Understanding the Problem
"Video games are not the source of violence in our society", says the president of the Interactive Digital Software Association Doug Lowenstein, "That's like blaming illiteracy on television. It's time we look at availability of guns and dysfunctional families as the source of violence-not games (Goodstein)." Entertainment producers argue that it is not their responsibility, but the responsibility of the parents to make sure that their own children are not exposed to media that would be considered as violent or damaging to their own kids. The media believes they are the scapegoat for anything that goes wrong with today's society. Doug Lowenstein stated:"When people speak of violence there are speaking of video game playing, action-movie watching, and playground karate chopping as violence, as if they were somehow the same as genuine acts of destruction. Pretend violence is not real violence. It doesn't cause real violence. If we fail to keep real distinctions in mind, if we allow our emotions to blur the distinction between what is real and what is not, then we only make it harder to deal with real violence in a real way (Goodstein)." The Federal Trade Commissioners, the FTC over
"Today's parents are naive and ignorant to the fact that they do not know how to regulate the things their children watch and they cannot control their own kids behavior so the immediately point the blame on someone else. Television cannot be solely blamed for youth violence. Kids who don't have a solid family and community value system to anchor them - they're the ones who are influenced by TV. They are living with a parent who is overwhelmed; they are disconnected from a cultural, religious or ethnic set of beliefs. So they learn how the world works from TV.(Garbariono 154)" Rosenberg, Howard. Violence the Media and Our Children. New York, Harcourt. 1998. 181-209. past years have been attacking violent and inappropriate behavior found in the media. The FTC is shocked to discover that children like violent entertainment. The FTC feels that it must be because companies are manipulating them through deceptive marketing. But, many media producers feel that the FTC is wrong for two reasons. The producers feel that the facts and the First Amendment are on their side(Rosenberg 182). In a debate done in late 1998 the head chairman for the FTC spoke and he agreed with the media producers views. In his remarks, FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky said "Although scholars and observers generally have agreed that exposure to violence in entertainment media alone does not cause a child to commit a violent act, there is widespread agreement that it is, nonetheless, a cause for concern (190)." Later in his speech he also agrees that the majority of the violent a
Some common words found in the essay are:
Michael Dyson's, Schools Japan, Michael Dyson, Commissioners FTC, Doug Lowenstein, Robert Pitofsky, Countries Japan, Goodstein Entertainment, Lowenstein That's, Concerned American, violent society, real violence, violent media, violence media, extremely violent, own kids, day camp, parents own, solid family, children violent,
Approximate Word count = 1056
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
