Blaming the media for violence is misguided. To better
understand the issue of violence and society, it is helpful to examine its
historical roots. Certainly not all tribal societies were violent. For example,
many native tribes in the American southwest were entirely peaceful. However,
for most tribal people throughout most of the world, war and violence have
always been part of life. One of our oldest books, the Old Testament, tells of
constant tribal wars among the peoples of the Middle East. Likewise, ancient
texts such as the Greek Iliad, the Indian Bhagavad Gita and the Nordic Beowulf
all tell tales of war and violence. Certainly the peoples of ancient Babylonia,
Greece, India, and Scandinavia were not influenced by the media, yet most of the
earliest human records indicate that violence has been an ever present part of
human life. Since violence was with us long before modern media, it seems
unlikely that controlling the media now would have much impact on stopping human
violence. A comparison of violence in nations around the world
indicates that there is no relationship between media violence and real
violence. In the United States, in 1996, there were 9,390 gun-related deaths. In
the same year, Japan had 15 gun related deaths. Yet the level of violence on
television in Japan is higher than that in the U.S.. Japanese TV often depicts
graphic violence that would not be allowed on U.S. television, and Japanese
movie goers see the same major, Hollywood films that Americans see, but street
crime is so rare in Tokyo that most people do not worry about it. In contrast,
in American cities, people in general, and women in particular, are afraid to
walk alone at night. Security is an ever present concern in the U.S., where
citizens limit their lives in numerous ways to reduce the chances of joining the
11,000 people who are killed by guns in America each year. However, the number
of murders in the U.S. is small compared to Columbia, where, for example, 23,000
people were murdered in 1999. Columbians have much less exposure to media
violence than either Americans or Japanese; they have fewer TV stations and
watch fewer films. Indeed, those committing murders in Columbia are often people
from the countryside who have the least exposure to the media. Thus people who
are not exposed to the media are often more likely to commit violent crimes than
those exposed to it. Since Canada borders the U.S., Canadians receive the same
TV and radio programs that Americans receive, yet gun violence in Canada is
nearly one hundred times lower than that in the U.S.. Clearly there is no
significant relationship between media violence and real life violence. We need
to look elsewhere for solutions to real life violence. According to the passage, those who are the least exposed to media
violence are citizens of ______.