Persuasive Essay

Countless studies have shown that a diet of television, movies, music, video games, and Internet violence plays a significant role in the disheartening number of violent acts committed by America's youth. [If] Hypothetically, television technology had never been developed there would be 10,000 fewer homicides each year in the United States, 70,000 fewer rapes, and 7000,000 fewer injurious assaults. Violence in television, motion pictures, and other media can cause children to be more violent, desensitized to violence, and fearful of the world.

A growing body of research concludes that media violence constitutes one significant part of the answer. Not surprisingly, many have come to view television and film violence as a national public health problem.

Many people discredit the correlation of media violence and youth violence. They believe that media is just a scapegoat for the real violence. Studies show that most violence is learned from real violence which includes domestic violence. This is like putting on a blindfold to the overwhelming rise of youth violence that clearly imitates the gratuitous violence in the media. Such as Todd Gitlin, a professor of sociology at the University of California at Berkeley, states "In the process, they also deflect the public's attention from the real--and more difficult--causes of teen violence: poverty, unemployment, racial discrimination, easy access to guns, and a lack of legitimate educational and employment opportunities for inner city youth." Media violence causes youth violence.

Although no studies have documented a cause-and-effect relationship between violent lyrics and aggressive behavior, studies do indicate that a preference for heavy metal music may be a significant marker for alienation, substance abuse, psychiatric disorders, suicide risk, sex-role stereotyping, or risk-taking behaviors during adolescence. Despite historic, bipartisan remedial legislation