A study on “Television and Children” provides the following statistics:
- An average American child will see 200,000 violent acts and 16,000 murders on TV by age 18.
- Two-thirds of all programming contains violence.
- Programs designed for children more often contain violence than adult TV.
- Most violent acts go unpunished on TV and are often accompanied by humor. The consequences of human suffering and loss are rarely depicted.
- Many shows glamorize violence. TV often promotes violent acts as a fun and effective way to get what you want, without consequences.
- Even in G-rated, animated movies and DVDs, violence is common—often as a way for the good characters to solve their problems. Every single U.S. animated feature film produced between 1937 and 1999 contained violence, and the amount of violence with intent to injure has increased over the years.
- Even “good guys” beating up “bad guys” gives a message that violence is normal and okay. Many children will try to be like their “good guy” heroes in their play.
Questions:
1. What role does TV play in your life?
2. What principles are you establishing for your children (or others you influence) about TV watching?
Dr. Larry Dixon
larrydixon.wordpress.com 
john
September 22, 2014 at 9:36 am
Larry:
Violence is part of human nature. There is no other book written in the history of man that has a higher number of violent deaths reported than the Bible. A lot of the deaths reported in this book have also the elements of cruelty. According to the book, the murders of Job’s children were condoned by God to give free hand to Satan just for the simple reason to prove the devotion of Job. The only excuse for such a horrible tale is to acknowledge that the Bible was written by violent men and was NOT inspired by God.
John
vincent
September 29, 2014 at 11:53 am
Indeed, whatever violence is shown on TV nowadays, it is nothing compared to the Bible. Cities destroyed for allowing certain sexual practices. Loth’s wife turned into a salt pillar just for looking back at her destroyed home, Onan smote for spilling his semen on the ground. A man stoned to death for gathering wood on the Sabbath. You can name many more… And the punishments are disproportionate, according to current standards ! Not to mention a whole army of conscripts drowned. And very graphic descriptions of eternal tortures, in the scriptures and in arts, for centuries. But come to think of it, worshipping a crucified body is quite gore in itself, anyway. Showing that to children under 16 would be prohibited in many modern countries, if it were released today. All religions are violent but Christianity especially worships pain. Something to ponder about.
john
September 30, 2014 at 7:25 pm
vincent:
Out of the 405 “amazing” followers of this blog it is refreshing to hear at least one with some common sense who is not afraid to voice his view on the violence in the Holy Bible.
If one takes a philosophical look at violence, one might easily come to the conclusion that violence is nature’s way to keep the population count within sustainable limits. All the religious as well as secular wars, past and present, help to keep mankind from over population. The alternative to this are wide spread epidemics or big scale natural disasters. It is a toss-up which one is to be preferred.
John