Television Programming Violence that Causes Real Violence Essay

Television Programming Violence that Causes Real Violence - Essay Example For over thirty years this has been an issue. There have been several advocacy groups that have attested to the fact that children will emulate that which they see. They have presented many examples, such as: children believing that they were Superman and threw themselves from roofs, thinking that they could fly; other children using their father ´s gun believing they were playing and killing other children; and, other children modeling the behaviors they watch on television and becoming aggressive, thinking that that is the way to have solved a problem, thus violence causes higher crime rates. Today the topic is still fresh. The heated discussion relating to both the youth violence and media has continued to grow. It is still a debatable issue of whether or not television influences the behaviors of the viewers or not. In the media bloc, the public impugns the television networks, which in turn chastise the writers and producers, who sequentially hold the advertisers accountable, who in the end turn to blame the public. In the violence bloc, the federal government holds the youth responsible for their own actions, who charge the commune, which censures the schools, which points the finger at the parents, and who ultimately blame the government (Caldwell, 1995). This is a vicious circle and no one wants to take the blame for it, yet we see violence increasing every day and the advocate groups continue defending their point that television influences the viewers ´ lifestyles. These viewers may learn positive models, such as through programs like Sesame Street, Electric Com pany, Zoom, 321 Contact, and REBOP. These were programs that taught children how to read and write, how to learn about different cultures, and how to become interested in science. These shows obtained awards for excellence and influenced the youngsters positively. If these shows demonstrated that they were able to influence youngsters around the  world (they have been dubbed into many languages), then why should we think violent programs do not influence the youngsters in a negative way as well?