Human beings have always worked at stretching the boundaries of reality and acceptability. The advent of the television opened up yet another avenue for us to proceed in this manner. We created films and shows that could now be watched in the comfort of our own homes. And as more and more of these shows were produced the more obscene and vulgar they became. The television was little more than a modern edition of the Russian Coliseum, in the sense that we could now feast our eyes on things of and "unacceptable" nature without ever leaving our homes. Producers knew this, and thus stretched their boundaries in an effort to please the people,

This did not come, however, without its consequences. Things that had been seen on television, or TV as it was now affectionately called, were leaking out into the civilized and proper world. Our society was slowly being transformed by what we were watching. TV was shaping all fashions, prestige, and culture. Everyone was riding the same wave for a while until someone realized that this sense of reality was growing faster than we could keep up. We had created a monster that threatened to devour us whole. We surely couldn't get rid of it. We needed it. So how could we contain it?

Why then do I feel that media cannot be blamed for the actions of society today? Simply because television is a product that is produced, marketed, and sold to the highest bidder. And as with any other product on the market today, we must make a choice by which options we chose to take part of, and which options we will turn away from. It is our prerogative to be responsible consumers of this wealth of information. Television is not all bad. Nor is the violence itself truly bad. The Greek philosopher Aristotle once suggested that "watching media violence allows individuals vicariously to release pent-up everyday frustration that might otherwise explode dangerously." (Vivian, 1999, p. 398)

As was stated above, this paper is NOT discussing whether media violence has an effect on children or not. However, this is becoming a common argument in the court systems of today. More and more violent offenders are blaming their crimes on acts they witnessed on TV. While in rare situations, the courts agree with this plea, the majority of the rulings are quite the opposite. Indeed, studies have shown that TV causes violence in children. However, in this paper I will show you why I believe that as young adults, we are responsible for our actions, regardless of what psychological effects violence has on our minds.

upon ourselves to make ourselves and those around us aware of what exactly media violence entails, what can be done about it, and how we can respond.

The goal of this paper is not to prove whether or not media violence affects our children. However, this information is important because the violence that we saw as children growing up is central to the way we act and how our culture functions today.

It is my opinion that the medium known as television cannot be blamed for the violence and degradation of society as we know it today. Now, allow me to "type with the other hand", and tell you that I do believe very strongly that what we watch has a strong influence on our daily actions, in both the things we say and the things we do. How is this possible?

Allow me to explain what I mean more extensively. As shown briefly in this paper, studies have revealed time and time again that children exposed to media violence behaved more aggressively then children who were

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Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)