Networks shoot in sequence one violent scene after another, delivering untold numbing horror into America's living rooms, bedrooms, and nurseries. Taped TV violence, unlike real violence, repeats over and over in an accelerating pattern. The sounds and scenes of violence echo, firing in every direction without concern for targets or casualties. Canadians are developing a vision of themselves as hopeless victims of criminal forces they cannot control and cannot understand. .
While TV grows rich on violence, the nation is threatened by loss of self-esteem, fear of crime, and fear of our neighbours. A permanent impression is made on the innocent minds of young children too young to read or speak. TV is destroying society's respect for human life. Daniel Boorstin, librarian of US Congress, said that TV has the power "to conjure up a self-created reality that can mold public values and influence behaviour." The Canadian Government guarantees free speech and free press, but conjuring up anti-social values for our children is hardly what they had intended.
Like it or not, TV has taken over the role of passing down the traditional values to our younger generation. It has replaced the role formerly filled by elders. For a long time, elder members of the community have passed on family stories, history, and cultural myth. However, children who cannot yet talk can absorb the values transmitted by TV, ie. "violence is an accectable means, perhaps the preferred means to resolve conflicts and solve problems." TV violence makes a permanent impression on young children.
It has been suggested that parents control the TV that children watch. Hardly. Many parents are working singles or couples who must rely on others for the parenting and raising of their children. Baby sitters use TV as the easiest source of entertainment for the children.
