Triggers Of Aggressive Behaviour - Article Example

Titus Rock Manickam Order No. 194333 01 December 2007 VIOLENCE ON TV AND IN MUSIC CAUSES AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR WHICH CAN RESULT IN INJURY It is difficult to imagine life without the television and music. The eyes and ears of almost everyone, particularly the youth, have become so accustomed to the beat and genre of television channels and music that entertainment and attractions seem to be the staple diet to the common folk today. To add to the glamour, there are gadgets and add on of diverse type such as MP3, iPod, DVDs, and so on, to keep the hungry viewer craving for more. Gone are the days when people used to get healthy thrills by watching old classics which were more educative and entertaining and less worrisome than a lot of contemporary entertainment, in which violence is embellished by advances in film technology and there is an absence of depth to the characters. Now that television has spread out into the world in such a big way, there is obviously no way one can turn the clock back and wish it a perennial goodbye. It is a necessity, but it could also be a menace, depending on the way it is used. Psychologists and social activists have time and again, over the years, conclusively established that without proper parental guidance, children are being adversely affected by exposure to the wrong programs in TV. Tender, impressionable, and receptive, the mind of a child is eager and ready to accept thrilling encounters and heroic feats. Therefore, while watching violent encounters and high decibel music, not only he enjoys the pulsating effect but also begins to build a personal bond with the characters in the movie. Eventually, within a short period of time, the child has decided that these are the programs and characters that he is going to be relating with for the rest of his life. "Melvin has a toy," a kindergarten toddler tells his teacher in a New York school. The toy turns out to be a loaded gun, and it is pointing to the teacher's chest. A volley of gunfire erupts in a school in Washington. In seconds, four students fall wounded, but survive. A teenager is later convicted for the assault. In Chicago, two boys, both outsiders, enter, a maths classroom, and are locked in a fight. When the students and teacher try to break it up, one of the students gets fatally stabbed by the outsiders who then flee. These are just a few incidents of the growing scenes of macabre violence occurring in schools these days. [1] Two teenagers burst into their Colorado high school about one year ago and gunned down 13 people. Then they shot themselves. Though it had appeared to be a spur of the moment event, it emerged later that the two had the bloodshed meticulously planned "down to the last bullet and explosive" for nearly a year. It was a murder-cum-suicide mission. Their bigger plan had been to blow up the entire school with pipe bombs attached to their bodies. Society is benefiting in terms of gross national product with everyone, including women, working. However, Kevin Dwyer, president of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) is not pleased. He is direct to the point, "Kids are growing up without the supports they had in the past." Due to the abysmal lack of parental care, the television has become the stalwart companion after school hours for children. A child spends about 2 minutes communicating with his or her parents on an average day as compared to 16 hours a day glued to the television, writes journalist George Howe Colt in his 1991 book, The Enigma of Suicide. Studies are noncommittal on how exposure to images of murders and assaults on the television affects children's behavior, though many psychologists are convinced that violent television shows, movies, and computer games inflame destructive tendencies. Tellingly, more than 86 percent of television shows and movies portray characters who have their interpersonal problems solved with violence, according to NASP. According to the Center for Media Education in Washington, by the time he completes his elementary school, the average child will have witnessed more than 100,000 acts of violence on television, including 8,000 murders. [2] Well-placed leaders in all walks of life publicly decry violent entertainment - but then continue to ignore its proliferation. While it is widely agreed upon that violence constitutes an increasing component of the cinema as well as the television, nothing is being done to limit the damage by putting in place a statutory body to regulate and ensure avoidance of excessive violence. On the contrary, instances of violence per hour during prime time television shows in recent years show a disconcerting increase of 75% since the turn of the century. Indeed, on the time slot basis, the findings show that there has been an increase of 45% in violence during the 8 p.m. time slot, increase of 92% in the 9 p.m. time slot, and a staggering increase of 167% in the 10 p.m. time slot. Violent scenes replete with sexual content that included rape, stalking, sexual predators and pornography are also turning out with increasing frequency on prime time programs.[3] The internet is adding another twist to child victimization by bullies online. U.S. researchers have reported that hateful text messages, abusive emails, and cyber-gossip are creating a whole new generation of child victims who had not experienced bullying of any other kind before. Reports from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have shown a 50% increase in the number of kids aged 10 to 17 between 2000 and 2005, who were harassed online. [4] Music and Violence At a concert held by the group "Guns N' Roses" on July 2, 1991 in St Louis, Missouri an enraged mob of 2500 youths broke into a riot, injuring sixty of their numbers. Later, it was reported in the journal Rolling Stone (Aug. 22, 1975 p 15) that the participants in this concert, "developed into a furious uncontrollable mob, hurling bottles, destroying seats, ripping apart bushes, breaking and setting fire to instruments..." This riot continued for over an hour before a squad of special police arrived to restore order. This type of violence is far from being an isolated incident. In the Jefferson-Township, New Jersey, a youth, Thomas Sullivan stabbed his mother, Betty-Ann, to death in the basement of their house. He then set fire to the divan with the intent of destroying the house and killing his father and younger brother, and ran outside and committed suicide by slashing his wrists. Before this carnage, all week long Thomas had been humming a rock song about blood and killing your mother. Police later found out that Thomas was a talented student, outstanding sportsman and had belonged to the Scouts. But he began to dabble in "hard metal" rock music and, before committing his crime, he confided to his friends that Satan appeared to him and ordered the killing of his family. Violence of all kinds are on the increase in rock music. In a song titled "I Kill Children" by rock group Dead Kennedy, they were heard singing, "I kill children, I love to see them die. I kill children to make their mothers cry. I crush them under my car and I love to hear them scream. I feed them poison candy and spoil their Halloween. I kill children, I bang their heads in doors. I kill children, I can hardly wait for yours." In the album "Hell Awaits" the band Slayer has the lyrics: "No apparent motive. Just kill and kill again. Survive my brutal slashing. I'll hunt you till the end." According to one study, out of the 700 most popular songs of "heavy metal," 50% spoke of killings, 35% of satanism and 7% about suicide. Sheila Davis, professor of lyric writing at New York University, is concerned. She exhorts, "better give serious attention to the content of pop songs and to evaluate not only what lyrics are saying to society but, more important, what they may be doing to it" [5] A Quest for Balance An occasional action packed spy movie, carefully selected with the ages and viewers discretion in mind, can do no harm. But a regular fare of gunfights and violence may not be the wisest choice. Nowadays children can clearly distinguish fact from fiction by age 7 or 8; they have become more aware of their personal growth and physical development, get exposed to vulgar sex and violence and get stimulated more frequently and easily.[6] Research studies have confirmed far too many times that television influences behavior, particularly children and the young adult. Major corporations the world over would not invest billions of dollars in advertisement on such a wide scale if they did not work. Even renowned doctors confirm that on-screen violence is responsible for much of the aggressive behavior in children who grew up watching violent shows. The proliferation of violence and crime is linked in a huge way to violence seen in the television to the blares of gunfire and accompanying nerve splitting music. Also, children spend more time in front of the television than the classroom and with the homework books. The internet is fast overtaking the television in violence and pornography further ensnaring the growing, tender minds of the children and making them susceptible to addictive habits of violence and sexual crimes. In general, whether it is reflected in music, cartoons, wrestling shows or movies, young adults are increasingly falling prey to destructive effects of the wrong kind of entertainment and music being purveyed through the television and other gadgets that promote and glorify mysterious, ultrasonic genre of music and culture that take demonic pleasure in harmful activities and indulgence. Following close on the heels of the television is another phenomenon that is proving to test the nerves of concerned parents. It is the video game. A child finds immense pleasure in "shooting" down aliens and opponents in thousands of violent video games simulating war like situations. There are even "murder simulators." One is left in a state of shock and despair at the increasing number of school killings being carried out by lone gunmen and even school kids. It is not a small matter to trivialize violence as innocent video games. They are producing monsters even before the child has entered his teens. Preventing the child from watch television at home does little. The child can always escape to his buddy next door for the fun. [7] Indeed, the mania for television and music have gripped the eyes and ears of everyone to such an extent that they are edging out other important issues of life, such as education, communication between family members, social welfare activities for the less privileged, and such involvements that human beings are duty bound to observe. The television and music industry is not all vice and no virtue. It is important to be aware that the television is a very important media if used for the advancement of useful issues such as dissemination of information, imparting educational topics, and spread of knowledge. But both, television and music can be used for good and bad purposes. Learning can be made fun by the use of television and added touch of music, if it does not interfere with the course of learning. The widespread and powerful use and influence of these media are being used for purposes such as news information as well as vulgar shows. But with some good imagination and creativity, topic of important social, economical, national, and environmental issues could be made more meaningful and attractive. They could be used for advertising useful consumables, create public opinion, general awareness of what is going on locally and the rest of the world, and fight social evils like poverty, corruption, inequality, and so on. The television and music have influenced the youth and the illiterate the most because of their vulnerability to anything that appears impressive to the eyes and the ears. Directly or indirectly, they incite and excite the base instincts and it is not difficult to entangle them in unhealthy habits and thoughts that could be then commercially exploited. In the vice-like grip of these powerful murky media, the youth and the illiterate easily get caught in the web of enticement little realizing that it is going to prove costly in the long run. They are so caught in the addiction that they lose all power to distinguish the good from the evil. They live in a world of make believe, pretending they are being led to an utopia which simply does not exist. In such a state of unhealthy, bewildering enchantment, they lose their grip on the important moral virtues, soon giving way to the charm of what appears to be a never ending life of music and merriment. They do not comprehend the extent to which excessive rock and violence has brainwashed them. People have got embroiled in criminal vices such as gambling, stealing, and many other evils as a result of unhealthy television programs and music. The influence of the small screen and music has become so powerful that the craze has got hold of almost every household and at least one member in each family suffers from an addiction to at least one soap opera. It is time to seriously reverse the trend to normalcy. Sources: 1. Ostling, Richard N., Shootouts in the Schools, Time in partnership with CNN, http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,959076,00.html. 2. Education Week, Complex Set of Ills Spurs Rising Teen Suicide Rate, http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2000/04/12/31problems.h19.html. 3. Caroline Schulenburg, Dying to Entertain, Violence on Prime Time Broadcast Television 1998-2006, http://www.parentstv.org/ptc/publications/reports/violencestudy/exsummary.asp. 4. Social Cruelty: Teens take bullying to internet, The Times of India, November 29, 2007, page 17. 5. USA Today, October 11, 1985, p. 10). (Rock Music and Violence, OrthodoxPhotos.com, http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/readings/rock/violence.shtml. 6. Scholastic Parents, http://www.scholastic.com/schoolage/experts/behavior/6_8_tvviolence.htm. 7. Zur, Ofer, Zur Institute, Teen Violence and School Shootings, http://www.drzur.com/teenviolence.html. Read More