Yeah I disagree totally with the notion it is the sole cause of violence in today's society, it's like the debate over nature/nurture. On that part of the debate, here's something I watched on TV a while ago that is quite interesting:
I watched a docco that dealt with the nature vs nurture aspect of violence in people. They wanted to know whether kids in violent families would become violent later in life, or whether it was in fact to do with their genetics. Now persoally I have always thought it was a combination of the two, and this research proves it right.
The scientists located a gene called MAOA that had two versions - long and short. Those with a long version grew up to be perfectly normal adults, those with the short version had a high rate of violence. The short version meant there was an imbalance in noradrenaline, steretonin and dopamine in the brains, the effect being that they could not properly control their emotions, and often became very depressed, or instead lashed out with violence.
The researchers in New Zealand gathered people born in a certain year, and questioned them every year, asking them how often they had experienced violence in their family and surroundings, and how often they themselves had resorted to violence. What they found was this:
People with the long version of the gene would grow up as more or less balanced adults, whether or not they came from violent families or normal families.
People with the short version of the gene that grew up in normal, loving families also grew up to be normal balanced adults.
People with the short version of the gene that had grown up in violent families and been exposed to a high rate of violence as children grew up to be violent and unstable people.
So from this you can see that it is both nature and nurture at the same time, and not black and white- if you have the short gene and a violent family then you will be violent also. Simply saying "it runs in the family" is not strictly true anymore.
This reserch can be seen at http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1372609.htm if you are interested.
So what does this have to do with the media?
Well I would argue that given this research, we can see how violence in the media might actually be the sole contributing factor in some people becoming violent.
Picture this: We have a child with the short version of the gene, growing up in a loving and caring family with no abuse. Normally this would mean that the child, despite having the gene that predisposes them towards violence, would grow up normal and balanced. Seeing as the kid is not the subject of abuse, they are not 'learning' violence or having it imprinted upon them in any way.
But what happens if the parents buy this kid violent video games, and lets him/her watch movies depicting graphic violence? In this way something like the video-game would be very powerful in influencing the child's mind, seeing as it is interactive, and the child is actually 'learning' how to be more violent or skillful, and being rewarded wtih extra levels in the game etc.
Also, watching any blockbuster action moive would have the same effect - the child learns that beating up and killing all the bad guys the person can save the day, and that it is actually acceptable in the context of the movie. Any normal kid watcihng this might not be effected, but the chances are very high that the kid with the short gene would be learning that violence is the way to solve their problems.
Naturally you can see how the kid in question would become violent as an adult, and whenever that person is emotionally stressed causeing the imbalance of chemicals in their brain, they would turn to violence as a way of 'making things better'.
Well this was a rather long argument, but gives a lot of things to think about, and not just about the subject of violence and media, but a host of other things.
Now I have come to reach a different decision - is the media directly to blame for violence in society as a whole? No
Could the media be soley to blame for violence in some individuals? Yes.
Now say that the correlation between the long and short gene were 50/50 in your average population (though it's highly unlikely), then the media could be directly responsible for violence in a huge percentage of the population of any first-world country.
What do you think?[/i]
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