Violent Media and our Youth; Blog post #3

Within Gerard Jones article, he states how in certain instances violent media could have a positive impact on growing youth. His argument is backed with examples of kids he has worked with, who used violent media, such as comic books and video games, as way to express suppressed feelings, overcome fears, and raise self-esteem. The story he uses of his own son who was at one point afraid to climb trees, but eventually got over his fear by reading Tarzan comics backs his argument with evidence. He even goes as far as to include refutations from parents and teachers who disagree with his argument.

Me personally, I agree with Gerard to a certain extent. I feel that every child should have an outlet that they use to express themselves. It's up to the parents to teach their children the right way to do that. Expression of oneself is something that cannot be taught though, so instead of teaching I feel it's the parents responsibility to police what outlets they use. I say this because of how our world is today, which has a tendency to romanticize violence. I also say this because of how advanced technology (violent media) is now and how readily available it is to youth. This can be dangerous to kids because of how easily influenced they are. School shootings are becoming unfortunately more prevalent in our society, which I feel violent media definitely plays a factor in.

Even though all of this may persuade parents to shelter their kids, I don't feel it's right for them to do so. The world we live in is full of violence, so for parents to try and hide their kids from small pieces of it would be irresponsible since it will not do anything but make their kids naive of that fact.