beaucoup ammo said:
Children "learn" violence (involving guns, fists, clubs, cars,etc.) from a steady diet of unsupervised television. That's the majority. Sadly, there are those few who learn first hand.
"Gun Violence?" IMO, it should be "violence involving guns." Granted there's more of it on the tube than in the past..take that to the bank and earn interest. But kids have been playing "cops and robbers", "cowboys and indians" forever.
Violence is crammed down our throats from the tube, local news (if it bleeds it leads), cable..even "The National Geographic Channel" and "The Weather Channel" ("It Could Happen Tomorrow") use violence as a mainstay audience grabber.
PlayStation2..any gaming venue..is pure violence for the most part. I wouldn't single out "gun violence" and hold it up as an example, since violence is becoming more prevalent in every corner of the world we live in.
Music glorifies violence. It's more evolutionary than revolutionary..and to stay with the thread, kids learn violence (gun and other forms) primarily from TV and movies.
Take Care
If violent TV and video games is to blame, then explain the trend to the contrary. Today, graphic violence has never been as real as can be had on the latest generation game consoles. Movie producers have found out how to bring people closer to the action and put them behind the sights of an automatic weapon during a gun fight. There is more blood and gore on TV and video games than there ever has been. Rap music glorifies violence, sex, and drugs. And yet, we find that violent crime is actually decreasing in this country, and has been steadily for over ten years. If violence on TV was to blame for violence in youth, you would expect the opposite.
From The Bureau of Justice Statistics:
Note violent crime has decreased pretty steadily since 1993. Guess what else happened in 1993, genius. The original
DOOM was released for PC. Then you had
Duke Nukem 3D and
Quake come out in 1996,
Quake II in 1997,
Half-Life in 1998.
Grand Theft Auto 3 for Playstation in 2001. That recieved a lot of press. The world didn't end and crime is still going down. Get the point?
You could make a more effective argument that violent video games have been responsible for a DECREASE in violent crime.
My mom tried her damdest to keep us away from violence as kids. Yet the movies we enjoyed the most were the ones kept on the bottom shelf, hidden from view--
Die Hard,
Berverly Hills Cop, and
Top Gun. I've had toy guns and G. I. Joes for almost as long as I can remember. I had nerf wars, BB gun wars, paintball wars, and airsoft wars. So too, we were assimilated to the video game culture progressing through Super Mario Brothers on old school Nintendo, to Mortal Kombat on Sega and gradually up to Xbox. I just conquered
DOOM 3 today.
The problem is not the toy guns, video games, and TV. It isn't the music. I blame it on two things--an unnatural societal pressure to surpress and deny natural aggression and the natural requirements thereof, and an inability to distinguish TV and toys from reality. Humans undeniably possess the capacity for violence and compansion and the capability to love and to hate. We have all been consumed, at times, by urges to lash out against a threat or obstacle, whether actual or perceived. There is healthy and unhealthy ways to control these urges. Denying they exist or seeking theropy or doping your kid up on Prozac or Riddilen is probably the wrong thing to do. Letting them run until they drop, teaching them a martial art, putting them on a football team, or giving them constructive ways to vent anger and aggression are far more healthy and effective. You'd be surprised what chopping wood can do to get a bad day at school or work out of your system. Overall, people need discipline. Time outs don't work. I got my butt whopped when I deserved it and usually knew I deserved it. Eventually it became clear that while stern, my parents were fair and it was far easier to obey and behave than try to figure out a way to outsmart them. If a child has discipline and a constructive, healthy way to vent anger and frustration, then it won't be as likely to fester and build inside an eventually erupt. And discipline instills maturity. Maturity is needed to acknowledge the very real differences between movies and life and toys and the real thing. I was taught to shoot at age four--before I entered kindergarten and before even, I had much of an opprotunity to explore toy guns. Growing up in a rural area, I saw deer hanging from chains every fall. I was taught at an early age, very early, some would say too early, to respect firearms. I knew what they were capable of. Toys were always just that. I was taught to respect and obey rules, and even at that age had the maturity to acknowledge the change in attitude required to go from playing Marines on my grandpa's property to eating a peanut butter sandwhich for lunch, then shooting the .22. I always respected the capabilities of the "weapon" in my hand. Toys were toys. Real guns required acknowledgement and respect for its capabilities. I had the maturity and discipline to seperate the real thing from fiction because that is how I and my two younger siblings were raised. My dad and his two brothers as well as my grandpa and his brothers were the same. Show your children and they will watch. Teach your children and they will learn.
) saw this, and told me "Good for you, HankB! I was watching him poke you, and it's about time you hit him back!" 
. Bad mistake. I got him in a headlock then kicked the back of his knees so he fell to the ground. That fight was one of my greatest acomplishments. You see I was a 4th grader. Jeremy was held back several times so I beat a 6th grader! I'm no big guy but I have a "Never give up" endurance.
