Click here for a site explaining censorship.Violence in mass media, which encompasses television, film, video games and music, has long been a controversial issue in America. Since the popularization of television in the 1950s, a segment of the U.S. population challenged the broadcasting of violent images. The fundamental question at that time remains the same in the twenty-first century: What effects do violent images have on the nation's children? In the 1960s and 1970s, as media portrayals of violence increased, reactions against these images intensified and actions of censorship were demanded. This uproar incited an anticensorship movement as activists voiced their concerns about potential societal repression and loss of free speech. Despite various studies (dating from the 1960s and still being conducted today) that link aggressive behaviors with media violence, the entertainment industry consistently denies that violent images negatively impact children. In response to the 1999 Columbine High School shootings, the Clinton administration funded a Federal Trade Commission investigation into media violence. The FTC’s 2000 report, Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children, concluded that the entertainment industry characteristically markets violent material to children under seventeen. Consequently, self-regulatory rules were enacted against the industry. In spite of the directives and subsequent changes to the industry, media violence continues to be a concern of mainstream U.S. society. This divisive issue continues to be debated among politicians, the media industry, advocates of federal restrictions on the media and opponents of these governmental controls.
Numerous studies, cited in such articles as Does Violence in the Media Cause Violent Behavior? and Link Between Media and Aggression Clear, Experts Say, have concluded that violence in the media has a detrimental effect on children’s behaviors, feelings and attitudes. Since the majority of people in America find fault with media violence, some feel that the entertainment industry should comply with these mainstream moral views. This viewpoint is elucidated in such articles as Media Violence: Ugly and Getting Uglier and It’s Time to Stop Training Our Kids to Kill. Others insist that the government sanction restrictions on violent media content. The articles Children, Violence, and the Media: A Report for Parents and Policy Makers and Violent Kids: Can We Solve the Problem? consider pros and cons of legislative action against violence in mass media.
Restricting the content of media raises free-speech concerns and is a censorship issue. Opponents of political control of media content feel that it is not the government’s place to make decisions about what is dangerous and or acceptable for the nation’s youth. In the article Violence, Games & Art, author Thom Gillespie suggests that “Media in all forms can move people to consider things they had not considered before. But media cannot take over a mind and make anyone do something he's not predisposed to do. Media are, at best, a nudge.” In The Columbine Tragedy: Countering the Hysteria, author Barbara Dority, president of Humanists of Washington, executive director of the Washington Coalition Against Censorship, and cochair of the Northwest Feminist Anti-Censorship Task Force, argues that “terrorist know-how, complete with illustrated instructions for making bombs, is also frequently available in military manuals at surplus stores, as well as in numerous mail-order civilian manuals, which are available through some public libraries. Are proponents of censoring this information advocating that we somehow locate, remove, and destroy all these sources?” Author Daniel Koffler examines “the ridiculous jihad against video games” in Grand Theft Scapegoat.
24 comments:
First of all, the government does not have the ability to make us watch or not watch something. So the thought of the government intervening the situation is impossible under our constitution.
Secondly, the government already has done things about it. Have you ever heard of "R rated" or "PG-13"? Or M and E rated video games? I rest my case.
Thirdly, it is the parents of these children who should be punished for any outbreak of their kids due to the violence of media. They buy the kids the games and movies, and even have the ability to block tv channels. So don't just blame the government and tell them that they need to do something about it, they already have.
Although it is very possible for the government to censor our news and television, I don't believe that it is up to them to do that for us. If parents don't want their kids watching something or playing certain
video games then it is up to the parents to stop it. Parents are in control of their children not the government, which leaves the discipline in their hands. And should parents let their children watch those shows and play those games, they need to make sure their
kids understand the difference between reality and games/shows. That's all their is to it.
I agree with Thom Gillespie when he mentioned that "Media cannot take over a mind and make anyone do something he's not predisposed to do." This may be true, but kids are becoming brain-washed into believing that the more people you kill, the more successful you are. This is because in their video games they can get to the next level or get more points by killing someone. Some reporters are even questioning if the Westroads Shooting is related to vilolent video games.
I dont think that there is much that the government can do to stop children from playing violent games, but it is important to let the parents know of the effects of letting your kids believe that this is reality.
I believe that the industry should try to take care of ratings better. They are vague and need to be restructured. I read in an article that even Super Mario Brothers has “graphic violence” in the game. They said that 98% of teen games has graphic violence or sexual in nature.(Grand Theft Scapegoat) I don’t know what to believe, because they are misusing statistics.
The main problem I think are parents, they need to tell their children early what’s real and make believe. In my house, if I watch even PG 13 movies with my mom, a few sexual innuendos and one curse word gets me bad looks and a lecture on how they may say it on TV but it’s not acceptable coming from your mouth. Parents should have a policy like this on video games. They may be violence, but this doesn’t mean it has to become real. There are websites for concerned parents on why movies or video games may be questionable. Then it’s up to parental discretion to buy it or not.
I would just like to ask why teens like shooting games to begin with?
I know that I am going against the majority of teen - college age guys and girls, but why has our society weakened the effect of death to pleasure and thrill?
I hate that I can't watch television with my younger bro without having him see some dead person, hear cussing, see a half-nude woman, see some man gun a man down, see sex happening?!?!? What has happened to entertainment?!?!? I mean even the news puts way to many graphic images on their programs!
I do agree that it is the parents duty to protect their children from this pro-violence media, but what about the industries? Why do they care more about sells than people's lives? It angers me to know that people have become so numb to the tragedy of death and violence that people don't even care when they here that there is another shooting in Omaha.
Government, if anything, should only make the guidlines for the industries and media. Besides this, I don't see much more government can do without putting our country in a civil war.
I can only hope that a change in media is on the way. It is sad to say that not even death can change the media's censoring in America.
No one is forcing you to play violent video games, see sex on TV, or go to R rated movies. If you do not agree with those things, then simply don't do them. But, don't force me or anyone else to not do those things either.
Secondly, people are quick to blame the media about the recent shootings but what about the availability of firearms in America?
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, making it the most heavily armed society in the world, a report released on Tuesday said.
U.S. citizens own 270 million of the world's 875 million known firearms, according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies.
That's a lot of firepower available for just about anyone who wants it.
If a simple pistol wont satisfy you why not upgrade to an AK-47 Assault Rifle for $600!! That's right a military grade weapon available for just 600 bucks.
Don't get me wrong I am not for the banning of firearms, but, just to put this in perspective you can not blame the media for all these incidents when weapons are as easily available as they are right now. We do not need to do anything.
All these incidents are extremely rare and probably happened just as often before violent TV and video games.
I agree that the government has tried to prove how violent video games effect children but until they start broadcasting their findings one way or the other parents aren't going to feel they have to intervene.
I think part of the problem has been a breakdown in the moral values of Americans. Yes, there are still a good number of conservative Republicans who teach straight out of the Bible and that's good and everything...but it isn't enough.
There are too many people today who don't care enough about their families and children. That's all you ever hear about nowadays...someone is getting abused or divorced or pregnant or whatever...and the gov't can't handle all of that. Yeah, the gov't gets stuck with deciding who gets what jail sentence but I think that if WE (as Americans) were to work on solving the Cause instead of the Effect maybe we could get somewhere.
The gov't can only do so much...if we were to have some Self-Control there wouldn't be these problems about kids going crazy, etc.
But see, it isn't the suburbanite white rich kids that are "affected" by the video games. It's the inner city poor kids whose parents work from eight to ten that these games create problems with. T.V., music, and video games are censored enough, and if they become censored much more, it will be certainly controversial, possibly unconstitutional. Think about the costs involved in reforming a multibillion dollar industry...again. This movement ultimately began in 1994 with the creation of the ESRB, the board that rates video games. Who knows how much it cost to rate all of the games that have come out since then. The music rating board came about around that time too but I can't find it right now. Things are the way they are, I don't know how else to bring much change, or should I say how the gov't could bring more change. The parents are in fact the ones who have the choice of allowing or disallowing their kids to have access to this media.
I believe that if we put boundaries on one thing, we should also applies those same boundaries to things that are similar in nature. Like say the government wants to get rid of nudity in games and movies. They should go beyond that and get rid of pornography all together. I think, in a sense,this is what will happen if they censor certain things in video games. I think that eventually the same thing will happen to movies and tv.
Just to step back and take a look at things:
Why are guns sold to the public anyways? If no one else has a gun, then no one else needs a gun for self defense.
I think that violence in the media has an effect on the violence in the real world. Governments job is protect society just as they outlaw certain drugs that are harmful to our bodies they should outlaw certain things in the media that are harmful to the soul and mind. When this becomes difficult is who is to judge what is harmful to the mind? Parents need to be more involved with their children but I think the real issue is the issue of the soul. We have an evil nature and the only way that changes is by spiritual transformation, which by the way is the reason why faith based organizations are more effective then government institutions. Real change begins with the soul not with actions.
Where it is true that inappropriate or violent images,films,games, etc. can have affects on the nations youth in negative ways, it is not the governments job to try and regulate it. The government is partially blamed when the one person goes over the edge and does something terrible. It all comes back to what the media did wrong, and shame on them for letting this happen. True they may have had some small role in whatever happened, but surely it is not all their fault. Too many factors beside media make up a person's character. It is unfair to pick and choose on what to censor. Bad friends-no friends, inadequate parents, stress, anything- we cannot eliminate all factors that play into one's judgment (or lack there of.)It is not the government's job to babysit the nations youth and shelter them from what is considered unfitting to today's standards. True the companies producing this "garbage" have some obligations to viewers, but it unrealistic to try and enforce them. There are ratings and such on most of today's games and movies found most offensive. Movies card you as well as game stops. There really isn't anything else the government could or should do beside remove the content- which would of course infringe on rights of free speech,press and whatever else. In closing media tends to be a scapegoat for one's wrong doing and that is very unfair. Further censorship would punish the whole for a small factions wrong.
It is true that violence is scattered all over the media and everyday children are watching these shows. But where are the parents in all of this uproar of corrupting these kids. Parents are able to help control some of the material that their child views and with the ratings on most items are more informed about what is appropiate for their kid. Yes, there will be those times when a parent messes up and doesn't realize what their child had watched. But they can still keep an eye on their media overall.
I did some further research on this topic in hopes to educate myself with facts or details I haven't heard before.
In a report published for the Video Standards Council, Dr .Guy Cumberbatch said: "The research evidence on media violence causing harm to viewers is wildly exaggerated and does not stand up to scrutiny".
I am not saying that the media has no affect on anyone, but I do not think the government should be in charge of censoring it.
Everyone is busy pointing fingers at the government for violent video games/television/movies/music/etc. We have the freedom of speech and we choose to abuse it. So whose fault is it really?
Random thought: Young people can go fight in a war, but can't play a shooting game? So is it okay in real life, but not in a video game? I thought the arguement was the other way around. Interesting. Also, each week the newspaper has pictures of little kids (like 6 yrs old) with rifles going hunting. Where is the responsibility there? Interesting.
Lastly, why does the news glorify violence and negative things in our society? By focusing on things like the mall shooter, we are giving these people exactly what they wanted. Awesome. Let's keep promoting violence and glorifying killers in the news every night and newspaper every morning. Maybe the news should stop having stories about violence in video games and start having stories about how their show is affecting its viewers.
I really hate when all the media does is blame the violence in games as the reason that children are more violent. maybe its because were growing up in a society that disregards integrity honor and respect because all they care about is getting what they want no matter what it takes.
there are people saying that in the past 40 years media whether it be t.v. the movies or video games. that as the media becomes more violent the children and teens are becoming more violent. but it seems no one realizes that as the years have gone by and media has become more violent. the divorce rate has gone up, foster children numbers have gone up, one parent children are more common child neglect happens all over the place, parents leaving there kids with the remote and a stack of movies that they shouldn't see for 5 more years. or when they walk in to a game store they say to there kid just pick one lets go.
so maybe the government could do more to censor things but ultimately its the parents that need to really take care of there kids responsibly not the governments responsibility to censor the media
and once again The United States has decided to take the blame off their shoulders and put it on someone else, the government! These days in my opinion, parents don't take enough responsibility of their kids to say " no you are not allowed to play that game, and if you your grounded"... instead the parents willingly hand over their power to the kids where they get trampled, and therefore turn to the government, and blame it on them for not having game ratins and such! parents, get a clue and have some control over your kids! now i understand that there needs to be some censorship in games, i mean taking a saw and cutting someones body in half cant be good for the human brain let alone a young adolescent, but come on, you need to take control...
It truly surprises me to no end that we, as a society, have decided to rest the blame on violent video games or explicitly violent forms of mass media. Where is the accountability? Is it the video game/other forms of media that commits the crimes? Or the person behind the game/other forms of media?
I think the government should be more concerned about the mental health of Americans, and start with slowing down the pace. Everything is so fast pace these days, everyone is more stressed out and on edge. There is an unbelievable amount of pressure in America to get things done better and faster, that does not exist in other countries. It is this strain that is causing people to snap, not the media.
"Violence in the media- should government do more to censor it?" Well my response to that would be, "What more CAN they do about it?"
I think that with all the ratings and parental advisory stickers they have done all that they can do and now I believe that it's up to us to take control of the situation. Everytime we have a problem we can't keep running up to the government to help put a band-aid on it.
The problem starts at home. And if we were to blame someone it would have to be the parents. Too many parents are letting their kids do whatever they please, whenever they please, and frankly I think they need a good old-fashioned whipping, hey, it worked for my mom, my dad, me and my sisters, you don't see us shooting people when we get low or mad do you?
And secondly if your child is like ten years old they don't need to be playing video games like Grand Theft Auto, Splatterhouse, or Hitman: Blood Money, and they certainly shouldn't be watching movies like Superbad and Knocked Up at that age(I know this happens because I babysit).
C'mon parents how about we put the band-aid on ourselves...for once?
Censorship is necessary. I do not want to hear profanities when watching tv and I do not want porn to end up on cable...wait we are only a few sex scenes and raunchy clothing items away from that possibility...
But in the end it is the persons choice to choose to watch any program or play any game etc that they wish. It is called free will and that is something the government will not be able to protect against.
I do believe however that violence in the media does affect a persons mind. I personally do not fill my mind with things that I do not want in my mind because I know once you are introduced to an idea it influence you in either a negative or positive way whether violent, sexual, or intellectual. I just dont see how people do not accept that fact because I would bet someone that if violence was taken out of video games and movies and the media focused on positive(happy) news then the world would have less violence and the HAPPY news would influence people to do HAPPY things....TRUE STORY...
JUSTIFIED SIGNING OUT.... bahahaha..i thought it was funny
Honestly i think it's a little bit drastic to say that a video game can lead to a person going out and killing someone. Some video games are really violent though and parents should use disgression as to which games they are letting their kids play. not because if they play to violent of a game for their age they're going to go and start shooting people but because little 5 year olds dont need to see such horrible violence like that yet. so parents just need to be smart
It is not the governments job to decide what is appropriate for the public, it is the public's job to decide what is appropriate for themselves. If the US citizens would stop buying the types of media that involve violance, than it is quite possible that violance in general will go down. However, until there is no longer a want for it, it will be produced in sold because of one simple fact....people love to make money, no matter how they do it.
The concept of the government restricting what it's citizens can or cannot watch is simply another way for them to steal away or rights as Americans.
Movies already have ratings, so it is bluntly addressed prior to any person watching it what level of maturity is required. That places the responsibility in the hands of the viewer, or the viewer's parent.
You can't shield your children from things such as the news, because these are real things in the world that concern everyone, but you can limit what they watch for movies and what games they play. So if you let little Johnny play "man-hunt" or something along those lines, you can't blame the industry, because you allowed for him to be subjected to such vulgarity.
It has nothing to do with our government. They should have no more power than they currently do in the matter.
These killings aren't a result of kids unable to distinguish virtual reality from reality. Anyone with a single digit IQ can do that, unless your brain is pumping out the wrong juices. The same goes with smoking and alcohol. People don't smoke because a camel wearing sunglasses tells them to. There isn't one big cause to all these problems, people do it for their own reasons. Some people want to go out with a bang, others do it for poops and giggles, and there are many many other reasons so there really is no need to point fingers. This leads to the question of what we should do about the problem then. I think we should honestly do nothing. People die everyday around the world. Darfur and Iraq are but a few examples. This "sudden" violence is only shocking now that we have seen another side of the world. Most americans live in this world where they believe that none of the bad stuff could happen to them, cuz its america. But once the hurricane hits, chaos ensues. People are frantic, pointing fingers and spouting out their maladies of how evil the world is. So honestly i think its bout time the citizens of the U.S had their eyes opened.
> And to Kelso, ur little statement bout the killing people=more succes thing gave me a slight seizure in which i nearly choked to death from my own spit.
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