NTRODUCTION
With more and more school shootings and large massacres happening across the United States, many people are wanting to point fingers towards violent media. Most people believe that violent media is the cause of kids acting out and hurting others. However, it is the complete opposite. A study conducted in 2014 by Stetson University in Florida shows that the playing of death-bloated video-games actually caused real-life violence to decrease. Total United States sales of video game hardware and software increased 204% from 1994 to 2014, while violent crimes decreased 37% and murders by juveniles acting alone fell 76% in that same period (Simpson). With this being said, I think that violent media is good for kids.
FREEING YOURSELF
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According to Melanie Moore, Ph. D., children need violent entertainment in order to explore the inescapable feelings that they’ve been taught to deny, and to reintegrate those feelings into a more whole, more complex, more resilient selfhood. In Gerard Jones’ article “Violent Media is Good for Kids”, he discussed that Hulk was the violent character who freed him. Hulk lead him to new friends and to his job. Violent media is a way for children to gain a fantasy self and to carry rage and have power. When I say a fantasy self, I am meaning it is someone they can pretend to be and escape from reality. It is also a way to express themselves and find similarity among friends. Jib Fowles, a communications professor at the University of Houston Clear Lake campus says that “viewers use television content and in particular, television violence, to help them manage their emotions”. As a result, the “violent content is therapeutic for the population”