Mass Media, Viiolence and Hate - Research Paper Example

?Mass Media, Violence and Hate Technology today has advanced so far, that it is relatively easy for virtually anyone to access mass media content from wherever they are. Mass media can be described as any channel through which information is accessed by a large number of people. The mass media has been hailed as a useful source of information and entertainment. However, it has also been castigated for propagating violence and hatred, especially to children and adolescents. Violence is the use of physical force usually so as to cause injury. Hate is a feeling of intense animosity or extreme dislike. Mass media is a tool that is used the world over to communicate and disseminate information (Anderson, Berkowitz and Donnerstein, 2003). Though this may be a commendable thing, there is the inherent danger of society acquiring unwanted behaviors from different mass media tools. One of the negative influences that media has on society is the hate it is used to motivate and the violence it propagates (Anderson and Bushman, 2001). Most of the content contained in many media forms has some form of violence. The mass media broadcasts violence in the form of movies, mobile games, and video games; though they are thought to be safe, research indicates that they have negative effects on its users. The internet is also a culprit when it comes to mass hate communication (Perrone and White, 2001). The mass media in its various forms has influenced the society to adopt violent and hateful lifestyles and to assume that violence and hate are norms. This paper analyses the use of media to propagate violence and hate and how this shapes society. Violence in the Media Hate and violence are negative social behaviors that result from various factors, one of them being mass media (Anderson and Bushman, 2001). This violence that is propagated through popular media affects mostly children who process every piece of information that comes their way. A research report presented to the Congress in 2000 shows that “entertainment violence can lead to increases in aggressive attitudes, values and behavior, particularly in children”. Research also shows that watching acts of violence on TV makes people more violent. There are many forms of violence that are propagated through mass media. The violence can be in the form of violent video games, violent TV programs and films depicting violence, as well as violent music videos (Perrone and White, 2001). There is also a lot of violence depicted in the print media, particularly in comic books and magazines which depict the violence as a way of solving issues. The internet is also an avenue used to propagate violence in form of games, written content and downloadable violent clips. Some of the programs and films that have violent and hate scenes aired on TV include Cold Case, CSI, Tru Calling: Reunion, Walker, Texas Ranger, and Above the Law, just to mention a few. In many of these programs, the violence propagated by the star is depicted positively, the star always emerging hero in spite of his violent and hateful ways. In a study to gauge how video games affect behavior, it was found that children and young people who normally play violent video games are more likely to behave in an aggressive manner than those who played non-violent games. The study also showed that both aggressive and non-aggressive individuals were affected by exposure to violent video games. Another study was conducted on music listeners to establish how the music that they listened to impacted their lives. The results of the study conducted on college going students showed that the impact of music lyrics that had some form of violence was reflected on hostile behavior and attitude among the listeners (Anderson, Berkowitz and Donnerstein, 2003). Exposure to violence in the media does not only affect children and adolescents in their youthful years, the effects are normally carried on until they are adults. Research has shown that violent acts exposed to children are likely to lead to other behavioral problems while they are all grown up. A group of children who were exposed to violent mass media were found to have aggressive behavior when they were adults. This group of individuals was also found to be more likely to have problems with the law than other people (Perrone and White, 2001). These results showed that exposure to violent acts in the media were a strong factor that led to the development of aggressive and violent behavior in later life. According to Baldacci, Baumgardner and Funk (2004), violence exposure in the mass media often leads to desensitization. According to the authors there is a possibility that repeated exposure to mass media violence can alter the affective, cognitive, and behavioral processes and, thus probably lead to desensitization. This means that people tend to get used to the acts of violence that are presented in the mass media to an extent that they no longer feel their negative effects. Children who are exposed to violent activities at a young age are particularly vulnerable to desensitization. They grow up knowing that violence is a normal occurrence in life and therefore, everyone has a right to act as violently as they wish (Baldacci, Baumgardner and Funk, 2004). Exposure to continuous violence means that children are bombarded with negative messages that affected them for their whole lives. No wonder research shows that many people who have been exposed to violence in the media during their youth tend to have aggressive tendencies, especially when faced with conflicts. For example, after watching violence on TV , children instead of reporting incidences of misconduct committed against the, will prefer to square it out with the wrongdoer by fighting. Yet again, in many neighborhoods, youths resort to bullying newcomers often practicing some war or martial arts tactics that they have seen on TV on their victims. Hiimae (2009) argues that violence in mass media often creates stereotypes, symbols, and forms of reality which shape how people see the world in which they live. The author further argues that traditional folklore has declined and folklore influenced by the media has begun to thrive. This argument can be connected to the rise of the culture of hate and violence is attributed to the media. This means that as people get exposed to some violence and misguided behaviors presented in the mass media, likelier they are to create misinformed symbols of reality, and this may lead them to make wrong decisions and choices in life. How is Violence in the Media Related to Violence in the Real World? While it is true that exposure to violent and hateful media is not the only cause of aggressive behavior in children and society as a whole, research shows compelling evidence that such exposure does have a lasting impression on the development of aggressive behavior. The situation is made worse by the fact that there are those people are particularly vulnerable to depictions of violence and hatred in today’s media industry. These include children and adolescents who spend much of their time watching television or playing video games. Research shows that, in America alone, more homes have television sets than telephones. This means that it is quite easy for children to watch television shows and films without appropriate supervision. Research also shows that children spend an average of 28 hours in front of the TV, which is more time than they spend in school in one week. On average, a child in America will be exposed to 200,000 acts of violence which include 18,000 killings before they are 18. Many cartoons have been found to contain more than 20% violence in their content (Hiimae, 2009). Research shows that children who consume a huge amount of mass media violence are more likely to develop aggressive behavior compared to those who are not. A research was carried out in 1956 on 24 children who were watching two different types of carton programs. The first set of children was watching an episode of Woody Woodpecker which was full of violent acts, and the other group was watching a non-violent cartoon called The Little Red Hen. Researchers observed that those children who had watched Woody Woodpecker were many times more likely to beat other children and even break toys. Another research was conduced on pre-school children who were exposed to different levels and forms of violence. One group watched a person insult and hit an inflatable doll. Another group watched the same incident on TV. A third group was exposed to a cartoon version of the incident while there was a fourth group that did not watch any of the violent acts. The children were later exposed to some frustrating situations and those who were in the first three groups all responded more aggressively than those who had not been exposed to the research violence (Anderson and Bushman, 2001). These scientific results show that exposure of children to violence through media has psychological effects on how they behave in reality. To many children, what they see on the mass media is a reflection of what they think is the norm in society going by the growing incidences of juvenile delinquency, child misconduct, and bulling in many jurisdictions. In many media presentations of violence, the use of weapons is quit common (Chaffe and Metzger, 2001). Therefore, it is common to find a child playing with a knife or any such weapon as they try to emulate what they saw on TV. Even when there are warnings about emulating what they watch, children are not particularly keen on listen to such warning (Perrone and White, 2001). That is the reason such messages as “Do Not Try This At home or At School” rarely ever work. If a child sees his or hero do something that looks reasonable to the child, it is only natural that the child will want to try and do something similar, and the result is normally disastrous. Players in the television and film industries normally claim that media violence does not influence aggressive behavior on users. For instance, Jack Valenti, a president of the Motion Picture Association of America, is on record stating that if all mass media tools were shut off today, there would still be the same amount of violence in future (Hiimae, 2009). However, this argument has a lot of loopholes since it is the same media industry that makes vast amounts of money from selling airtime to companies to run commercials. Therefore, if viewers are drawn to the products being sold in the commercials, it is only fair to say that they are even more drawn to images and messages of violence that they are fed every minute of every hour that they are watching television (Anderson, Berkowitz and Donnerstein, 2003). There are those who claim that violence in media influences behavior positively. Violent TV programs have been said to serve as a release valve for aggressive desires which would otherwise build up and explode later. This catharsis hypothesis has been used by film and TV producers as a justification for packing violent themes into their content. This kind of thinking follows from Aristotle’s argument that when people view tragic events in plays, it gives them “emotional release from negative feelings such as pity and fear” (Anderson and Bushman, 2001). The same argument was used in the production of Greek dramas where the hero was often met a violent demise. By watching such tragic events, it was believed that the negative feelings of the viewer were cleansed, and this was believed to be beneficial to the individual and to the community at large (Baldacci, Baumgardner and Funk, 2004). However, the reality is quite different, especially today. Different studies show that watching violence and hate content in the media leaves a negative impact rather than a positive one. Media and Hate The media has been on the receiving end when it comes to the communication of messages that are meant to incite hate among members of the public (Anderson and Bushman, 2001). When one thinks about the connection between media and hate, the infamous Rwandan genocide comes into mind. In a society that had been known to be quite peaceful, the message of hate spread like fire since it was propagated using mass media, particularly radio. Selfish individuals who were filled with hate for their fellow countrymen found a powerful tool in the mass media to spread their poisonous agenda. Within no time, the hate messages had spread to the whole country, and what followed was the bloodiest genocide ever witnessed in the history of the country. The Rwandan case brought to the fore the power mass media had over society. Before and during the WWII, Hitler made use of print media to spread his Nazi idealism which were filled with hate messages against Jews and non-Caucasians (Perrone and White, 2001). Media in some cases propagates racial-based violence, and hate against the poor in society. Today, it is common to find hate messages all over the internet. Most of these hate messages are racially inclined with members of different racial groups posting hateful messages against other races (Chaffe and Metzger, 2001). The propagation of hate messages through the media has increased with the increased popularity of social media websites. When a piece of hate message is posted on any of these websites, it immediately becomes viral and within no time, it reaches thousands of internet users from different parts of the world. Individuals and groups of people use the internet as the cheapest and most efficient way of spreading messages that they think might bring about tension due to hate influence. For example, it is a well known fact that terrorists from the Middle East countries have been a problem for the United States for a long time. However, due to hate messages present in many forms of media, many people think that all Arabs are terrorists or potential terrorist (Baldacci, Baumgardner and Funk, 2004). For a long time in the history of mankind, racism and ethnic intolerance have been associated with hate crimes. It is verifiable that among the many factors attributed to these vices, mass media is one of them (Anderson and Bushman, 2001). The problem of racism penetrates the lives of the ethnic minority youths in a way that it enhances violence as a practical solution to the problems of identity and status. The use of hate and violence as propagated in the mass media is common among ethnic minority groups who use it to solve their societal problems. Music in popular culture normally denotes mental images of gun totting youths who would not think twice about pulling the trigger if they were in a frustrating situation. One musical piece that exemplifies the fact above is the case of Stan, a song about a young man who kills his girlfriend and drives over a bridge for not receiving a response to his mail from a famous artist. Hate messages are not only racially oriented, but there is also an aspect of gender discrimination and violence against women in them (Perrone and White, 2001). For instance, when Eminem, who is immensely popular among young people, is regarded as one of the best musicians on this century, very few people can refute that claim. However, his songs are nothing short of egoistic and full of hate Lyrics. He sings about how he hates and would like to kill his mother and wife and many listeners cheer him on, many times without realizing what effect such messages has on them. In the United States, making hate speeches and statements is not particularly wrong. During the 2008 presidential campaigns, there was a lot of negative talk about both president Obama and Sen. McCain. People made inflammatory remarks in public without fear of being reprimanded because the law does allow people to freely express themselves. Some went as far as calling others racist names and labeling them terrorists just because they were running on different political platforms. These messages could be heard on local and national television as well as on radio and the internet (Hiimae, 2009). There were also plenty of hate messages in the print media and even on billboards. In many parts of the world, freedom of speech and expression are guaranteed rights. Therefore, people can say whatever is on their minds whenever they feel like. This makes it quite difficult to contain the content that is carried in many media options. Effects on Society Human beings assimilate, evaluate and control huge amounts of data and messages in today’s complex entertainment and information culture. The seemingly passive violent and hate messages passed on through different forms of media have profound effects on individuals and society as a whole (Anderson and Bushman, 2001). It has been demonstrated in research that before they reach 4 years old, most children are not able to distinguish between fact and fictions, Therefore, they are likely to view violence and hate messages on television as normal occurrences. The proliferation of violent and hateful content has the ability to seriously offend the values of society. This has sometimes been used as a justification for the restriction of the freedom of expression. In countries such as Iran and many other Arabic states, the public is not allowed full access to the internet. The governments in these countries have put up measures that are meant to gag media content so that people do not get exposed to hate and violent messages (Anderson, Berkowitz and Donnerstein, 2003). In many instances, the violence displayed in TV programs and films is normally depicted as a way of resolving a conflict as noted by (Anderson, Berkowitz and Donnerstein, 2003). The use of violence is actually depicted as being effective and inconsequential. The heroes in the media are the violent type, and they are normally rewarded for their violent tendencies (Biernatzki, 2002). This is how violent characters become role models for the youth. Carrying a gun or any other weapon is depicted as being heroic. The use of these weapons is seen as the only best way of dealing with an opponent. This use of violence to achieve a positive goal may be taken by many to mean that it is justified to use violence as a form of retaliation against those who are perceived to be victimizers. Those young people who have been victimized before may understand violence to be the only way to solve problems. When children start watching acts of violence and hearing messages of hate on media, they become desensitized to it. This is to say that they no longer empathize with the victim and the victimizer (Chaffe and Metzger, 2001). Apart from television programs and films, children are also widely exposed to contemporary music videos, many of which contain immense amounts of hate statements and violence, including interpersonal violence. The internet and video games are also sources of violence and hate messages that children, adolescents and adults are all exposed to on a daily basis (Baldacci, Baumgardner and Funk, 2004). There has been concern on the level of violence available on the internet today, with children being exposed to a wide range of information from how to create explosives to how to acquire fire arms. Video games are also filled with violence as many involve killing opponents I order to make an advance to the next level. Research has shown that children who are exposed to media violence are rarely passive observers of the violent acts. Rather, they consume and sometimes act out what they see (Anderson, Berkowitz and Donnerstein, 2003). Many researchers have found that there is a strong correlation between exposure to mass media violence and aggressive behavior (Chaffe and Metzger, 2001). This is despite the many arguments given that violent acts in the mass media do not influence behavior. Although mass media is not the only factor that determines the production of aggressive behavior, it is one of the major contributing factors as many reports suggest. Children learn a lot of things when they are young from the media. The violence they watch or listen to or read about is bound to affect them in one way or another in their latter lives. When people are exposed to continuous episodes of violence, they tend to digest whatever they see and this may be expressed in the individual’s behavior (Biernatzki, 2002). For instance, a child who is used to seeing violent children’s programs may grow up thinking that violence is the norm and might not think twice about practicing what he/she sees on TV, in real life. There have been many cases of school children carrying knives and firearms and using them to terrorize other students (Anderson and Bushman, 2001). Others have gone as far as committing serious crimes using weapons that they see being used on television. The rising cases of school shootings and youth homicides only shows the extent of the impact that media violence and hate has on children and young people. Other forms of violence and hate that is propagated in the media today include religious extremism and political propaganda statements. For instance, the Ku Klux clan and used to spread their misguided racial beliefs that castigated the black community through radio and television. Political propaganda that is laden with hate messages can also be found in the mass media (Chaffe and Metzger, 2001). For example, many aristocratic normally propagate their hate messages against their political opponents through the media. All these forms of violence have a psychological effect on the viewer. Research shows that children are especially susceptible to the images of violence and hate since they are still developing cognitively. As they watch any acts of violence on any media tool, they learn to internalize it as an acceptable way of resolving issues. Negative stereotypes are also created as a result of the hate and violent acts seen on TV. Too much violence and hate messages on the mass media is likely to lead to the creation of a society that knows violence and hate as the only way to resolve problems (Murray, 2008). The over-presentation of violence and hate has brought about an outcry on the need to manage the kind of content that mass media is allowed to propagate. However, controlling what the media propagates in terms of violence and hate is an uphill task. The good news is that there is a lot that can be done to regulate what children and adolescents watch and listen to on the electronic media (Baldacci, Baumgardner and Funk, 2004). Policy makers can develop concrete ways of dealing with violence and hate in the media by enacting legislation that criminalize the use of both hate and violence out of context. The media also has a big role to play in balancing the kind of content it presents to the general public, and to children and young people in particular. Players in the media industry should take the responsibility of ensuring that inappropriate messages do not reach young ears (Murray, 2008). Regulation of internet content is quite difficult due to its viral nature. However, with proper parental guidance, children do not need to get influenced by the acts of violence and hate they are exposed to almost daily (Anderson and Bushman, 2001). Conclusion Media is a powerful tool through which information is disseminated and can be used be used positively or negatively. One of the negative influences of media in modern times has been the propagation of violence and hate. Research indicates that hate messages are a product of human interaction. This means that hateful statements will always follow the human population wherever it is. Violence in the media is comes in many forms including TV programs, music played on radio and written content in the print media. Children are most vulnerable to different forms of violence that are propagated through mass media. This is because at their age, they are likely to believe that what they see or hear from the media is always cool. The entertainment industry is quite notorious for depicting violence as a societal norm, violet people sometimes being presented as good people. Many secular films, television programs and music lyrics and videos present violence as part of life. In many instances, the use of violence is shown to be the right way to go about solving conflicts. The entertainment industry is not the only culprit when it comes to depiction of violence in the media. Many news items in the electronic media are full of violence. This kind of exposure to violence of children and adolescents has a profound effect on their development. The presentation of violence and hate messages on the mass media is likely to lead to the creation of a generation of people who know no other way of dealing with conflicts apart from using violence and hate. Although controlling what the media propagates in terms of violence and hate is an uphill task, there is a lot that can be done to regulate what children and adolescents watch and listen to on the electronic media. Policy makers need to come up with concrete ways of dealing with violence and hate in the media by enacting legislations that criminalize the use of both hate and violence out of context. The media also has a big role to play in balancing the kind of content it presents to the general public, young people in particular. In other words, the media should also take the responsibility of ensuring that such messages do not reach young ears. Regulation of internet content is by far the most difficult means of solving the problem of hate messages and violence as induced by media presentations. This is mostly due to its viral nature. However, with proper parental guidance, children will not get influenced by the acts of violence and hate they are exposed to on a daily basis. 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