Response to Articles

Prior to reading these articles, I thought that violence in the media did not really have much of an effect on people in society and in no way does it influence someone to commit acts of violence.  After reading the articles, my opinion has not changed much, however, I do agree with a few of the suggestions made to protect children from violence.  I agree with the conclusion in article one that video game violence does not have a correlation with aggressive behavior, but I disagree that it has positive affects on peoples behavior.  I think video games are a fantasy world that in no way should affect your actions in real life.  If you think the things you do in video games such as Grand Theft Auto are okay to do in real life, then you're probably not mature enough to be playing the game.  Article two raised a good point when the author talked about things other than media violence that could cause a person to act out in a violent way.  The author said things such as "genetics, childhood trauma, material deprivation, and the availability of guns" can also influence a person to commit acts of violence.  I personally think these are the things that would make a person want to commit a violent act such as Sandy Hook Elementary, Virginia Tech, or the Aurora, Colorado shooting.  I don't think it's the media that influences a person, I think it is how they were raised, or some sort of trauma they may have experienced in their childhood.  I personally have played war games and watched movies that have a lot of violence, and I can say I've never once had a thought about going out to kill hundreds of people.  In article four however, I did agree with the author when he mentioned that movies with violence should be raised to a rated R rating.  I think this could be a potential solution that is very simple and that could help protect kids from being exposed to violence before they're mature enough to handle it.  Overall, I think the mass shootings are a problem that our country will continue to face for years because there is no clear solution.  In conclusion, I think the violence in the media is not something that is directly influencing these events to happen.