A recent report by the Journal of American Medicine estimates that the average American child has watched 100,000 acts of violence by the end of elementary school, including 8,000 murders. By 18, the average child has watched 200,000 acts of violence and 40,000 murders (Dyson 11).
             Condemning media violence isn't very intellectually fashionable these days. It puts you in the camp of puritans, orthodox pressure groups, censorship advocates, tabloid readers and Shirley Jones. But, increasingly, good conscience forbids any other position. Something profound is happening out there.... The schoolyard killing sprees that have taken place since 1996 are of a sort never before seen: they're not gang or race-related, but random, rural and retributive. The attackers are usually tortured outsiders dramatically evening the score; in virtually every case they're obsessed with violent pop culture (Grierson 1).
             The violence in today's mass media is unavoidably corroding the ethics of impressionable children.
             Communications technology is expanding through the entire global community. Children everywhere are being born into a world of images and messages, which are largely separated from their home, school and spiritual lives. In society today, storytellers are seldom parents, grandparents, teachers or the clergy; instead they are the handful of distant forces with something to sell. What is unique about the media industry is that in global and corporate domination they have become part of our culture as well as our identity (Dyson 2).
             Social scientists and child advocates have been exploring the effects of media for decades, yet it is only recently that the concern has generated a public debate. Historical disagreements concerning the effect of violence revealed in works of art and entertainment have resonated over the centuries. We must ask ourselves whether or not our versions of entertainment exhibits any more violence than ...