Advanced Essay #3: Violence in Life

Introduction:

My goals for this paper is for people to realize that we need to reduce childhood exposure to violence. I'm proud of myself for getting really good sources to support my evidence, that children do get affected for the violence contents around them, and as adults, people should understand and find a way to prevent it from happening. 


Essay:

Our propensity for violence is based on how much brutality we are exposed to when we were young. Whether we experienced or witnessed violence as children, it affects us for the rest of our lives physically and emotionally. When adults see violence in today’s society, they tend to blame the society that they live in, instead of understanding the fact that in order to reduce these violent tendencies, we must first reduce childhood exposure to violence. 

History classes across America focus on one thing for the majority; war, an extremely violent battle between multiple groups around the world. Introduced to kids through different structures for entertainment and education every day knowing that it could be unhealthy for kids to take in the information. According to the InfoRefuge, “While the obvious reason for this is to maintain public morale and support for the life-threatening conflict, American military intervention since that civil war has been projected internationally” (2018). War casualty is there for public morale and support, showing the violence they have experienced in battle. Publishing it so people memorize and understand what those who suffered have been through. Not understanding that these stories would affect someone physically and emotionally, especially younger children because they have not learned nor determined the unnecessary part of the war or how dangerous it could be toward the people and nature itself. Children have been taught that war is a place where people fight against each other for their desires and beliefs. It affects them physically and emotionally, driving them to violence, and, they begin to think that violence is the path for good things to happen. 

Furthermore, entertainment has become one of the biggest factors in kids daily life. According to the CNN reports, children under 9 spend at least two hours each day watching screens for entertainment. Network-wide web is a place that nobody has the right to control, and the media's mention of violence can go viral overnight without delay. CiPHR stated, “Past research has shown that technology-based exposures to and experiences of violence, which includes harassment, bullying, or unwanted sexual exposure, can sometimes be associated with psychosocial challenges”(2017). These reports and news on violent acts will affect the young people who obtain the information and burden the family of the kid. Adults criticize the public for ruining their kid's life; indeed the parent of the children could help solve this problem by helping educate younger folks about these problems in a mature way. Adults can also argue that they have no ability to control the world-wide network, but they do have the ability to lead kids through a better path compared to the research and information kids have found on their own about the problem.

Most importantly, violence cannot be deleted from the mindset nor the things that we have learned. Therefore, people will have to create a better path to help kids learn through when in a situation where violence could occur. In agreement with Jocelyn Kelly, “Even more tragically, these same young men would often struggle to reintegrate peacefully into their communities when hostilities ended” (2018). If someone witnesses a violent action themselves then they will have an underlying recollection of that time and it may be more feasible for them to react with the violence of their own. Adults who have experienced a violent event can become diagnosed with Post-Traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). If adults cannot even handle this, how could a child be expected to deal with it by themselves? Nobody can stop PTSD from happening, but we can take steps towards stopping the cause of PTSD. 

People who have experienced a violent event can sometimes be stuck in a place where things are not the same for them afterward. Depending on the situation, but most likely the images related to the event will be embedded forever. The U.S government encourages those who are in trouble to get therapy but does not want to take the blame for the events that happened. They tend to blame the situation itself by saying that was something out of their control. An example being the Vietnam war, the U.S military blamed the company who created Agent Orange (A herbicide and defoliant chemical) and said that it was their fault by putting in the chemical that affected humans. The truth is the U.S military is the one who pulls the trigger, and they understand that the chemical could kill innocent people, but they keep going and acting like a victim.

We cannot control publicity, but we can control what is under our rights. Controlling the world-wide-web is impossible, but helping our kids understand the real dangers is possible. Every problem can have a solution, we just have to find the best one to solve the issue. Violence is something that we cannot stop, but we can learn how to deal with it in a better way that prevents it from becoming an everyday thing for a child's life.

Works Cited:

 1. Kelly, Jocelyn. “The Ripple Effects of War: How Violence Can Persist after Formal Peace Is Declared.” dev4peace, 29 Aug. 2018, blogs.worldbank.org/dev4peace/ripple-effects-war-how-violence-can-persist-after-formal-peace-declared.

2. “How Does War Child Provide Vital Psychosocial Support to Children?” War Child Holland - How Does War Child Provide Vital Psychosocial Support to Children?, www.warchildholland.org/psychosocial-support/.

3. Inforefuge. “How the U.S. Media Promotes War as Entertainment.” InfoRefuge, 29 Apr. 2010, inforefuge.com/media-promotes-war-as-entertainment.

4. Howard, Jacqueline. “Report: Young Kids Spend over 2 Hours a Day on Screens.” CNN, Cable News Network, 19 Oct. 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/10/19/health/children-smartphone-tablet-use-report/index.html.

Comments