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 ---- To sign off SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]