The media is corrupting our society. Do you agree?

The media is corrupting our society. Do you agree?

As much as we do not want to hear it, media has been blamed for every violent behavior or unhealthy images portrayed to the public. The recent Virginia tech shootings, serves as a great example, much of the responsibility has been pushed to the media, youtube has been criticized for allowing such violent and disturbing scenes to be viewed by the public. Another evident example is the banning of models who are too skinny as they are blamed for encouraging anorexic behavior. I beg to differ in this opinion as I believe that humans are strong-willed and will not simply accept whatever is being shown by the media, with education, we are able to differentiate what is right and wrong, and this can only be done by ourselves, we cannot depend on others to decide for us.

Anyway from what I have seen of the movies coming around over the past few years, apart from the blood looking more real, along with the better choreography and special effects, it doesn’t make them any more violent than in the 70’s or before. Since the amount of violence in media has not shown an increase, why is there a significance in the amount of violence in our everyday lives? There must be other factors other than media itself that triggers such a reaction.

Growing up as a child, I remember my parents disallowing me to watch certain television shows which are too violent or gory in nature. When asked why, they simply said that I was too young and had to wait till I was older. That was 10 years ago. Parents nowadays are a lot busier and do not even know what their children are watching, let alone ban them from watching these shows. The media simply provides what the viewers want, if more violence is demanded, more violence will be provided. My point here is to highlight, who are the real role models of children? Children get role models from what their parents do, not based on what’s popular on television or music. Parents should not shriek the responsibility and push the blame to the media for every bad thing that happens for being an influence.

People just use movies and TV to cover up the real issues involved in things like this. Most of those who shoot up schools or become extremely promiscuous come from terrible home lives. Parents who walked out on them or separated families or were imprisoned are common, although parents who are never there can be just as detrimental in these cases. Mental disorders and psychopaths also have to be taken into consideration; even if they aren't evident before they act out, psychoses can severely alter a person's sense of reality and fiction, and psychopath can deaden them to the wrongness and consequences of what they do. Also, the real role models need to be taken into consideration.

Much as I have commented on the role models in the lives of children, who is to be role models of these role models. Well, the answer is simple, education. Education will enable us to differentiate between what’s right and what’s wrong. So instead of blaming the media for corrupting our society, we should take it in our stride that all things cannot go the way we want. The only best thing we can do it do in cultivate individual censorship, to only take in what is right, based on moral education that we have received.