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The influence of violence can lead to an increase in violent behavior in youth. Youth violence is a serious issue, and there are many things that contribute to youth violence. The saying, “monkey see, monkey do” is well-known in today’s modern, media warped society. Children are very impressionable and imitate what they see and hear. Children are exposed to far too much violence every day on the television, mainly because parents see the television as a convenient babysitter. Shocking episodes of youth violence in America, such as the Columbine Shooting, unfolds in many communities. How do young people from seemingly good homes and average backgrounds commit such brutal deeds? Video games, television shows, movies, and music that celebrate violence are suspected to be the reasons. There are many ways to prevent the media from causing aggressive behaviors to youth. “I killed Kenny” is a popular saying from the cartoon South Park, where the main characters swear almost every line and at least one person dies each episode. Children will spend about two to four hours a day watching cartoons. Some of these cartoons contain more than eighty violent acts per hour. “On average, by age eighteen, a young person will see over 18,000 murders on television and will witness 80,000 murders and over 500,000 hostile acts in a lifetime of television viewing” (Berger 63). The media is teaching children about violence and stereotypes then useful information. Cartoons are the most violent of all programming. “…since the 1990s, however, networks have been careful to limit the violence in children’s cartoon” (Torr 17). There are various types of violent cartoons. First, there are the comedic cartoons. An example would be The Looney Tunes. The characters are frequently attacked with what would be, in real life, extremely harmful violence. Children are aware that this type of violence is fake. Second types of violent cartoons are those battling between the forces of good and evil. An example of this would be Spiderman. The enemies perform most of the violence as they are trying to stop the superhero. Children’s aggressive behavior toward violence on the television can be reversed if the acts are committed by bad guys who are later punished.
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