Violence and Society

Violence and Society

In present society it is nearly impossible to avoid the constant bombardment of violence. With newspaper headlines reading about a new terrorist attack daily, it is hard to escape the violent grasp. It is this grasp that has caused the fibres of society to become unwound, thus producing a morally abandoned society. This heavy exposure to violence is one of the causes of aggressive behavior, crime and violence in society. Violence affects people of all ages, genders, socioeconomic hiearchies and all levels of intelligence.

On April 20, 1999, two Columbine High School seniors entered their school wearing black trench coats and ski masks. They were heavily armed with explosives and handheld weapons. The students Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris assaulted the school during lunch hours. Fifteen people were killed in the incident, including the suicidal killers themselves. These killers were Doom players.

Video games are a radiply evolving industry. As technology evolves, so does the gamer. The newer technology allows for high definition gore to rape the screen. The people who play these games, expect this high level intensity of violence. It is this violence which numbs the players emotions towards death. Video games such as Doom, graphically portray violence through killing with the use of weapons such as explosives and handheld weapons. These games give rise to the saying, “kill or be killed.” Violent games are one of the greatest influential factors that negatively affect people and lead to a demoralized society.

Television in the home is the greatest source of visual violence for children. The average child watches 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence before finishing elementary school. Most of the movies seen at home wouldn't have been shown in theaters 10-20 years ago. Music is also a contributing factor to the large exposure of violence. Teenagers listen to more than 10,000 hours of rock music. This impact is intensified because they also spend hours watching music videos filled with violent and erotic images that go beyond the content shown on commercial