Media Violence
...were almost two million murders, rapes, robberies, and assaults. A U.S. Department of Justice report revealed that the U.S. violent crime rate is many times higher than that of other industrialized counties: murder, rape, and robbery occur four to nine times more frequently in the United States than in European countries. This high rate of crime alarms the public. As Americans seek to understand the causes of their high rate of crime, one source often cited is violence in the media.¡± As people know, there is a lot of violence in media. It¡¯s getting more graphic, sexual, and sadistic. It is going all over the country and world. People can find media violence in everywhere now. What should be done about media violence?
Violence has always played a role in entertainment. Even in history, people enjoyed violence. For example, the ancient Egyptians entertained themselves with plays re-enacting the murder of their god Osiris and the spectacles. And in Rome, they were given to lethal spectator sports as well. And now, people enjoy violence in everywhere. And now it is getting worse and worse. ¡°Laval University professors Guy Paquette and Jacques de Guise studied six major Canadian television networks over a seven-year period, examining films, situation comedies, dramatic series, and children's programming. The study found that between 1993 and 2001, incidents of physical violence increased by 378 percent. TV shows in 2001 averaged 40 acts of violence per hour.¡±
American children between 2 and 18 years of age spend an average of 6 hours and 32 minutes each day using media (television, commercial or self-recorded video, movies, video games, print, radio, recorded music, computer, and the Internet). This is more time than they spend on any other activity, with the exception of sleeping. When simultaneous use of multiple media is accounted for,...
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