Media Violence: Ugly and Getting Uglier

http://www.worldandi.com/specialreport/violence/violence.html

This article, by Daphne Lavers, talks about the increased violence across America since shortly after the introduction of the television to society. Lavers writes about the complaints of the Parents Television Council (PTC) against TV networking and the influence it is having on today’s children. There is cause to worry about child addictions to sleazy media and desensitizing them to violent acts. As our young children become more desensitized, their thirst for excitement is heightened, raising the bar for both sex and violent content. The timing of programming that is overloaded with sex and violence is also a big issue. Not long ago, more risqué and violent television was held off until “after hours”—now we see it on prime time television. If we start our kids on questionable media at such a young age, we lay out the perfect path for numbing them to these issues.

Lavers argues that this is not simply an issue of morals:
“Murder rates doubled 10 to 15 years after the introduction of television in the United States, Canada, and virtually every country where "free" television was launched... In the last 10 years, violent female role models have emerged on movie and television screens...the violent crime rate has risen 93 percent among females compared to 35 percent for males, and the largest growing portion of the prison population is violent female inmates.”
Current society is portraying sex and violence as, maybe not “glamorous"-as is the word so often used, but as "entertaining". That is why we see TV networks and video games always trying to beat each other with the amounts of blood and guts and slutty characters.
I agree with Lavers. I don’t understand how people can not realize the effect of the media that constantly surrounds us. I think that that is such a popular opinion because we ourselves have been raised with this media. I admit that I consider myself numb to some aspects of the media. I have seen violent things that don’t cause me to blink. But I realize that they should.
The solution Lavers offers is an increase in the use of self-editing when it comes to television. There are available devices for editing profanity and blocking entire programs if necessary. At this point, I feel that though those may help, they won’t get the overall job done. I’m not sure if what we need is attainable with current standards. We would have to seriously back track with the content that is released in the media. If society would stand together on this issue, it may be resolved. After a very long time.