Are You Promoting Violence?

Much has been said about the existence of a wealth gap separating the “haves” from the “have-nots” that defines the economic disparities separating Americans from one another. Many of our social ills are ascribed to this phenomenon and much effort and expense have been allocated to finding a solution to the problems this form of inequality is alleged to cause.

Yet there is another gap that exists in our society that is at least as significant and not always a byproduct of insufficient financial resources, and it is having a profound effect on the lives of our children. This is what I would call a “love gap.” At one end of the spectrum there are children growing up in homes bathed in support, encouragement, affection and structure. At the other end are those homes where the children’s lives are without foundation, structure or regular expressions of affection.

Supportive parents create an atmosphere that functions as an emotional shock absorber or filter for culturally cataclysmic events and some of the extremes of violence that are prevalent in our society. Children growing up in unstructured homes are often subject to the undiluted impact of everything that is taking place in the world. They are at risk of becoming desensitized to the human consequences of violence and calamity when lacking the presence of a responsible and loving adult to help them put events and the actions of others into proper context.

All of this leads me to a perspective on the recent beating death that occurred in Milwaukee and perhaps to other episodes of unprovoked violence. Our culture harbors a significant affinity for violence as expressed through what we view on TV, at the movies, on the Internet, and in the form of video games. With the exception of movies such as “Saving Private Ryan” or “Braveheart,” the violence is gratuitous and presented solely for entertainment value without any real-world context.

Families that are healthy (the “haves”) handle these influences in two ways. The first is simply to deny access to these forms of entertainment or at least phase in access as their children mature. The second way is to help place the behaviors in context so that their children understand the deviant nature of the portrayals they are viewing. Less healthy families (the “have-nots”) lack these defense mechanisms, leaving their children fully vulnerable to destructive influences. There is ample evidence of a cause-and-effect relationship between viewing violent media and acting out in a violent manner after sufficient exposure.

It becomes rather easy to look at “those people” who perpetrate violent acts upon others as if they are from a different universe. Yet there is one affinity we all have in common: the same appetite for forms of media that depict violence. It is in fact the purchasing power of the “haves” that sustains the market for violent media that leads to access of the same for the “have-nots.”

For those of you who did not realize that you share this connection, a logical question might be, “What can I do to help?” The answer is to look objectively at the forms of media you and your children bring into your household. Do you watch gruesome horror movies? What websites do you view on the Internet? Do your kids own video games that carry warnings of extreme violence? Although you may be certain that your children would never act on the impulses that these forms of entertainment depict, clearly, there is a small but tragically significant number of individuals who do. Is the stimulation received worth the toll on our culture? Responsible people, I believe, would answer that question with a firm “no” and change their purchasing and viewing habits as necessary.

Dr. Russell Robertson is Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin. His biweekly column of medical advice also appears in the CNI Community Newspapers throughout metropolitan Milwaukee.

"Reflections" is a collection of essays by the health professionals of the Medical College of Wisconsin.