Beating The Right Into Them

4 Pages 958 Words

Beating the Right into Them

The U.S. is very well known throughout the world for its violence and violent past. From the battles of the American Revolutionary War, to the civil rights riots of the 1960’s, all the way to the school shootings and terrorist attacks of recent times, violence has laid the foundation of our history books and museums. More recently, however, the American public has become more and more concerned with the root of this violence. A simpler, more contemporary explanation for our countries precedence of violence is the mass media, including: music, movies, video games, the internet and the news media. I believe the true explanation goes deeper than the media. If you look closer at our past conflicts like the Civil War or our current War on Terrorism there is a recurring theme in the causes. The uncompromising belief of righteousness has driven the U.S., its citizens, and those who would attack them to violent acts.

The media may seem to be a valid explanation for our nation’s violence but when arguments blaming the media are closely examined they fall short of a full explanation. Renowned child care expert Benjamin Spock has come out speaking against watching violence in the media in his essay Should Children Play With Guns? claiming that watching violence can lower a child’s standards of behavior and stimulate cruelty in adults (Spock 526). However, this theory seemingly contradicts a point he makes earlier in the essay that growing children naturally learn to control their aggression as long as their parents encourage it. This second argument seems to say that the child’s reaction to the violence it views and level of aggression are subject to the rather arbitrary thoughts of their parents. Political activist, writer, and filmmaker Michael Moore shows a view differing from Spock’s in his film “Bowling for Columbine” where he points out that most of the violent media like movies, mus...