Crystal Calderon
Instructor: Powell
English 091
12 May 2015
A Culture of fear and Violence What is one of the first things you like to do in the morning? Many of us like to wake up in the morning and turn the television news on or the radio on, to see what is going on in the world. We depend on the media to inform the public about good or bad news through television, the internet, the radio, or in print. But do you ever wonder if the media might be promoting more than news? Yes they do. People should not watch or listen to the media, because they promote a culture of fear and violence that focuses on the bad news, influences young kids and teens, and specifically targets women. The first reason why people should ignore the media is because it promotes a culture of fear and violence by focusing only on the bad news. Focusing only the bad news makes people think that there is nothing but bad going on everywhere. David Risley expresses
“There I was. Watching the news one morning while having some breakfast. Fox News, to be exact. Does it matter what network? No, because they’re all the same. Constant bad news. A barrage. I’m left thinking: Why the hell do I watch this crap? It’s all about terrorism, how Iran might cause the next war, how Columbia treated the Iranian president, how people died, children got kidnapped, people are pissed. Yada yada yada.”
Risley doesn't like watching the news and he actually refers to all networks as “crap” that show constant bad news. This is why one should not watch the media because they are all the same, providing people with nothing but bad news the minute you turn on the channel. Deborah Serani comments that
“It's been said that fear-based media has become a staple of popular culture. The distressing fall-out from this trend is that children and adults who are exposed to media are more likely than others to feel that their neighborhoods and communities are unsafe, believe that crime rates are rising, overestimate their odds of becoming a victim, and consider the world to be a dangerous place.”
Because media shows nothing but bad news Serani believes that it's people who are being exposed to news become fearful about the world they are living in. In reality, the world has always been the same; however, now the media can zoom in on the bad so they can scare the public. Because the media promotes a culture of fear and violence that only concentrates on bad news, people should stop listening to or reading it. Another reason why people should ignore the media is because it promotes a culture of fear and violence is by influencing young kids and teens to behave vague. An unknown author explains that “If you live in a fictional world, then the fictional world becomes your reality. Especially if you grow up with violence surrounding you on television and on the internet. Kids are not yet mature enough to know the difference of fact and fantasy so they don't think anything is wrong with what they are doing” (Does the Media...). In other words many youngsters don't know any better and they are the best mimickers. My younger cousins all they do is play shooting and fighting video games and watch rated R and action movies. Now every conversation I have with them has to do about violence. They get in trouble because they think somethings they see is okay to do. But it is not okay, and had the media not allow so much violence to show on the news, my cousins would probably not be acting like this. People should not pay attention to the media that influences the younger generation by promoting a culture of fear and violence. One last reason why people should ignore the media is because it promotes a culture of fear and violence by specifically target women. As a journalist herself, Myrna Blyth confesses that “Twisting of information … promotes sensationalized stories in order to get women to watch a program, read an article, or listen to a news broadcast.”(154)
