Evaluation of “Honey, I Warped the Kids”
By Hung V. Tran Carl M. Cannon reasons in “Honey, I Warped the Kids” in the Utne Reader that violence on television must be suppressed due to its effects on human behavior. This evaluation will show that though the author makes some good use of statistical findings, he leaves many holes in his argument by not thoroughly discussing opposing opinions. Cannon systematically lists the studies and opinions of others who agree with him and does not discuss opposing positions. In content, first Cannon discusses the sociological interest in the subject of television violence and mentions that “the first congressional hearings took place in 1954” (95). He follows that with a list of studies that prove a
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“For the past 22 years," says Cannon, "they found, adults and children have been entertained by about sixteen violent acts, including two murders, in each evening 's prime-time programming” (96). The statistics in the NBC study, which are touted by well-meaning critics, contradict themselves. The study claims on the one hand that violence desensitizes children; on the other, that it also incites more violence. In spite of this ambivalent evidence, Cannon 's research is deliberate and narrow-minded in intention, using only what he needs to support his own point of view and ignoring the NBC evidence. In point of fact, it is arguable that images do not spill blood, but rather rage, desperation, and revenge, especially when they are equipped with guns. According to Todd Gitlin, there were " 36,000 murders, accidents, and suicides committed by gunshots in the United States in 1992" alone (93). "Honey, I Warped the Kids” seems at first to be a reasonable article. While one reads this article one may be convinced, thinking that statistics alone can decide the fate of their children. However, if an opposing viewpoint had been better represented, the casual reader may not have come to the same conclusion as Cannon.
Someone who disagrees with the article “Honey, I Warped the Kids" may find Cannon 's position quite troubling. Gitlin says, "It’s dark out there in the
One of her supporting detail is that due to politicians raising concern that movies, music, and even comic books “caused youth immorality and crime, calling for control and sometimes censorship” (pg.13). “The unlikely team of Senators Joseph Lieberman, Sam Brownback, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Rick Santorum introduced a bill in March 2005 that called for $90 million to fund studies on media effects” (pg.13). With those concerns and with the amount of funds to find the effects of media, there will most likely be a corresponding view with the news.
* The average American child will witness over 200,000 acts of violence on television including 16,000 murders before age 18. (4)
Television is the mainstream of our culture. Violence on television has been a topic of conflict since before 1950. There have been repeated debates on how to protect children from the harmful effects of violence on television. Television is one form of modern media that influences the everyday lives of people. Televised violence has a major effect on how children perceive the world and how they behave. "American television has become the most violent in the world. It is for this reason why researchers have focused their attention toward television violence" (Cantor & Hoffner 424-4-25). Children enjoy watching television and now with the increased technology of cable and movie
When it comes to the topic of violent media, some of us would readily agree it’s a controversial subject as to whether kids should or shouldn’t be exposed to it. This is because many children who view violent media react negatively rather than not being affected at all. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of what effects does it have on children. Whereas some are convinced that it is a healthy alternative for kids to express themselves, others maintain that it causes kids to become more aggressive and contributes to juvenile crimes.
(1).The problem is that in the last four decades, the government and the public health amassed an impressive body of evidence identifying the impact of media violence on children. Since 1969, when President [Lyndon] Johnson formed the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, the body of data has effectively grown and grown and it leads to an unambiguous and virtually unanimous conclusion: media violence contributes to
Over the past two decades, hundreds of studies have examined how violent programming on TV affects children and young people. While a direct "cause and effect" link is difficult to establish, there is a growing consensus that some children may be vulnerable to violent images and messages.
The article “Violence As Fun” by Randall Sullivan brings up this issue, arguing that parents need to be educated on the dangers of allowing their children to watch violent TV programs. The author supports this with evidence from a report conducted by The American Psychological Association, where they concluded that early substance abuse, access to weapons, isolation, and widespread display of violence in media; the latter being greater, contributes to the violent behaviors in adolescents. He also points out that since the 1950s, aggravated assaults have increased seven times. The passage further emphasizes that many TV outlets know the damaging effects that violence in media has on juveniles, yet only a few acknowledge this fact. Sullivan’s
Columbine High School massacre. Virginia Tech shootings. Sandy Hook Elementary School slaughter. Umpqua Community College rampage. When someone hears any of these phrases, violent images come to mind. Since the first of these incidents, some questions have been, “Why did this happen? What caused these ‘kids’ to become violent?” One predominant thought has been that violence in media experienced as children, such as video games, could be the reason. Violence in media is common and accepted today. Escalation of violence has increased significantly in movies, video games, and even music videos for years now. This violent trend in media is becoming more and more popular with children, youth, and adults. For instance, the only violence articulated
There is no question that television and films these days are filled with violence and antisocial behavior. Virtually every show, movie or news story nowadays has some sort of violent theme. Studies have shown that for every hour of television, there are 6 violent exchanges shown, and this number increases to 14 exchanges an hour
An author at an English conference stated,"Violence is the drug of choice for kids today." In recent years, a number of parents have become increasingly concerned about the media business exposing their children to violent images. Many parents worry that repeated exposure to violent images may cause children to become violent themselves. The hysteria about violence in the media has even caused some adults to compare violent images to drugs, suggesting that violent images are not just harmful, but potentially addictive. As a result, parents seem stricter than ever. Due to indisputable statistics regarding juvenile violent crime, flaws in the research claiming violent images cause violence, and the unsupported statement that violence is
By the age of 18, the average American television viewer has witnessed over 32,000 murders and 40,000 attempted murders on television alone (American Psychological Association). These statistics do not include such violence seen in movies or heard in music. To witness such an amount of violence is clearly unrealistic and exploitative. Violence is being used by television programs as a superficial way of grabbing and holding an audience's attention. Producers of television programs that show violence must take the responsibility of showing a realistic amount of violence on their shows. That is, they must not use gratuitous violence to appeal to male viewers, or else the violent crime rate in the United States will rise.
These results correlate highly with the social learning theory on aggressive behavior. Those exposed to substantial violence and aggression were likely to imitate it later on in life. However, while an observational study can elicit enlightening results, they do not provide much on practical, empirical evidence. What the researchers did was observe behavior exhibited by the individuals they studied; they did not control the amount of violence the individuals were being exposed nor were they preventing others from being exposed to such programming. Thus, this study can not be deemed as an “experiment”. While they tried eliminating the lurking variables that may plague the results of their findings, it would be impossible to eliminate every possible influence other than the television exposure through an observational study.
Due to violence on television, children become less sensitive to that pain and suffering of others or to become more aggressive to others. It also makes children more fearful to the world around them. (Abelard 1) Viewing habits of children observed for many decades deduced that violence on TV is associated with aggressive behavior, more than poverty, race, or parental behavior. It also reported that a TV show contains about 20 acts of violence an hour.
As evidence has shown, children view many violent scenes while watching television, movies, or playing video games, but the question still remains: What psychological effect does violence in the media have on children? Research over the past 10 years has consistently shown that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between media violence and real-life aggression (Strasburger 129). Violence in the media can lead to aggressive behavior by children and teenagers who watch the various programs. Of course, not all children who watch television, or movies, or play video games develop aggressive behavior. However, there is a strong correlation between media violence and aggressive behavior. A study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, examined how children's television viewing practices are related to aggressive behaviors. The results revealed that children who reported watching greater amounts of television per day had higher levels of violent behavior than children who reported lesser amounts of television viewing (Singer 1041). Witnessing violence is an important determining factor in violent behavior. The media serves as a means for children to witness violence. According to Bandura's Social Learning Theory, children imitate behavior that they see on television, especially if the person performing the behavior is attractive or if the
Furthermore, George Gerbner has studied the effects of television violence (sensationalism) for more than thirty years. Through his studies, George Gerbner has found that violence seen on television does not promote violent behavior. It does much worse;