Sex and Violence

Introduction

Old people complain, conservatives argue, and you know politicians have to have their two cents. Everyone is a victim. What are they complaining about? What is the big deal? Well I will tell you what the big deal is--it is today's entertainment industry. It is the cause of all the violence in the world. Rapes, murders, riots, drug abuse, and practically anything else that one can think of, are the results of television, music, movies, and other fun stuff. That's right, what us teenagers have grown to love and cherish is the cause of our mind's deterioration.

In a passage by Irving Kristol in Elements of Argument, "Professor Centerwall concludes that, 'the evidence indicates that if, hypothetically, television technology had never been developed, there would today be 10,000 fewer homicides each year in the United States, 70,000 fewer rapes, and 700,000 fewer injurious assaults. Violent crime would be half of what it is'" (Kristol 641-42). Being that this is a source, I would assume that this statement is true, but in this case I refuse to believe that. How is it that one could say television is the main source of our nation's crime? To me this man has no common sense. I watch television, and yes I do see violence, but do I turn off the television when I'm done and say, "Hey I have the urge to go blow someone's head off." Of course not. It would be stupid; am I correct? There is no reasoning behind it. So why would a man, a professor at that, say that if there were no television our crime would reduce drastically?

TV Violence and Young People

These passages in Rottenberg are not the first that I have read regarding TV violence. Many studies have been conducted regarding this topic. All of the results aim at the same objective--to reduce the amount of violence, or censor television programming. A "V chip" has been introduced to the censorship committee that enables parents to block or control what their child is watching. I do not object to this. It seems like a pretty good idea, and I will state why later in this paper. Right now I will focus on the real blame of violence, the family.

My household has always been strict and very religious. I went to a private school for the majority of my education and there I learned family values and what it is to be a good citizen. My mother preferred my sister and I fear her than love her, so my sister and I were always afraid of doing anything bad. Neither of us wanted to face my mother's wrath. Television was limited when I was growing up. We were only allowed to watch one hour of television a week, excluding the news, which my sister and I were never interested in. On the weekends, we could watch as much as we wanted, provided we completed our chores and had no homework due for the next school week. Needless to ...