Violence in media

You cannot BLAME media for violence in society, although several have tried. It just doesn't hold up. Media in this case referrs to various mediums: TV, movies, news, video games, books, magazines, etc. Let's be clear: there is not a movie or video game on earth that puts a gun in the hand of an 11-year-old boy and encourages him to kill his father's pregnant girlfriend. If it were that simple, I'd be the first one to jump up and shout: Abolish Mass Media!

Some may claim that violent video games, the everpresent television news footage of terror and senseless violence, games where kids blast zombies to bits and the slashers and criminals that are lauded as heros on cinema screens encourage violent behavior or at least desnsitize youth. There may be something to this in very rare cases, but it would be a challenging case to prove.

It's a chicken and egg question. Are kids made more violent because of certain media or are violent kids just drawn to violent media? Afterall, most youth who watch violent films, play violent video games and witness gore on the news are not abnormally violent.

I'm not advocating for violence in media, but I am asking people to dig a little deeper when playing the blame-game and determining solutions. Look at parenting skills and nurturing; look at poverty and scarcity; look at domestic violence and bullying; look at alcohol/drugs and gangs; look at support systems; look at avaialbility and utilization of youth community mental health services; look at safe-guards in-place in schools to identify warning signs and link youth to assessments and needed services.

If you are still very concerned about the role media plays, understand that you are responsible. For the most part, media's role is commercial and reactionary. The public drives media and commercialism. If it didn't sell it wouldn't be so wide-spread. Write to editors, advertisers, networks, and movie studios. Don't just criticise them, thell them what you want. Encourage others to do the same. If you want cultural change, this is in your hands not big business. Big business will go where the money is. Where does your money go?

Maybe it should go to community-level solutions, addressing the actual problems. Give to your local human service organizations who are actively fighting to create community change. Form a group of other like-minded people to volunteer and form a fund to sustain community-level solutions. Now you're addressing violence in your community.