Violence Symbols in Youth Upbringing

Youth education is one of the most challenging and time-consuming challenges in parenting. Most parents are committed to ensuring that their offspring, in their youthful lives, miss nothing and accept peace. However, the children end up failing and undermining the optimistic efforts of the parents. Despite their outstanding upbringing, most young people partake in morally unethical behaviors. Violence is such a pervasive unsocial activity that most children partake in. There have been several discussions about the causes of crime. However, no synonymous status has been reached. Many scholars have also attributed aggression among young people to various types of media. The key claim of this paper is that “Symbols in cartoons and violence on television are not the reason as to why children of these generations are having the issues in today's society.BackgroundViolence might be as old as the world. Various cultures have diverse and often conflicting myths regarding its emergence. The most common violence in the different regions of the globe is caused by the youth as they currently form the largest percentage of the total world population. However, the various types of violence must have a causal agent or factor. Most individuals have been swift in throwing the burden to the cartoons that children watch and other violent programs.ClaimThe chief claim in this paper is that Symbols in cartoons and violence on television are not the reason as to why children of these generations are having the issues in today's society. Violence still exists without the symbols in the cartoons, movies or other television shows. Warrants of ClaimsViolent crimes and murder rates were still high during the times when there was no television media. The origin of war cannot be defined. However, deadly and violent wars existed before the invention of televisions. Therefore, TVs cannot be a major source of violence symbols (Ferguson et al. 764). Another key form of violence that most youths participate in are riots. The East Coast Riots is one of the most violent, but it was not propagated by television shows or cartoons. Violence does not derive from television and other forms of entertainment. The environment dictates the characters of the children (Mitrofan et al. 287). Whenever a child is raised in a setting whereby parents are violent towards one another and the children, the youngster is likely to practice the same. Some homes might be peaceful, but the neighborhoods are violent. Therefore, it would be difficult to instill values of peace and harmony in a child living in such environments. The worldview issues of violence dictate a child’s perception on the matter. Therefore, as many scholars blame television for having violence symbols, they must also try and evaluate the environment of a child and the values instilled by parents. Most entertainments are censored. Therefore, children are never exposed to violence. Production companies strive to publicize non-violent movies and games while cleaning the contents that they produce to ensure that they have less subliminal languages that might affect the child psychologically or emotionally.According to Carnagey, et al., “No research has experimentally examined violent video game effects on physiological desensitization, defined as showing less physiological arousal to violence in the real world after exposure to video game violence in the virtual world” (p. 489).OppositionAn opposing claim would be that the various forms of programs in the television and cartoons are the principal violence symbols in youth upbringing. Children that hail from homes that do not have televisions or the houses in which parents are in total control of the programs that they watch tend to be peaceful. Warrants of OppositionTelevision and some cartoons expose children to the violent atmospheres by inflicting a feeling of less sensitivity to the suffering and pain of their colleagues. Children that are exposed to violent cartoons and television are also more likely to ape the things that they watch and behave in aggressive or harmful ways towards their colleagues (Coker et al. 83). Therefore, cartoons and violent television programs are a violence symbol for youth upbringing that causes the various issues that the society faces today.The environment is crucial in the process of upbringing a child. A typical youth or child environment comprises of the parents, neighbors, schoolmates, friends, and their houses. Cartoons and TV shows also form a critical part of the environments of the youngsters. Therefore, as much as some individuals might claim that violent environments provide symbols of violence, the television shows and cartoons are the greatest sources of the symbols of violence (Mitrofan et al. 287).Strength and Weaknesses of the Opponents ClaimThe opponents to the claim that “Symbols in cartoons and violence on television are not the reason as to why children of these generations are having the issues in today's society,” might have several strengths. The key strength is that they have a solid ground for argument as many pieces of research support the fact that violent media is a primary source for violence. Therefore, the symbols used in cartoons and other violent movies might be one of the reasons for the children in the current generation have societal and violent-based issues (Bushman, Gollwitzer and Cruz 200). Another key strength of the opponents’ claim is that they perfectly warrant their arguments using psychological facts. The violent symbols portrayed in movies might affect the children psychologically and inflict violent behaviors.The key weakness of the opponents’ claim is that it mainly depends on rumors rather than scientific facts. Many children watch cartoons and violent movies but are positive game changers, i.e., they become peace ambassadors. The opponents claim that the television is a vital component of a child’s environment is also baseless are some children are raised without having access to any form of media devices and gadgets.ConclusionThe common ground of the two sides of the debate is that the environment is the major source of violence symbols that result to the serious societal issues witnessed in this generation. In a nutshell, the debates by both sides of the arguments are authentic.Annotated BibliographyBushman, Brad J., Mario Gollwitzer, and Carlos Cruz. "There is broad consensus: Media researchers agree that violent media increase aggression in children, and pediatricians and parents concur." Psychology of Popular Media Culture vol.4 no.3 (2015): 200.Bushman et al. explore the divergent opinions that researchers have regarding the relationship between violent media and aggression. According to these scholars, some researchers and news reports indicate that there exist no whether or not aggression might be increased by media violence. Bushman et al. conclude that there is indeed a consensus.Carnagey, Nicholas L., Craig A. Anderson, and Brad J. Bushman."The Effect Of Video Game Violence On Physiological Desensitization To Real-Life Violence". Journal Of Experimental Social Psychology, vol 43, no. 3, 2007, pp. 489-496. Elsevier BV, doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2006.05.003.These authors agree that research shows that the exposure to video games that are violent might increase aggressive behavior, angry feelings, and aggressive thoughts. However, the source rubbishes all claims that these types of games have an impact on physiological desensitization.Coker, Tumaini R., Marc N. Elliott, David C. Schwebel, Michael Windle, Sara L. Toomey, Susan R. Tortolero, Marci F. Hertz, Melissa F. Peskin, and Mark A. Schuster. "Media violence exposure and physical aggression in fifth-grade children." Academic pediatrics vol.15 no.1 (2015): 82-88.Coker et al.’s objective was to define the relationship between physical aggression in grade five students and the exposure to media violence. The conclusion was that a persistent association exists between physical aggression and media violence in this group.Ferguson, Christopher J., Cheryl K. Olson, Lawrence A. Kutner, and Dorothy E. Warner. "Violent video games, catharsis seeking, bullying, and delinquency: A multivariate analysis of effects." Crime & Delinquency vol.60 no.5 (2014): 764-784.While the impact of the of violent games and other forms of media on youth aggression raises heated debates, their contribution to long term youth aggression remains unclear. Ferguson et al. establish that violent games do not predict bullying or delinquency. Mitrofan, Oana, Moli Paul, Scott Weich, and Nicholas Spencer. "Aggression in children with behavioural/emotional difficulties: seeing aggression on television and video games." BMC psychiatry vol.14 no.1 (2014): 287. PrintViolent environments perpetrate aggression in children. However, according to this article, no evidence has been produced opposing or proposing the link between the aggression in children and that seen in the media.Works CitedBushman, Brad J., Mario Gollwitzer, and Carlos Cruz. "There is broad consensus: Media researchers agree that violent media increase aggression in children, and pediatricians and parents concur." Psychology of Popular Media Culture vol.4 no.3 (2015): 200.Carnagey, Nicholas L., Craig A. Anderson, and Brad J. Bushman."The Effect Of Video Game Violence On Physiological Desensitization To Real-Life Violence". Journal Of Experimental Social Psychology, vol 43, no. 3, 2007, pp. 489-496. Elsevier BV, doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2006.05.003.Coker, Tumaini R., Marc N. Elliott, David C. Schwebel, Michael Windle, Sara L. Toomey, Susan R. Tortolero, Marci F. Hertz, Melissa F. Peskin, and Mark A. Schuster. "Media violence exposure and physical aggression in fifth-grade children." Academic pediatrics vol.15 no.1 (2015): 82-88.Ferguson, Christopher J., Cheryl K. Olson, Lawrence A. Kutner, and Dorothy E. Warner. "Violent video games, catharsis seeking, bullying, and delinquency: A multivariate analysis of effects." Crime & Delinquency vol.60 no.5 (2014): 764-784.Mitrofan, Oana, Moli Paul, Scott Weich, and Nicholas Spencer. "Aggression in children with behavioural/emotional difficulties: seeing aggression on television and video games." BMC psychiatry vol.14 no.1 (2014): 287. Print