for a couple of quarters in arcades, or in their rooms, thanks to the largesse of their parents.
There are many critics who see both sides of the coin. "When all of the positive and negative evidence for media violence is put together the results are rather blurred. While many studies have identified a connection between consumption of violent media products and aggression, what they lack is concrete proof" (K1DA 4).
There is plenty of blame to go around. And, one important factor is lack of a cohesive family. We are now living in a time of one- or even no-=parent families. There are latch-key kids because both parents work and there is little or no supervision of their activities.
Peer pressure is a contributing factor to violence among young Americans, including but not limited to the massacre at Columbine, murders at schools in Oregon and Kentucky and recently in Minnesota. By peer pressure, oone can refer to the lack of inclusion by certain students of those they feel are "nerds" or "Goths" or somehow not "worthy" of their support and association,. As Jones points out: "Some fight backa.They may feel their lives are meaninglessa.If kids don't feel that society has anything meaningful to give thema.they'll find meaning wherever they can. That's likely to be the media" (Jones 352).
If there is an accusing finger that can be pointed at the media, is that the media loves action,...