V. shows, movies, videogames, or songs. Using the media as a scapegoat allows individuals to “seek out easy or even abstract entities to blame in order to shy away from holding people responsible for their behaviors” (Christopher J. Ferguson). According to associatedcontent. com, “The targeted are musicians, film stars, etc. because no one wants to have to accept that something more familiar and sinister could very well be causing these troubles” (associatedcontent.
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Because we do not know the exact cause, we quickly jumped on someone’s opinion that it was the media’s fault. Although it does not seem like a big deal, the outcomes of scapegoating are not easily forgotten. In the Salem Witch Trials many people were killed because an individual started the belief there were witches in Salem. During the Red Scare Americans’ lives were ruined. Violence is engraved in humans physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Barry Moser, a distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at the University of Louisville states, “All substance begins with violence.
We slaughter steer, quarter hog, pull living roots out of the earth. Our most common substance which feeds our body and sates our pangs of physical hunger is born of death and violence” (Barry Moser). For entertainment the Roman Empire was notorious for gladiators. The audiences were given the choice of letting these warriors live or die; during the “halftimes” of these gruesome games they held executions. Mind you that the gladiator games were a family outing because they did not have the source of technology we do today (Barbara F. McManus).
The most common assumption is violence in videogames cause aggression in adolescents and children. Christopher J Ferguson, assistant professor in the department of behavioral, applied sciences, and criminal justice at Texas A&M International University, argues, “My meta-analysis concludes there was no evidence to support either a casual or correlational relationship between videogames and aggressive behavior” and he is worried about scientists and professors making such bold statements with weak results.
He also makes an excellent point regarding crime rates; he says the crime rates have actually gone down since 1994, except for a few small increases, while violent games such as Halo and Street Fighter are becoming more popular (Christopher J Ferguson). Therefore, you can not accurately pinpoint videogames for the cause of children behaving violently. As of right now, there are laws concerning what children and teenagers should be exposed too.
The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) created a rating system for motion pictures and theatre owners voluntarily enforce them. They also rate film trailers, print advertising and other forms of media. Factors that are considered when assigning a rating are, “sex, violence, nudity, language, adult topics, and drug use. ” The point of ratings is to give the parent or guardian an idea of the material in the movie, show, or videogame, so they can decide if it is suitable for their child.
An adult must also accompany a child when buying a rated mature videogame or rated R DVDs (Motion Picture Association of America). There are even ways of censoring your televisions and internet by installing a v-chip. It is not the media’s fault if children are playing videogames that are mature, listening to music about hurting someone, watching adult movies, or looking up inappropriate images on the internet because there are so many ways to make sure they are not.
Therefore, media does not influence violence in our society, there are many facts that shut down the assumption videogames cause aggression, we have had a violent society before media was even around, and violence is just in our nature as human beings. Those who happen to stand against this are deceived by society, due to the fact that we live in a dangerous world, which will stay this way due to the inability to create proper reasoning.
