Violence on Tv,still a Matter of Debate

It often seems like everywhere one looks, violence rears its ugly head. We see it in the streets, schools, and even at home. However, a major cause of it is still sitting in many peoples' living rooms unnoticed. It is the television! The truth about television violence's influence on children has been confirmed in researches that were conducted worldwide yet its influence on adults is still a matter of constant heated debate, arguments upon arguments and studies after studies but unfortunately there isn’t one single result to state its real effect on adults.

Hundreds of studies have been carried out and all the results point to one conclusion: Television violence causes children to be violent and the effects can be life-long. In Alabama, for example, a nine-year-old boy received a bad report card from his teacher. He suggested sending the teacher poisoned candy as revenge like he had seen on television the night before. Moreover, in California, a seven-year-old boy sprinkled pieces of glass into the lamb stew the family was to eat for dinner. When asked why he did it he replied that he wanted to see if the results would be the same in real life as they were on television. These are certainly startling examples of how television can affect the child. However, violence can't only affect child's behaviour it can also disrupt his or her learning and thinking ability which will cause life long problems. If a child cannot do well in school, his or her whole future is at stake.

On the contrary, adults' violence is still a matter of discussion. Some point their fingers on TV while others claim that TV is a scapegoat and real causes of violence such as poverty, drugs and a general breakdown of families are the ones which should be put under the spotlight. Violent movies, they claim, may inspire or plant the idea in someone's mind, yet it is more likely that the only aspect of the murder affected by them is just the technique used. The murderer would have performed his duties anyway.

Just as films, News broadcasts could show violent graphics but here they are from the reality of day to day living. We see footage of car-wreck, murder scenes. We take this information in, absorb it as real life, and perhaps over time become de-sensitised to these effects as we see them on the news. On the other hand, some people assert that TV helps in refusing violence rather than increasing it. For example, when a group of racists murdered Anthony Walker in Merseyside last summer, TV helped a lot in provoking outrages across Britain condemning such awful crimes. Similarly, many demonstrations took to the streets showing disapproval to the unjustified scandals that took place at abu Ghurib prison in Iraq after the media revealed the actual situation in that prison.

However, some TV shows could still have clearer influence on adults. David Phillips, a scientist at the University of California conducted a