Emotional Appeal

Two words: Ted Bundy. Ted Bundy was a serial killer who admitted to the violent murder and rape of 30 women. However estimates of the number of women that he killed are anywhere from 26 to 100. One might ask, how did this man become a vicious killer? The answer to that question is violent media and violent pornography. This man, if you can call him that, said himself that (Put the exact quote here, found in wikipedia). When Ted Bundy stated that violent media and pornography were contributing factors to his killing spree, he was already convicted to death row. Ted Bundy had nothing to lose or gain by stating that violent media and pornography were to blame for his horrid behavior. Some may argue that he would say anything to stay his execution. However, regardless of anything he said, Ted was going to have an encounter with an electric chair in Florida. We must ask ourselves this question, is what Ted Bundy said true? Did violent media and pornography make that much of an ill impact in his life? Did it really largely contribute to him becoming a serial killer?

I am not saying that if Ted Bundy had not been exposed to violent television and pornography that he would have been a “normal” citizen of the country. However, if his grandparents that raised him monitored what he was watching as a child and young adult the outcome of Ted Bundy could have been a lot different. Research has found that “children typically witness 32,000 murders and 40,000 attempted murders by the time they reach the age of 18.”

Think about the parents and siblings of Lynda Healy, or Donna Manson, or Janice Ott, or Melissa Smith, or Susan Curtis. Imagine their grief and inner turmoil. Now, think of your child. Imagine that one day she vanishes. After months of searching for your child, and praying for her return you get a telephone call. On the other end of the line you hear that your daughter’s “bludgeoned and strangled corpse was discovered by road maintenance workers” as was the case with Suzanne Cooley. Or you are told that your daughter’s body was found. “She was raped, murdered and her body discarded in Suwannee River State Park, Florida.” As was the case with 12 year old Kimberly Leach. Your daughter or son mean the world to you and the scary thing is that “Ted Bundys” are still in the world. Your children are never completely safe. Wouldn’t you want the parents of future Ted Bundys to block out some media violence from him? Wouldn’t you wish that all parents would be a little more careful about what their children watch? Or, would you rather these children still be unrestricted in their television viewing now so that a serial killer can be made later?

Aggression and violence in children is due to violence in the media. Children, unfortunately, watch television a lot more than they should. Many parents use the television as a quasi-babysitter. This is detrimental to a child’s psyche because when an actor is ignored on the television, that actor usually will try to gain attention or “get back” at the person who ignored or excluded them by using aggressive behaviors. Coyne, Archer, and Eslea (2004) researched the link between the amounts of television that a child watches to later aggression. These researchers stated,
“Children are particularly susceptible to viewing violence on television, as their scripts for aggression are still developing at this age. Aggression in adulthood is predicted not only by the level of aggression in childhood, but also by the amount of violent television viewed in childhood. Thus, it is particularly important to examine the influence of viewing aggression on television during childhood” (Violence in the Media section, para. 4).

Points to Make
• Talk about the power rangers study
• Talk about the average amount of time that a student watches television a day
• Talk about how many times a violent act is portrayed on the television during the time that a child watches TV everyday
• Media and Children's Aggression, Fear, and Alturism
• The Influence of Violent Media on Children
• Effects of Media Violence on Viewers' Aggression in Unconstrained Social Interaction

There should be more restrictions for television programs and the rating system. Children should not be watching violent acts on television when they are young. The rating system is in place for a reason and yet children are still basically unrestricted in what they choose to watch through television programs and movies played on television.