Is the Increase in Youth Violence Due to an Increase in Media Violence?
Clarise E King
Post University On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, both high school seniors, entered their school Columbine High dressed in matching trench coats and armed with two shotguns, one rifle, one semi-automatic weapon and a cache of explosives, with one intention, murder. Reportedly, the duos initial plan was to set off a propane tank which they had converted into a bomb, but when that plan failed the two went on a shooting spree. The pair walked around randomly choosing their victims; they killed over a dozen people and wounded almost two dozen others, before turning the guns on themselves and taking their own lives. In all, there were …show more content…
Gone are the days when our children’s biggest threat was a playground bully. Today, young people are becoming both perpetrators and victims of crime at some very alarming rates. Our children are participating in gang violence, bringing hand guns to school, and committing all sorts of other deviant acts. What is perhaps most alarming is that violence is becoming so commonplace in many communities and schools that it is considered the norm rather than the exception. For example, a 14-year-old girl, responding to her mother 's concern about a drive-by shooting near her school, said, “Mom, get used to it—that 's the way it is.” Mass media has definitely influence on how people view violence and deviant behavior. Some television shows obliterate or obscure the boundaries that society has created between good and evil, public and private, shame and pride; politicians and special interest groups deliberately lie to sell an image or a point of view, and as a result killing is sometimes portrayed as understandable and righteous when it advances a certain point of view on a controversial issue; all of which are redefining violence as normal (Johnson & Johnson, …show more content…
Results found that violence in films has more than doubled since 1950, and gun violence in PG-13 rated films has more than tripled since 1985. Thus, even if youth do not use guns, these findings suggest that they are exposed to increasing gun violence in films. Thus, by including guns in violent scenes, film producers may be strengthening the weapons effect and providing youth with scripts for using guns (Bushman, Jamieson, Weitz & Romer, 2013). Not only does viewing violence on television and in film reinforce the weapon effect, a term used in psychology to describe the phenomena that occurs when the image of a gun increases aggressive behavior in humans, it encourages imitative or copycat behavior as well. Youth begin to identify with or idolize the main characters that they see on television and in films, and they start believing the best way to deal with conflict is to get their hands on a gun. Young children have an instinctive desire to imitate the behavior of others, but they do not possess an instinct for gauging whether a behavior ought to be imitated. They will imitate anything, including behaviors most adults would regard as destructive and antisocial (Grossman & DeGaetano,
Clarise E King
Post University On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, both high school seniors, entered their school Columbine High dressed in matching trench coats and armed with two shotguns, one rifle, one semi-automatic weapon and a cache of explosives, with one intention, murder. Reportedly, the duos initial plan was to set off a propane tank which they had converted into a bomb, but when that plan failed the two went on a shooting spree. The pair walked around randomly choosing their victims; they killed over a dozen people and wounded almost two dozen others, before turning the guns on themselves and taking their own lives. In all, there were …show more content…
Gone are the days when our children’s biggest threat was a playground bully. Today, young people are becoming both perpetrators and victims of crime at some very alarming rates. Our children are participating in gang violence, bringing hand guns to school, and committing all sorts of other deviant acts. What is perhaps most alarming is that violence is becoming so commonplace in many communities and schools that it is considered the norm rather than the exception. For example, a 14-year-old girl, responding to her mother 's concern about a drive-by shooting near her school, said, “Mom, get used to it—that 's the way it is.” Mass media has definitely influence on how people view violence and deviant behavior. Some television shows obliterate or obscure the boundaries that society has created between good and evil, public and private, shame and pride; politicians and special interest groups deliberately lie to sell an image or a point of view, and as a result killing is sometimes portrayed as understandable and righteous when it advances a certain point of view on a controversial issue; all of which are redefining violence as normal (Johnson & Johnson, …show more content…
Results found that violence in films has more than doubled since 1950, and gun violence in PG-13 rated films has more than tripled since 1985. Thus, even if youth do not use guns, these findings suggest that they are exposed to increasing gun violence in films. Thus, by including guns in violent scenes, film producers may be strengthening the weapons effect and providing youth with scripts for using guns (Bushman, Jamieson, Weitz & Romer, 2013). Not only does viewing violence on television and in film reinforce the weapon effect, a term used in psychology to describe the phenomena that occurs when the image of a gun increases aggressive behavior in humans, it encourages imitative or copycat behavior as well. Youth begin to identify with or idolize the main characters that they see on television and in films, and they start believing the best way to deal with conflict is to get their hands on a gun. Young children have an instinctive desire to imitate the behavior of others, but they do not possess an instinct for gauging whether a behavior ought to be imitated. They will imitate anything, including behaviors most adults would regard as destructive and antisocial (Grossman & DeGaetano,