In, “Aggression: The Impact of Media Violence”, Sissela Bok addresses the ever rising issue of media violence and it is affect on crime rates across the globe. She also says that violent shows and violent crimes have a high correlation rate.
Bok is really trying to get the attention of the people who create such violent shows, as she believes they should have taken some blame as to why the violent crime rate has increased over the years. Sissela states that the amount of violent programming being aired correlates to the amount of violent crime amongst viewers; therefore why shouldn’t the makers of such violent programs be held responsible?
She even discusses the affect of viewing violent pornography among males. Referencing a report, which led to the conclusion that violent pornography affects “the attitudes of adolescents about rape and violence towards women” It also says, “when it comes to viewing violent pornography, levels of aggression toward women have been shown to go up among male subjects who view sexualized violence against women.”
The purpose of this essay is to make people aware of how watching violent shows influences bad behaviour on them, “The rates of injury suffered by small children are skyrocketing, with the number of seriously injured children nearly quadrupling from 1986 to 1993; and a proportion of these injuries are inflicted by children upon one another”. Sissela states those who watch violent programming, are more likely to find aggressive or violent acts towards another permissible and an acceptable way of dealing with conflict. She finds that “media violence has been found to have stronger effects of this kind when carried out by heroic characters…when they are rewarded not punished for what they do.”
So I ask you this, why do you think the media is so focused on showing us violence in the news cast?
Good question and in my opinion I think the media is focussed on the ratings and not the development of children. We are in need of an action plan to attack this growing problem.
ReplyDeleteI think it is because violence attracts attention from everyone, which means higher ratings for the media.
ReplyDeleteHi Serena,
ReplyDeleteGood use of quotes to give us a sense of what this writer is all about. I like your statement that Bok is trying to get the producers of violent programming to take some responsibility for their product and its effects. Maybe a giant recall is in order, but censorship also has its downside.
Question: Do you think Bok undermined or strengthened her argument when she said that it is difficult to get conclusive facts to support a direct correlation between violent programming and acts of violence?