Monkey Do: The Stereotypes Of Media Violence

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“Torture is serial and endless, like entertainment” (Hamsah). There has been a steady increase in media violence, making it seem more acceptable in today’s society. There should be new mandates about the type of violence allowed in media because, while media violence does not necessarily lead to juvenile crime, it does promote violent behavior and is desensitizing viewers to the torture and other such horrors so casually presented to audiences of all ages.
Viewers of media violence tend to act more and more irrational as they are a part of more and more media violence. The phrase “monkey see monkey do” best illustrates why viewers of media violence tend to act more violently as they see more violence. Kids especially learn best by seeing, so …show more content…

People aren’t necessarily trying to become desensitized to all the violence, it just happens as they see it more and more. A. S. Hamsah talks about how “[t]orture is serial and endless, like entertainment.” People are becoming so desensitized to torture and crime that they are viewing it as a form of entertainment, a good laugh, rather than the horror and destruction that it is. It may not be very obvious to the viewer or even those around that person, but they are blindly becoming desensitized to media violence and that’s not a good …show more content…

In all honesty, not all viewers become criminals, in fact, many become stand up citizens in their community, so why is so important that this issue is properly addressed? It’s true that media violence and its effects is not the biggest, most pressing matter right now. However, it is not true that it does not affect viewers in the long run. While it is true that “poverty, domestic abuse, drug use, and mental illness are better predictors of youth violence than exposure to violent media” (There is no evidence…), media violence is still proving to be harmful to viewers. As mentioned before, Dr. Yang Wang’s study proved that the video games were affecting “those areas of the brain [that] are important for controlling emotions and aggressive behavior” (Gordon). Anderson also talks about how “youth come to believe that aggression is normal, appropriate, and likely to succeed.” This is a very unhealthy mindset and is, in fact, totally wrong. Just because media violence does not necessarily lead to juvenile crime doesn’t mean it won’t affect the viewers