Violence
When it comes to talking about violence, I always find it difficult because it is such a broad term. Each individual identifies and defines violence as something different. Personally I believe that violence is a behaviour that involves some sort physical force that’s intended to hurt or damage someone. And I guess, when I really think about it, it can be both physical and mental harm.
When I think about violence and what to write for this reflection, I honestly find my mind wandering in a million different directions because there are so many different forms of violence. There’s domestic violence. And then there’s violence against women, and violence against men. There’s violence in the media, which in some cases leads to violence being glorified. There’s violence against children, and violence against animals. There’s war and genocide. There’s murder and homicide and sexual assault. There are violent acts and violent crimes, and frankly, I could go on listing a million different things, but I’m sure you get the point.
Truthfully, in today’s society, violence is a common occurrence. On the news, we hear about the violent and destructive acts that are happening in our own community and in other countries around the world. We see it in the movies we watch, the books we read and the games we play. And sadly, most children are likely seeing it at school on the playground. Violence is such an important topic to be talked about. I mean, I feel that it should be a topic that is discussed and examined more thoroughly. But is it not because we are so used to it? Is our society so used to violence because of our constant exposure? When I was in high school, I remember taking a challenge and change course and one day we debated on whether or not violent tv shows and video games truly effected the way we acted and/or thought about violence. Frankly, I believed it didn’t. I naively thought that, if you were raised and taught that hitting is “not nice”, you would go on in life, believing that it was unacceptable to hit someone. I believed that the simple set of rules we were taught, should follow you throughout life. Well it wasn’t until I was almost 80 hours in to Criminal Minds when it hit me. At the end of this specific episode, there was a little blurb explaining that this episode was and should be extremely disturbing to viewers because of the matters mentioned. And it truly shocked me because after watch 80 hours of this Criminal Minds, the violence in the show no longer effected me. I hadn’t been effected by this disturbing episode because I had become desensitized. Now, I’m not saying that because I watched multiple seasons of Criminal minds, I think it is acceptable to kill people whom I am upset with, but I do believe that when I hear or see stories in the news, it comes as less of a shock. I’m not as disturbed by the facts as I was before hand. So, now, I believe that yes… tv shows and violent video games do effect the way we act and think about violence. Do I think violence is any less serious then it was before? No, but I am less likely to be effect by the facts about violence. This is not something I am proud of and I am consciously making an effort to remind myself to be disturbed by the crime shows I watch, because violence is not okay. Hitting people is not okay. I think this is when violence becomes something people forget about. It’s so often that we hear in the news that someone was shot downtown, that it doesn't faze us.
Where the problem truly lies is when it comes to children and them becoming desensitized to violence.When children become accustomed to the violence they see, they are more likely to in gage in aggressive behaviour or violent acts. This becomes a serious matter because often, younger children mimic what they see. Sword fights, shoot outs and aggressive play are all thing seen on the playground and this is because of what children are seeing in movies. What’s scary is to think about happens after the child is bored of their violent video game. Do you get another video game or will they start to become aggressive in real life. I think people don’t take children and the effect violence has on them, serious enough. It’s true that not every child will become a serial killer because they watch violent video games, but they do become desensitized and/or aggressive. So are we making a more aggressive future? It can be a disturbing thought. Are we desensitizing the future? Are we saying that violence is okay?
