Critical Response of Gerard Jones

According to Gerard Jones, violent media can actually have positive impacts on young people because it’s a form for adolescents to escape the rage they’ve been told to block off. Jones also believes that violent media are a positive influence on children because of his experiences as a child and also his sons. Jones makes some good points, For example, he says that violent media has helped hundreds kids for every one it has harmed. However, there is a strong case that violent media is a cause of the mass high school shootings. All in all, Gerard Jones doesn’t provide enough conclusive evidence to support the statement that, violent media is beneficial.

Gerard Jones relies heavily on his personal experience growing up, using ethos as his own credibility and pathos to make the audience feel sympathy and understanding of his childhood isn’t enough. Story telling is Gerard Jones career, some children aren’t artistically inclined like Jones, leaving their violent nature exposed to physical action. One example is my cousin, He too has been ignored most of his life by his parents, jumping from school to school, he’s never had an outlet for his emotions. On one particular day he told my little sister he was going to shoot them all. We didn’t hit a total panic because he has no access to any gun, but we were concerned and asked him where he got those thoughts, his response was “Youtube videos”. Violent media feeds these thoughts, in an era where children are taught everything they know from a phone screen, who is there to stop them from accessing cultures that aim for young clueless children like my little cousin.

In “Violent Media Is Good For Kids”, Jones has one legitimate argument where he states, ”Through immersion in imaginary combat and identification with a violent protagonist, children engage the rage they’ve stifled, come to fear it less, and become more capable of utilizing it against life’s challenges.” My cousin didn’t fear his own rage, for he didn’t know if it was right or wrong. If we would have never checked him that instant, who knows wat he could become in the future. In recent news, there was a mass shooting in a Florida High school that left 17 dead and several wounded. Nikolas Cruz ,a 19 year old, former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida is considered a “troubled child” by his attorney. The governor of Kentucky blames video games and music for this massacre, according to the article shared by Ryan Sits “Guns aren’t responsible for school shootings, blame music and video games: republican governor” on Newsweek.com.