The author Ellis in his article The Consequences of "Carnage as Entertainment" opposes violence in movies and television because he feels that it causes young people to act in a violent manner. In his article he cited several horrific examples where teens and children with guns acted in violent ways to resolve conflicts. Some of the examples provided were Pearle, Mississippi, October 1997, Jonesboro, Arkansas, March 1998, and Springfield, Oregon, May 1998. In each of these cases, children brought weapons to their school and acted in a violent manner. The author cited a trend in television, which depicted more and more violent scenes and then concluded that violence in children was the direct result of increasing violence on TV. .
Motion pictures were invented in the early 1900's and television was invented in the 1930's. These two inventions revolutionized the way we receive and process the events of the world. With these two inventions, communication and understanding of events have increased at an unimaginable rate. Movies and television are tools for providing entertainment and the broadcasting of world events. To state that these tools are the source of society's downfall is untrue.
Ellis has not supported his claims against TV violence. Ellis has neither defended nor provided any evidence of his position against TV violence. Ellis has not cited where his information came from. He fails to provide the names of the universities or the names of the professors that did the study. Ellis has not provided information regarding the credentials of the professors. He doesn't explain who Sissela Bok is or what her qualifications are. Without supporting credentials we cannot accept the writing as a valid argument.
The world is not perfect, and television is not the sole medium that should be blamed. As stated most programs on television are works of fiction and they should be treated as such.
