Entertainment and violence have been part of our existence for a very long time. The Romans had their gladiators; the Middle Ages had their burning times. Early in the 20th Century in the United States, people used to gather to see hangings. Some people, it seems, like to watch other people suffer and even die. Why this is so, I cannot say, but it is a fact. The 20th and now the 21st Centuries gave us a new way of keeping and seeing violence as a part of our lives, and that was through television, which is probably the most used form of entertainment in this country. It is cheap, and an easy way to spend free time. There is no real commitment required, such as in reading, and we do have some control over what we see.

Television became popular in the 1950's offering many comedy and variety shows, as well as dramas, science fiction, cartoons and wrestling. As a vehicle for taking our minds off our personal concerns, it still does that. But, the content and effect it has on us has changed a great deal. Violence depicted on television has increased to the extent that many studies have been done on its effects in people's lives.

Violence can be defined as a deliberate act involving physical force, or a weapon, in an attempt to achieve a goal, further a cause, stop the action of another or defend oneself, secure a material reward or intimidate others. This definition was given in a report by TV GUIDE in its August 22, 1992, edition. In that report, the editors of TV GUIDE interviewed several experts about the effects of violence on television.

Violence as shown on television is not limited to movies and police dramas. It enters into the documentaries, cartoons, news and sports shows as well. This is a problem for parents where television has become an electronic babysitter, but it also affects each person exposed to it, some more than others. One of the experts in the TV GUIDE report was Dr. George Gerbner, Dean-emeritus of Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania, who said that "children are born into homes where television is on seven hours a day. They start viewing as infants...and on Saturday in children's programming, they view between 20 and 25 acts of violence an hour...We're talking about mass-produced, cheap, industrial violence...It is profitable to put on violence instead of other, creative solutions to problems, which require more talent, time and money. Violence is a formula that is relatively cheap to inject into programs."

Surely that is true. You don't need good writers to have someone pick up a gun, or punch another person in the face. All you need is actors and film. Further, violence in films and tv shows can be exported to other countries with very little effort in translating or explanation of the plot. So it is very profitable. Violence gets our attention in a hurry, and the advertisers like that. You'll probably stay tuned for the next jolt of adrenaline to your system if you liked the last one. But, just what are the effects on us if we watch violent shows? If a person is not in the habit of seeing such things, chances are that person will feel slightly sick, fearful, nervous and unfocused. It may even cause some of us to turn away or close our eyes because what is being shown is just too overwhelming or disgusting to watch. To those of the public who are used to seeing violent acts on television, the effects are desensitization to the pain and suffering of others, an increase in the fear of the world around us, and, to children, it is a very strong influence on their attitudes towards others and behavior in general. As reported by the American Psychological Association in 1992, an average child who watches two to four hours of TV a day will have witnessed at least 8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence by the time he leaves elementary school The National Institute of Mental Health agreed in its 1982 report that "violent programs on television lead to aggressive behavior by children and teenagers who watch those programs."

Certainly, they do not mean all children become aggressive, but it does mean that these programs are having some effect on ALL children. In a study done at the University of Illinois it was found that children who watched many hours of TV violence during elementary school years tended to show a higher level of aggressive behavior when they became teenagers. Tracking the same cases, they found that these same people were more likely to be arrested and prosecuted for criminal acts as adults. The opportunities for parents in this regard are obvious.

So, why violence in television? What do we get out of it, anyway? Is it really entertainment? I think it can be compared to the reason we visit an amusement park like Great Adventure and ride the roller coaster. We get on the ride with some apprehension. The ride starts out slowly, building our tension and fear as we ascend the first hill. We prepare ourselves to be scared or excited by the descent. We look forward to it. It's a change of pace. It gets our adrenaline going. It's a rush. It's exhilarating. It's all those things in one. So, we get to the top of the hill, pause long enough to be able to see what is ahead of us, and plunge at enormous speed down about 100 feet. But we want more. We crave more. We love the excitement. We love the emotions we feel that we can't feel in our everyday lives. So, they give us more, and more, until at last the ride comes to an end and slows, and we depart, still feeling the rush, and perhaps wanting to do it again. On the second trip, of course, it's not quite as exciting because we remember exactly what happened the first time. So, the rush isn't quite as great and neither is the fear. So, we then look for another ride that seems to offer more excitement than the first one can now give us because we are used to it. The same thing happens with presenting violence on television - we need different forms of it, different views, different ways of exploiting it, so as to keep the rush going, to keep the demand going - to keep the money going into the pockets of the producers who know it is a very cheap way to make money in a hurry. All they have to do is read the newspapers or the police blotter to get new ideas for different types of violence in their movies or TV shows, to make them scarier, bloodier, more horrible than the ones that have gone before. When you think about it, violent shows are really an insult to our intelligence, because they appeal only to our emotions, and not to our ability to think. The roller coasters keep getting bigger and faster. They can't keep up with the demand for the thrills. It seems the TV people are on the same track.

Here is a sample list taken from the NEW YORK TIMES Television guide, Section 13, for Saturday, February 12, between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. - prime viewing time for folks who are not going out on a Saturday night.

TIME	CHANNEL	NAME OF SHOW (NYT Comment)
8:00 p.m.	HBO	Hard Target (super blood thirsty action)
	MAX	Beverly Hills Cop III (contains violence)
	Channel 11	Xena: Warrior Princess
	SHOW	Very Bad Things  (Prostitute accidentally killed at a Bachelor's party)
	FSNY	NHL Hockey
	ESPN2	NHL Hockey
	TBS	First Daughter  (rescue of President's            Kidnapped daughter)
	TCM	Bombardier
	TLC	(The Learning Channel) World of Pro Wrestling
9:00 p.m	Channel 2	Martial Law
	Channel 4	Profiler - (agent's girl friend gets wounded)
	A&E	A Touch of Frost (murder mystery)
	Court	A Case for Murder (murder frame-up)
	HISTORY	The Wrath of God
	SCI FI	The Amityville Horror
	Channel 5	America's Most Wanted:  America fights back
	USA	Fatal Attraction

Note that all of these shows are on at a time when the most vulnerable people in our society, the 8 to 12 year old children, who probably don't have Saturday night dates, would be available to watch. Should an 8-year old child see "Fatal Attraction?" With its attempted, bloody suicide, sexual situations and violent scenes? I don't think so.

That's just a sample of what is being offered to us AND to our children. Why? Is this really what people want to see, or is it as Dr. Gerbner said in the TV Guide report sited above, and I quote him here:

"Many years of study have led me to the conclusion that broadcasting policy is held very tightly by a handful of men imposing rather strict controls. If there is only one thing I would say to do, it is--hire more women, both on screen and off. The minute you do that, the world will begin to change and be more fair, more just and less violent. As it is, there is an unwritten policy that is very consistent, that is highly prejudiced, that encourages violence and victimization on a very unequal scale, showing certain people--mostly women and minorities--as more vulnerable."

Doing the research on this topic has opened my eyes to the fact that we as a viewing public are probably being badly used to serve the interests of a few people who are making a lot of money by serving up a daily diet of blood, fear and violence. It's almost like giving an addict his daily fix. It's really not the way I want to have my own children brought up, and I hope it's not yours either. Thank you for reading. I hope this has been helpful in your assessment of violence and television.

Eileen Lilly, February 11, 2000