Rhetorical and Fallacies in the Article “The Media Violence Myth” by Richard Rhodes

Violent Media is Good for Kids, by Gerald Jones; a persuasive article written by a comic book author that analyzes how exposing children to violent media has positive effects in shaping a person. This article was written as a counter-argument to the negative response media received after a horrific mass shooting that took place at a high school. Jones defends violent media by telling of his own personal experience with it, thus glorifying it in the process. Jones argues in his article that violent media is a helpful resource for children and it does not necessarily harm them. Jones’ argument was effective and very convincing. He defends his stance by continuously stating the positives that violent media has had not only on him, but his own son as well.

Rhodes article got published in The New York Times on September 17th 2000. He is also a well-respected author with a fair share number of books under his belt. Rhodes’ audience is New York Times’ readers, who might be parents of young children. The author’s intention is to both persuade and debunk the notion that the media is the only source to blame for violent behavior. He is writing in a formal style that although there is a target audience, it is still unknown because other audiences can read it due to being published in a public news outlet. He is using objective facts and interpreting it in a subjective manner to prove his point.

The stronger part of Jones’s essay is his thesis because it is clear, debatable, and firm. His thesis points out that violent media has “helped hundreds of people for every one it’s hurt” (61). Despite that, his thesis is located almost at the end of the essay, the reader evidently understands Jones’s opinion. Moreover, the readers can also question his position if they differ with the issue. Finally, Jones’s thesis is firm well-founded towards his view because of his career as a comic and movie writer. Undoubtedly, his thesis takes a firm stand that the readers can easily agree or disagree with the writer.

In “Taking Sides in Ferguson” Noah C. Rothman elaborates on why the media was excessively involved throughout the riots in Ferguson. After the killing of Michael Brown in August of 2014, many angry citizens began protesting the unjust authorities as well as the judicial system. The media’s biased views were trying to mete the social justice system and authorities. This was used to correct many of the things done wrong during the racial past throughout America. The news media used the incidents in Ferguson to inflate their opinions by excessively throwing themselves into the action, along with Ferguson’s local authorities causing more violence throughout Ferguson. Many readers would agree that Rothman does well elaborating the media’s biased views; while also describing the media’s over-involvement with examples of other journalist’s, however, he contradicts his argument on whether or not the media or the authorities were instigating the violence.

In Gerard Jones' essay “Violent Media is Good for Kids,” he argues a position not taken by many in today's culture. Jones advocates children should be exposed to violent media in order to overcome real life hardships. The problem with Jones' argument arise when he fails to develop his somewhat dated ideas and leaves his audience questioning how effective such exposure would be.

In the media there is a great deal of violence and nobody can really deny that. However, the effects media has on children and young adults have been debated for years. In this paper I will be discussing the effects of media violence, the other factors, and the possible solutions to alleviate this global issue.

   Whether it is a body found along the road, a school shooting, or planes flying into the World Trade Center, the images will be replayed over and over on Television ad nausea.. The most horrific acts may eventually be retold in books and movies. Packaging and selling the violence of the moment belongs to television - and television will keep reminding us of it.

In this Time Magazine article, writer Fred Ritchen debates the merit of violent photos in media. He begins with the events that prompted him to write this essay. He lists “A recent slew of situations resulting in catastrophic violence and death” (Ritchen, p1). This grouping of events, ranging from disease to plane crashes, has brought to light again the question of what a journalist’s duty is in reference of how much of a horror to show and how much to keep from the public. Ritchen’s argument culminates to the fact that the space taken up by showing these horrors of war and similar atrocities could be better used to prevent further events.

The media, in spite of the fact that it might incite or propagate forceful conduct, can't be considered completely dependable. Rather, it might be viewed as one impact that is working in an aggregate circumstance among numerous others, and is liable to fortify previous social and individual propensities, inclinations, states of mind, practices, convictions, and worth frameworks, which advance threatening vibe and

In America’s daily consumption of media a strange trend has developed in the last couple years. It seems that whenever a real life tragedy occurs many news outlets and politicians tend to place the blame, not in the instigator of these violent acts, but instead in the media they consume which they believed made them this way. "I think there's a question as to whether he would have driven in his mother's car in the first place if he didn't have access to a weapon that he saw in video games that gave him a false sense of courage about what he could do that day." (Murphy) This quote taken from an 2013 debate on a bill to ban assault weapons gives us all the information we need. Violence in media and how it affects violence in real life is misrepresented

A critical evaluation on the treatment of politics, and political figures in Barry Levinson’s movie ‘Wag the Dog’ (1997) explores how the public’s understanding of political proceedings may be exposed to bias and manipulation from spin doctors and composers, in an attempt to control and influence the public’s understanding of political events.

Authors constantly write books or articles and those books or articles appeal to their audience in many different ways. They often apply all of the Aristotelian Appeals or they sometimes manage to get their point across with just one or two of the appeals. Writers for American Scholar write with these appeals in mind and they try to get the reader to feel a certain way after reading their article. Anne P. Beatty’s comparative descriptions illustrate that children in South Central LA experience more violence than the media reveals.

A journalist is often a role of controversy. Society simplify it as documentation through writing and images but often fail to account for the physical and mental repercussions. In which Ross Baughman has evidently encountered during his documentation of the white army torturing individuals with black skin colour.

In the article titled Violence Media Is Good for Kids Jones stated that “When we try to protect our children from their own feelings and fantasies, we shelter them not against violence but against power and selfhood” (Jones 184). This quote embodies how many teenagers have felt throughout time. In addtion, violence has been surrounding us for many years however people seem to blame the influx of violence on media. Further,

In today’s world, there is an endless amount of information available to people everywhere around the globe. Mass media is definitely shaping our world, whether it is in a positive way or a negative way. Television and the radio waves provide us with hours of entertainment. The emergence of the Internet allows us to access thousands of pages of information within the reach our very own fingertips. But with the convenience of all this information comes along a certain level of responsibility. As a society, we Americans must decide what is appropriate information and entertainment for the masses to access and enjoy. But does today’s society give too much leeway in what it thinks as “appropriate?” Does increased