Tear gas flushes a gunman out of a house where he had been held up. He comes out
shooting, then falls in a hail of bullets from the S.W.A.T team. A film of the shoot-out
and removal of the gunman's body appear on the on the evening news. Is this what
Americans want to watch, or should it be censored out of the news? Many people think it
should be banned. But would that be breaking the first amendment?
I believe that TV doesn't control what people do, people control what people do.
There was violence before TV was invented, but people can't blame themselves, so they
blame TV for their problems. In most shows murderers get caught or killed. Why would
someone want to take the risk of getting killed just to act like someone on TV?
Getting rid of TV violence will not change the way people think. People will always
think of violence. How could they of anything else? Violence is everywhere, TV, Music,
Movies, Video games, news, and newspaper. You would have to ban all violence to stop
people from thinking about it. TV is not the only problem.
Is there too much TV violence, or is it just what people want to see? In a recent
survey, violent scenes in nonfictional shows went up 150% and in fictional shows they
went up 39%. The overall violence went up 41%.
What about the V-chip? The chip that would block out violence and sex on TV. But is
that offending people's freedom of speech? Who would choose to use the V-chip? The
government can't force people to use it, so how could they re-enforce its use?
In conclusion, I think it is almost impossible to erase violence by ridding the world
of TV violence. There's too much violence and banning violence off TV is not the answer
to solve our problems.
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