jennifer taylor wrote:
 
>Opinion  on TV violence
>
>
>Chris W. said "Do you assume here that censorship is a natural and
>desirable thing to do to children?" "You are entitled to do this, but
>you should be aware that you question contains the assumption."
>
>I think children should be kept from watching certain shows. Violence on
>TV directly causes violent behavior. An example of this is the show that
>used to come on called The Incredible Hulk. My younger bother James,
>used to watch it. When  the main character  would turn into the Hulk, of
>course he would throw items such as cars. My brother picked up on these
>things.  My brother would get mad and have a temper tantrum. After
>watching this show he would throw his toys.  One day he happened to
>throw a match box car through our glass door. Once mom figured out  he
>was imitating the Hulk, she wouldn't let him watch the show anymore and
>he stopped throwing things when he'd get mad. Younger children pick up
>on little things like this. Some shows that have cursing in them they
>pick up on this as well. I certainly do not want my children watching
>shows like that. I understand children are exposed to a certain amount
>of bad language and violence in real life without having to watch tv. We
>should take into consideration the type of words used and how often. If
>a child sees someone on the tv cursing out another person then that
>child could turn and curse some stranger or even his/her parents. Most
>young children are easily influenced between  the ages of 4 - 15. It may
>be hard to say whether you would or wouldn t let your children watch the
>violent shows if you don t have any children. Just watching my younger
>brother and even my younger cousins makes me stop and think about this
>violence and even most of the language that is involved in these shows.
>When they see violence on tv they think it s neat and want to try it out
>on their friends. Someone usually ends up getting hurt.
<snip>
 
This kind of anecdotal "evidence" has the scientific validitiy of
absolutely zero. And, given a close examination, so does the majority of
the 'effects' research on media violence. I'd recommend a reading of the
writings of Jonathan Freedman, David Gauntlett, Guy Cumberbatch & Dennis
Howitt and the excellent anthology 'Ill Effects' edited by Martin Barker &
Julien Petley (Routledge 1997), before jumping to conclusions on the
'effects' of media violence.
 
A more interesting question then the probably un-solveable 'does media
violence cause real violence or does real violence cause media violence'
would be 'Why is there such a fuzz about media violence when we know it's
really a marginal factor compared to social factors as class, poverty,
parent's education, alcohol and drug abuse, criminality and so on. 'Family
values' anyone?
 
Ulf
 
Ulf Dalquist             Phone:+46-46-222 95 72
Dept. of Sociology       Fax:+46-46-222 47 94
Lund University          Email:[log in to unmask]
Box 114 Sweden
 
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