Does "Media Violence" effect children negatively?.
Despite many thousands of myth's out there, media does not effect people in a negative way. Although many people mindlessly claim they have proof for the "Media Violence theory" (media violence effecting children negatively), they really do not. If asked, most will only claim some vague reason. It is essential to create awareness of the falsities within this theory, for it is on the verge of claiming many casualties, our rights, such as the First Amendment, for one. .
The first thing we must do is to set out and look at all the arguments logically. First of all, if media violence were in fact warping children into mindless killers, and if media violence is on the rise, wouldn't then, homicide rates and overall crime be rising? Media violence is unarguably on the rise. So then must youth violence. Although almost 2/3's of the entire United States population strongly believes and would agree with that statement, that juvenile homicide rates and overall violence is increasing steadily, and more than 70% of the population believes that their child being shot or assaulted would not be uncommon. In fact, crime rates are not even at a standstill, but dropping dramatically. The actual numbers are, a 30% decline from 1993 to 1996 and another 40% decline from 1996 to 1998 in overall youth crime rates. A 56% decline in juvenile homicide rates from 1993 to 1998. These facts come directly from such governmental agencies as the FBI Crime Labs, The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Education Association, and the Unites States Department of Education, and they are unarguable.
Also, if the media is in fact the large reason that would twist normal children into criminals, then violence would be spread evenly across all demographic states, when they obviously do not. Recent surveys by CNN and other television networks show that people from all demographic states watch the same amount of television.
