The Effects of Media on Youth

Both Paradise Lost and Bowling for Columbine portray a very specific view of the media and the effects it has on American youth. As we discussed with the Jenkins reading, there is a big difference between causation and correlation. While the media may have had an effect on these horrible killings, it most definitely was not the single causing factor. As Jenkins mentions, people are very quick to blame the media for the issues in society such as violence. Using the same logic but reversing it to a positive effect shows just how ridiculous this is. For example, can you attribute an adult’s love of reading to their watching Arthur as a child, where there are constant mentions of the library and how cool it is? Or can you attribute an environmentalist’s beliefs to their watching Captain Planet as a child?  There are countless factors that could have affected the way these adults turned out, such as their home life, friends, and schooling. Similarly, there is no way Marilyn Manson or emo culture could be blamed for causing the death of three young children. While the music and look of emo culture may bring up concepts such as death, violence, anger and fear, it certainly doesn't encourage murdering children. But even if it did, people still have agency; it is up to the individual to decide what actions they should be taking. I think that Jenkins would take one look at the situation presented in Paradise Lost and roll his eyes at the lack of evidence to back up the claim that the media caused this tragedy. The footage in Bowling for Columbine brings up another usual suspect in the effects of violence on the youth- the presence of weapons in the community. How can the youth be surrounded by a community producing a significant portion of America’s atomic warfare, yet only the media is impacting their violent actions?  This just proves the point again that there can be many correlations between environment and violence without pointing at the media and claiming it is the single causing factor.