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Does television play a role in violent behavior?

Does television play a role in violent behavior?

  • Yes

    Votes: 9 50.0%
  • No

    Votes: 9 50.0%

  • Total voters
    18

BMC COOLBEANS

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Exactly what the title says. Feel free to explain your answer.
 
I really can't answer because I don't...and never have...watched much TV.

But, I have to ask for a bit of clarification: Are you asking this as a general question? Or are you primarily focused on children?
 
Yes, I think it does.... but maybe actually in the opposite way you may think. I've heard that T.V. may decrease violent behavior because it gives us a chance to exercise our violent behavior through our imagination instead of bottling it up and relieving our aggression by some other means.

But, that was just one study/article I read.

it could have been about video games... meh pretty similar.
 
I really can't answer because I don't...and never have...watched much TV.

But, I have to ask for a bit of clarification: Are you asking this as a general question? Or are you primarily focused on children?

In general
 
In general

Okay.

The reason I asked was because if you were focusing on children, I would consider mentioning another source that some say affect behavior: Computer Games.

I won't continue with that line, but I'll monitor this thread in case it veers off-topic.
 
It is a chicken or egg question. Maybe it brings out violence that is already there; maybe it instills violence that was not there because the child's parents let TV instill the social norms into the impressionable mind. More often than not, it seems to do neither. Just depends.
 
Yes TV and movies promote violence. Two kids were just busted in Oregon for trying to carjack a lady with a gun. Here is what they said during the commission of this crime.

'They told me they were going to blow my brains out if I didn't give them something,'

The youngest of the two allegedly nudged to the other, 'show her your piece,' prompting the oldest to pull up his shirt where the weapon was revealed.

: "You don't ever ask somebody if it's real. That's how you get yourself shot,"'

Now just where in HELL are kids this age getting these lines if not from TV?

Oregon boys ages 7, 11 accused in attempted carjacking of 22-year-old woman
 
To some small extent, it does. If it is viewed as normal by constant viewing without much in the way of teaching this person that violence is usually wrong and devastating to humanity, then it can have an impact in a negative direction. Usually though, people are exposed to enough of reality where they sense the horrors of violence.

Then there's the therapy argument already discussed.
 
Again , the controlling problem..
yes or no ...cuts it not...
Where is the honest "I do not know." ???
IMO, maybe, but, honestly, I DO NOT KNOW !
TV is so crappy today due to excessive advertisements and shows dedicated to those with IQ in the two digit range.
But, there are some good shows, thank god for TCM and PBS.
 
Yes TV and movies promote violence. Two kids were just busted in Oregon for trying to carjack a lady with a gun. Here is what they said during the commission of this crime.

'They told me they were going to blow my brains out if I didn't give them something,'

The youngest of the two allegedly nudged to the other, 'show her your piece,' prompting the oldest to pull up his shirt where the weapon was revealed.

: "You don't ever ask somebody if it's real. That's how you get yourself shot,"'

Now just where in HELL are kids this age getting these lines if not from TV?

Oregon boys ages 7, 11 accused in attempted carjacking of 22-year-old woman

We have been besieged with crime long before TV entered the scene...
IMO, the problem is uncaring parents who park their offspring in front of the TV while they pursue their interests (gambling, drinking, fighting depression, greed)..
 
We have been besieged with crime long before TV entered the scene...
IMO, the problem is uncaring parents who park their offspring in front of the TV while they pursue their interests (gambling, drinking, fighting depression, greed)..

These kids got these lines they said to their intended victim somewhere, if not TV, WHERE???
 
Yes, I think it does.... but maybe actually in the opposite way you may think. I've heard that T.V. may decrease violent behavior because it gives us a chance to exercise our violent behavior through our imagination instead of bottling it up and relieving our aggression by some other means.

But, that was just one study/article I read.

it could have been about video games... meh pretty similar.

Small children should not be parked in front of the TV. It inhibits creativity, socialization and education.
 
Some people will indeed be influenced by what they see on TV.
Others will not.
 
We have been besieged with crime long before TV entered the scene...
IMO, the problem is uncaring parents who park their offspring in front of the TV while they pursue their interests (gambling, drinking, fighting depression, greed)..

exactly. TV doesn't promote violence...bad parenting promotes violence
 
Exactly what the title says. Feel free to explain your answer.

I voted "no" but the more nuanced answer is something along the lines of "maybe a little bit, but not in a direct or clear way." It's hard to draw any clear paralells between violence in media and violence in real life when you look at how this operates globally. Take, on the one hand, Japan, which has a ridiculously violent popular culture and basically no violent crime; and at the other end of the spectrum, several cultures in the middle east that have extremely restrictive popular cultures, and quite a lot of violence. Clearly there are other cultural and socieoeconomic factors that play a far greater role in the presence/absence of violence.
 
They have been researching this stuff since before the flood. There is some data to show that it does in some cases but for the most part there is very little data that it does. Children will usually act out in play about things they see on TV or movies but I assume the OP is targeting real violent behavior. In that case I said no.
 
No more than any other form of popular media throughout history.
 
I think it desensitizes people to violence.
 
It's an influence to be sure. To what extent is the question. Besides, if TV influences a person enough to be violent, there's probably something already wrong with the person.
 
Media most certainly does affect behavior. Why else would advertisers spend billions of dollars on advertisement if they didn't not just think but know their appeals would affect the public's behavior? Not just violence but sexuality, the embrace or rejection of values, political persuasions and interests on a wide range of subjects and not just TV but all media has that potential.

I have a friend who made a near tragic decision when he was just 16. I don't know the full story but he somehow came into possession of a handgun. One day he found himself is a stupid altercation with another teenager over a dumb basketball game that escalated. It ended with him put the gun up the the other kid's head and pulling the trigger. Thank God despite being at point blank range, in the scuffle the bullet missed. What he said motivated him was his favorite gangster rap song that he couldn't get out of his head that glorified guns and shooting someone.

FYI: A happy ending. After spending his late teens in juvi jail, my friend had an encounter with Jesus, got married, is a devoted dad to his 4 kids, speaks to groups of at risk teenagers, is planning to record a rap/reggae CD and works as a Gospel radio personality.
 
Any time children have violence justified - glorified, rather - in front of them, the likelihood them engaging in violent behavior increases. Simple as that.
 
I blame all of the sadistic movies out there, from the SAW and Final Destination series to Hostel. We seem to be getting more and more desensitized to horrific violence. Some sad excuses for parents even allow their young children to watch these movies.
 
No, no it does not. Just because I watch a lot of movies with extreme violence does not make me want to go and commit violence. In order for it to affect you, you have to be pretty damn stupid. It's the exact same things with video games.
 
Exactly what the title says. Feel free to explain your answer.

I think it probably does. Well, we actually know it does in some cases, but how prevalent it is is another question. Some examples:

Shows like the WWF's fake wrestling. They lead kids (especially little ones) to believe that those throws and holds aren't particularly dangerous. They don't realize those shows are carefully choreographed. I remember specifically a little boy aged 10 or so throwing his little sister (3 or so) from above his head. She died. He said he was practicing wrestling from what he'd seen on TV. (Isolated instance? Maybe, but it's a logical leap for me and a 10-year-old.)

Criminal Minds type shows. These shows have gotten more bizarre over time to the point of being so realistic as to be frightening. Does it give young kids a warped view of violence? I hope not, but I could see that a pretty steady diet of that **** on a young developing mind probably wouldn't be a good thing. (And I think that far too many parents don't monitor their kids' TV watching any too carefully.)

And then there's the news itself. We glorify violence in many unintended ways. Take the batman incident. Timothy McVeigh. You name the horrific crime, and I'll show you scads of news reports that glorify the perps. (Unintended, by the way.) How do they do that? Many of the people who commit these kinds of horrific crimes are glory-seekers. And they see clearly that it works. For 15 minutes (longer, but you get what I mean), they are the center of attention. Heroes in a sick, perverted way. Law enforcement knows that when one political figure is attacked, more are likely to follow. Why? Because those people hanging on by their fingernails see a way to make a splash. That "it can be done."

In the area of national news, I think we need to rethink how we portray these killers, as I do believe one begets others.
 
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