Thursday, September 18, 2008

According to The World Health Organization, violence is defined as an intentional use of physical force or power, threatened against oneself, another person, or against a group or a community, that results in injury, death, psychological harm or mal-development.

When I speak about violence, I am talking about three different types of violence. They are:
1. Physical violence.
2. Sexual violence.
3. Psychological violence.
Physical violence includes hitting, slapping, grabbing, shoving, pushing, kicking, choking, scratching, punching, pulling, hitting with weapons or objects, physical force just to make a person do something or go somewhere which is against that person's will. Sexual violence happens when someone forces another person to have sexual intercourse by means of physical force, the threat of force, intimidation, or by using weapons. Rape is one of it. Psychological violence is a systematic attempt to control another person's thinking and behaviour. For example, isolation, pathological jealousy, threats, degradation, forced alcohol and drug use, brainwashing and occasional indulgences.

Mass media plays a crucial role in forming public opinion. It connects the world to individuals and reflects the image of a society. The media can influence the society in both direct and indirect ways. So, the media has a strong social and cultural impact to the society as it is often capable of sending strong and influential messages to wide audiences.
The topic of violence is popular in media, whether in television shows, video games, movies, music, comic books and so on. It even happens in our own homes and neighbourhoods. There is a huge concern about violence in the world today. What causes violence? Why do some youths hit or bite? And how do sweet little babies turn into gun-carrying gang members, murderers, and terrorists?

Over the twentieth century, the issue of media being a source of violence has been discussed widely in public. Research and a sizeable number of experimental and field investigations shows that violence in mass media leads to the increasing of aggressive attitudes, values, and behaviour, particularly in youths, and has a long-lasting effect on behaviour and personality. Therefore, mass media is suspected to be the main reason for the increasing rate of violent cases among youths. It is believed that media provides consistent messages that lead viewers to construct generalizations about the amount of crime and violence in society. But sometimes, such generalizations do not reflect the real world.

Youths are often exposed to violent male sports and to television programmes, films, and electronic games with mostly violent elements in it. Boys are given toy soldiers, guns, and other war accessories to play. Story books and comic books often glorify war and battles and describe great conquerors and fighters as heroes. If we were to purposely design a culture with the goal of producing violent people, we would create it exactly like the culture in which most youths grow up now.

Apart from this, research shows that media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behaviour among youths in both immediate and long-term contexts. Research shows that modern athletes have discovered that visualizing perfect performance in a tennis match or seeing themselves flawlessly sinking a basketball is as effective as actually physically practicing. Our brain and mind seem to use these virtually visualized performance pathways as patterns to follow when the action actually begins. We become what we contemplate. If youths spend hours a day watching or hearing violence, hatred, and evil doings on television, movies, radio or video games, it will affect if not their actions, at least their attitudes.

Violence is a cultural product. The media are reflections of the culture which produce violence and engines in the production process. Media are not the only or even the most powerful causes, but it is tied to the other violence-generating engines, and youths pay particular attention to it. Media depictions of violence do not really affect everyone in the same way. On the contrary, violent media can be good when media’s programmes teach that violence is bad where it is a generator of pain and suffering but not a problem solver. Media-generated images of criminality tie to the fear and loathing we feel toward criminals. By exposing more educational programmes rather than the violent ones will bring an end to the issue of violence in media.

As a conclusion, the role that the media play in the above scenario versus their potential role in reducing the action of glorifying violence will determine the media's ultimate relationship to youthful violence in society.



Resources:
http://www.visionarylead.org/articles/violence.htm
http://www.awareparenting.com/violence.htm
http://www.danielsonkin.com/violence.html
http://www.genderandhealth.ca/en/modules/trauma/trauma-violence-and-health-02.jsp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_violence_research

Labels: violence, youths