This is a PERSUASIVE paper arguing that VIOLENCE ON TV AND IN MUSIC Essay

This is a PERSUASIVE paper arguing that VIOLENCE ON TV AND IN MUSIC causes individuals to perform physically aggressive behavior which can result in injury, and - Essay Example Now that television has spread out into the world in such a big way, there is obviously no way one can turn the clock back and wish it a perennial goodbye. It is a necessity, but it could also be a menace, depending on the way it is used. Psychologists and social activists have time and again, over the years, conclusively established that without proper parental guidance, children are being adversely affected by exposure to the wrong programs in TV. Tender, impressionable, and receptive, the mind of a child is eager and ready to accept thrilling encounters and heroic feats. Therefore, while watching violent encounters and high decibel music, not only he enjoys the pulsating effect but also begins to build a personal bond with the characters in the movie. Eventually, within a short period of time, the child has decided that these are the programs and characters that he is going to be relating with for the rest of his life. In Chicago, two boys, both outsiders, enter, a maths classroom, and are locked in a fight. When the students and teacher try to break it up, one of the students gets fatally stabbed by the outsiders who then flee. Two teenagers burst into their Colorado high school about one year ago and gunned down 13 people. Then they shot themselves. Though it had appeared to be a spur of the moment event, it emerged later that the two had the bloodshed meticulously planned "down to the last bullet and explosive" for nearly a year. It was a murder-cum-suicide mission. Their bigger plan had been to blow up the entire school with pipe bombs attached to their bodies. Society is benefiting in terms of gross national product with everyone, including women, working. However, Kevin Dwyer, president of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) is not pleased. He is direct to the point, "Kids are growing up without the supports they had in the past." Due to the abysmal lack of parental care, the television has become the stalwart companion after school hours for children. A child spends about 2 minutes communicating with his or her parents on an average day as compared to 16 hours a day glued to the television, writes journalist George Howe Colt in his 1991 book, The Enigma of Suicide. Studies are noncommittal on how exposure to images of murders and assaults on the television affects children's behavior, though many psychologists are convinced that violent television shows, movies, and computer games inflame destructive tendencies. Tellingly, more than 86 percent of television shows and movies portray characters who have their interpersonal problems solved with violence, according to NASP. According to the Center for Media Education in Washington, by the time he completes his elementary