Philosopher,  Albert Camus, said "Peace is [a] battle worth waging." Peace has always been one of the priorities for the world. So the problem does not lie with whether or not the people want peace, of course people want peace, the issue is how people want to go about it, and what is stopping us from achieving this goal. So to figure this out, the root of the problem must be found, and then addressed. Only then, can the possibility of a peaceful society happen in the near future, and when it comes down to it, the only thing that is keeping this world from having a peaceful society is the lack of effective communication, understanding, and fear.

When it comes to almost any problem there is always a peaceful approach, as well as a violent approach. Both can definitely get the point across, and solve the problem. However, when it comes to the violent approach, a lot of lives are lost in senseless violence. Now, if it is true that the peaceful approach can still solve the same problems that the violent approach can, then it seem more logical to go with that option. However, when it comes to the peaceful approach, it relies heavily on a characteristic that many nations tend to lack, which is effective communication. With this, it’s a lot harder to deal with. When coming to a compromise, depending upon your motive, there will be times where negotiation is not something that is really desired. There is also the fact that nations might seem weak for doing this, and no one wants that type of image. Tim O’brien stated in “The things They Carried”, “It was my view then, and still is, that you don't make war without knowing why. Knowledge of course, is always imperfect, but it seemed to me that when a nation goes to war it must have reasonable confidence in the justice and imperative of its cause. You can't fix your mistakes. Once people are dead, you can't make them undead.”(41). He has a point though. When it comes to war, it’s less complicated, even though it is deadlier, but at least you stand a with getting most of what you want with little to no compromise at all. In the novel “The Sorrow of War”, Bao Ninh said it best when he stated that “The ones who loved war were not the young men but the others like the politicians, middle-aged men with fat bellies and short legs. Not the ordinary people" (75).

Another difficulty the comes with the path of peace is that it forces people to try and understand one another. That is one of the hardest things to do sometimes, especially if one believes that they are just dealing with an evil group or individual. In this society, when someone or some group is considered evil, nobody real cares to try and understand them. They’re bad people, they have done harm to others, so it doesn't make sense to show them any sympathy or give them any excuse for their actions. In Philip Zimbardo’s Ted Talk: The Psychology of Evil, he brings up a good point by saying "Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing more difficult than understanding him," Dostoevsky. Understanding is not excusing. Psychology is not excuse-ology.”  What is so important about this quote, is that it shows people that getting to see where these types of people are coming from, gives us an insight into human nature. It also shows us that evil is more complex, it is something that is within us all. Philip later quotes in his talk that  “Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn says, "The line between good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being." That means that line is not out there. That's a decision that you have to make, a personal thing.” Once we start to think of it that way, then the process of understanding one another is not only clearer, but it becomes a necessity.  Once there is understanding, better communication is what follows, and the peaceful approach becomes more realistic.

Now, lack of communication, and understanding are issues that keep us from having a peaceful society, but there lies another problem that is not really talked about, but is also a major problem that is stopping us from having a peaceful society is. Fear. When it comes to maintaining a peaceful society, there has to be a level of trust involved where both side do not expect the other to take advantage or betray them. But, that is so hard. For instance, Martin Luther King brought an example with his vietnam speech stating that ““We have destroyed their two most cherished institutions: the family and the village. We have destroyed their land and their crops. We have cooperated in the crushing of the nation’s only noncommunist revolutionary political force, the unified Buddhist Church….After 1954 they watched us conspire with Diem to prevent elections which could have surely brought Ho Chi Minh to power over a unified Vietnam, and they realized they had been betrayed again. When we ask why they do not leap to negotiate, these things must be considered.” We live in a society that promotes self gain and power above anything else, so it’s scary to have that kind of trust when you grew up believing everyone's looking out for themselves most of the time.

There is a lot of improvement that needs to be done in order for a peaceful to be established in the near future. One way we can start, though, is by staring each other stories with one another. Again, Dr. King says "Can I threaten them with death or must I not share with them my life?....I think of them, too, because it is clear to me that there will be no meaningful solution there until some attempt is made to know them and hear their broken cries.” Telling your story or some else’s, gives power to understanding and empathy. People have a chance to see what life has put you through. Bao Ninh said in “ The Sorrows of War” that “ It was necessary to write about the war, to touch readers’ hearts, to move them with words of love and sorrow, to bring to life the electric movements, to let them, in the reading and the telling, feel they were there, in the past, with the author” (56). Having a peaceful society is possible for us, but it’s not something we force. It’s something we comprehend together.

Bibliography

Ninh, Bảo, and Frank Palmos. The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam. New York: Pantheon, 1995. Print.

Tim O'Brien. The Things They Carried. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2005. Print.

Philip Zimbardo.The psychology of evil. Sep 2008

King, Jr., Martin Luther. "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam." Church Sermon. Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia. 30 Apr. 1967.Youtube. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

My goal for this essay was to try and think outside of the box. Fortunately I found a source and a photo that I did not originally think of soon after the assignment was assigned. After writing the essay I am proud of what I wrote. I think that it is an idea that I normally wouldn’t think off but it is executed in a way that makes sense. I was really able to get into this essay because I connected well to the topic, making it easier to write.

There are two women who are about to commit a “crime of passion” and murder each other because they feel too much and can not live with or without the other. (2) Or they are two women who are in love with the same man and found out that that man is cheating on one of them with the other. Neither option is justifiable but option 2 is the lesser of two evils. I would not approve of option 1 because, you can not love and abuse. There is no way that you can care and want to nurture someone so much, that you have to murder them. When you take a good look at it, the idea of “crimes of passion” sounds crazy. Option 2, while still crazy, is slightly less crazy because the women do not love each other. They love a man who may or may not love the both of them (which brings up a whole new question of how many people one can love at once). Anyway, since the women do not love each other, they could argue crime of passion based on their love of the man. The two women are about to kill each other to eliminate competition not to express love. Again it could not be that they are killing each other for the man, in that case could be murder for love.

Violence is beyond the control of human choice. Many see violence and think that it can be easily prevented, too many think that peace is as simple as conversation, empathy and understanding. The brutal reality is that doing the right thing is not as easy as it looks. Violence is a symptom of oppression and fear.  The human race can not react when they feel they are being threatened by a more powerful or treacherous system. The reason why the violence continues after the lesser force takes power or gains the upper hand is still a result of fear. Many would ask, What if they are an evil society promoting destructive ideas and destroying the people around them? Wouldn’t it be necessary to bring the system down possibly by using violence?  To that I would say that  I do not believe that humans want to be violent, we simply want to protect ourselves and our communities. Even if they are protecting something destructive it is theirs and they feel threatened that someone is going to take it away, so they may feel that violence is the only way to protect their way of life.

After reading the Chapter 3 and watching Time Wise’s video, I noticed a pattern of white divide. What stuck out to me the most was the class difference within the white race. I think that as a minority, I have a hard time imagining white people as a diverse culture of people. I do recognize that the white race is not a race of people who are collectively rich and ignorant; but in the society that we live in we tend to see white people in one light, scared, so scared that they forget how to treat other people.

That is most evident in the reading, Zinn says “The Indians were plundered by white frontiersmen, who were taxed and controlled by the Jamestown elite.” In this quote you can clearly see that there is a group of white citizens who are clumped in with all the other minorities. Later in the chapter Zinn raises a very interesting question/idea, why didn’t the native American’s, African/African American’s, and lower class white people come together to raise their standard of living? This is a question that I have later asked myself before, especially concerning, the Native American’s and African’s/African American’s.

What I later came to learn is that, Native American’s tried to help the enslaved African’s. They hid runaway slaves and integrated the Africans into the community. Unfortunately this system did not last very long. White masters quickly caught on to what was happening, knowing that they could not physically overpower the Native American’s and take back their slaves, they used the only other form of power that they had, money. After the Native American’s were paid off they surrendered and disclosed the whereabouts of the hidden slaves.

This idea is a wonderful segway into what we know today as, white privilege. These accounts of Native American’s being manipulated by white people dates back to the 1700’s. Evidently the idea of white privilege is not new and white people continue to benefit from it. Both the reading and the video made me think of the idea of white privilege and how it has evolved and changed through the years. From what I understand from the reading and video, white privilege was simply a system of manipulation. White people blatantly used their money people to get what they want and control people, It seemed necessary then. White people were not the majority but they wanted the control and had the means to get it. If I were them I most likely would have done the same. They knew that other people and civilizations were stronger and more familiar with the land.  

This reading and video enabled me to look from the point of view of the historical oppressor. I was never able to identify with the other side and I judged them for their choices and means of control, and use of violence as a means of oppression. After further analysis I was able to see that both sides could not help but use violence. The white colonist were under the impression that the Africans and the Native Americans were trying to destroy their way of life. With no way of verbally communicating with other people, they used what they could to protect themselves. As a result the Africans and Native Americans defended themselves. One of the biggest systems of violence can be seen as a misunderstanding with a symptom of violence. No one set out to act maliciously.

My Photo:

Upon beginning this paper I had a very set idea for what I wanted to write about, the war within oneself. Yet, during the peer editing process I determined that I would need to narrow my thesis in order to stray from sounding vague. My final thesis involved the consideration of PTSD acting as a war in a veterans mind long after they have exited the battlefield. I must admit that at first I felt very uninspired concerning the general topics of this paper. However, the more research I did, the more engaged I became. The development of my larger idea was not done in a premeditated fashion, it developed over the course of my writing. This was most satisfying to me, the fact that I didn’t have to search for a larger idea, on the contrary it came to me.

Picture this, a black and white image depicting a close up of an older man. His face is the focus in the image. Crinkles surround tightly shut eyes. His mouth seems to be pursed due to creases, yet it is hard to tell because of his white beard, which traces across his upper lip and down to his chin, crawling up either side of his face. The eyebrows of the old man are knit together, forming an indentation in the space between. The old man appears to be recalling something in his mind unknown to the viewer. The memory does not appear to be a pleasant one due to his expression, the mixture of a wince and a grimace. This man is a veteran. When veterans come home from war there are many issues a previous soldier can face: problems with the VA, homelessness, yet those who never served in the army fail to consider the war that wages beyond the battlefield long after the battle is over.

In PBS’s interview Moral Wounds of War, a soldier's experience is referenced as following “For some, unless they get called back the war is over. For others, it’s only begun.” This so called war which is referenced throughout the article is otherwise known as PTSD. PTSD is the main cause for much of the trouble that follows a vet. Violent outbreaks, a symptom of this disorder, can land many in jail.  Other futures for vets with PTSD hold homelessness, prosecution, and suicide. Many have guilt in relation to events which occurred during combat. The absence of god is another aspect that many question.  This source held many bits of statistical evidence to support my topic, as well as a relevance that opened doors to new perspectives.

When a soldier exits the battlefield it is expected that the war is finally over. However PTSD is an ongoing, raging battle that can affect many veterans long after the war is over. Mike from the veteran panel is an example of this effect. It was not necessarily that he came right out and said “I have PTSD”, it was more like the underlying tone he carried when referring to himself.  Whenever Mike mentioned his skill it was never in the light of benefit or value but in the sense of spastic failures. To be at war with yourself doesn’t mean you have ever had to experience the likes of war. It is more of a state of being.  Having low-self esteem, something that leaves people with the emotions of being a consistent failure and carrying a lot of guilt due to that whether there is truth to it or not.  

“I like to talk about the moral emotions of war, and they include wounds, but they’re the hard, bad feelings that may erode at your character.” Said professor Nancy Sherman from Georgetown University. War is not only physical but mental too and it is something that needs to be realized.

At the beginning of writing this paper I was struggling with what I should focus on as my main question. When looking back at my annotated bibliography I found that I really liked the third image that I chose to describe. I decided to use that description to help form my wider question. That gave me my goal, which was to be able to connect all of my ideas to that one picture description. Like always I wanted to write something that I was proud of as well as something that I thought covered my thoughts on how war and violence affect people, based on environment and situation. I think that I could make this a stronger piece by including more sources that I had in my annotated bibliography. I only focused on two and it would be much stronger with more evidence.

“And just as a cancer patient must at times ingest a poison to fight off a disease, so there are times in a society when we must ingest the poison of war to survive. But what we must understand is that just as the disease can kill us, so can the poison,” Chris Hedges.  People who believe that war and violence are the only solutions to things seem to turn a blind eye to what comes with them. Lives are always lost, and I don’t just mean casualties. War changes people, the experiences that come along with battle are not easily forgotten, as we learned from the Vietnam veterans who came in. Men who weren’t in actual physical battle have and live with survival guilt. Like with some sort of cure, the side effects of war are glossed over and it is forgotten that real people with very real lives were involved, not robots and not ghosts. For many people involved in a war, there is this feeling of a loss of time. This is one “side effect” of war. It is not only the loss of lives but the loss of time spent with family and friends. War messes with these men's minds, yet it seems that for many, if they pretend that these soldiers are problemless than in their eyes they actually are.

There is an image in black and white of a little girl who looks like she’s walking towards something passed the camera. She has her right hand up. Behind her are the wreckage of some buildings. They look like they are on the verge of collapse and there is debris everywhere. A crane is reaching towards the top of one of the buildings but it looks old and not strong. Something bad obviously happened here. Either an explosion or some type of bombing. There’s a woman slightly farther back than the girl who is looking at the little girl and looks like she’s trying to say something to her. Possibly telling her to come back or something along those lines. There is also a man standing in the background just looking at the girl. This image shows how violence blinds people from things that really matter. It is a perfect example of the overlooked and forgotten side effects of war and violence. Those buildings could’ve been that woman and child’s home, or her school. That little girl will always have this image in embedded in her mind and it will most certainly be more real than just viewing the picture.

People's environments affect how they act. It’s like how if you grew up in a city, you’re used to the city, but if you grew up in the suburbs you’re used to the suburbs. When you are put into an environment that you’re not used to, you never know how you’re going to react or what kind of person you’ll turn into. Like in the book, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. One of the men, Azar, always talks about killing and death. He’s not afraid of it, and it’s more than a fascination. He enjoys it. If Azar was not brought to Vietnam, I think that he would be a very different person but since this is the only setting we see him in, this is the only version of Azar that we get. When another member of the platoon, Kiowa, died, all of the men searched for his body. During this time Azar kept making jokes about Kiowas situation that the other men didn’t find amusing. They were jokes that you didn’t make about someone who just died. Once they found Kiowa's body, Azar’s comments completely changed, he apologized and took back all of the jokes he previously had said. You can see how war makes people react to different situations in certain ways and if Azar was not in the Vietnam war he wouldn’t make these jokes. In a way, they are a type of coping mechanism.

War and violence numbs its creators and the people that are roped into it. It makes humans forget what really matters. It’s like a drug, dulling human's thought process and emotions. I think it’s important for people to realize this. Important for the people who are directly affected by war and violence but also to the people who do not realize that it is not only these people's faults. It is also the fault of the higher ups, the people who couldn’t care less about the men and women that are sent to fight wars that for some, they don’t even believe in. The same people who are putting their lives on the line just to please someone who has more power are not given what they need to live as good of a life as possible after their experiences. Even after the fighting and the violence is over, for many, the war still rages on in their heads.

Work Cited

"Interview: Chris Hedges." Interview. Religions and Ethics Newsweekly 31 Jan. 2003. PBS. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2003/01/31/january-31-2003-interview-chris-hedges/13987/>.

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York: Broadway, 1998. Print.

The goal of this essay is to argue and stress the importance of what it means for survivors of violent trauma, specifically soldiers and war veterans, to share their stories and memories pertaining to the trauma that they have experienced. Initially, I wanted to do research and investigate the effects of holding onto important memories or stories and not sharing them, or in other words, secrets. However, I came to realize that that was more along the lines of a research paper vs. an essay with a controversial thesis, so as I shifted my focus to survivors of violent trauma, I was able to contextualize my thesis better and take a new route for this essay. A wide variety of sources are included to form a full view of this issue.

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The human memory is extremely complex. It stores an infinite amount of moments, events, emotions, and more. Essentially, those are all of the elements of a story that is waiting to be told. That’s all memories really are, anyway: stories. As always in the case of stories, it is up to the person to decide whether or not they are willing to share them or not. No matter the circumstances, this always remains true. This conscious decision draws the line between secret and visibility. We keep secrets for many reasons. However, in the world that we live in today, it is not always easy for us to share the hard stories- those stories that have affected us on the deepest of levels, that rein ever present in our lives. This becomes even more true when we focus on the struggles survivors of violent trauma from warfare are forced to face. When their stories can’t be told, it only causes them more difficulties when it comes to their mental and even physical health. Survivors of trauma need to be able to have an outlet to comfortably share their stories, in a way that is best fit for them. It is all of our jobs to listen to them and to provide them with the proper resources for them to do this.

Dr. James Pennebaker, a psychology professor and researcher, once created an experiment to test if writing about traumatic experiences and feelings reduced the amount of times the patients seeked extra help. In an article written by Eric Jaffe, he says it included  “...a concentration camp survivor who had seen babies tossed from a second-floor orphanage window” and “...a Vietnam veteran who once shot a female fighter in the leg, had sex with her, then cut her throat.” Additionally, he says that “In one study of 50 students, those who revealed both a secret and their feelings visited the health center significantly fewer times in the ensuing six months than other students who had written about a generic topic, or those who had only revealed the secret and not the emotions surrounding it.” Even just being able to write down the experience and the emotions and feelings surrounding them were helpful to these people. It caused them to feel more at peace with themselves, and feel less of a need to reach out for help from the health center. That just goes to show how vital it is for their to be outlets for survivors of trauma to reveal their stories.

Sharing stories or experiences doesn’t always have to mean it is between two people. Powerful moments can happen between a person and the God that they look up to. For example, there is a somewhat popular image on the internet that shows a Russian soldier from World War II about to go into battle. He is looking downward, staring into space. He holds a cross between his fingers, and holds that same hand up to his mouth. The man is praying, it seems. In this moment he is speaking to his God. The man behind him is passionately yelling something, but that is not what he is focussed on. This is a moment of intimacy, the last quiet moment before this man enters a battle that may cost him his own life. However, he does not seem angry, or have a hard look on his face. It actually appears as though the corner of his mouth is turned up into a bit of a smile, and the corner of his eye seems soft. He is finding peace and solace within his God. The soldier holding the cross may very well be scared deep down inside, but he is accepting the circumstances and preparing himself as he must. For some people, it is merely a God whom they must open themselves up to.

Sometimes, depending on availability, veterans will get involved in programs that will allow them to share their own war stories to groups of people. Mike Felker, a veteran of the Vietnam War, is one of those people. In one of his presentations, he mentioned someone from the war who was called Big Man, and attached a short story he wrote about his experience with him. In it, he says, “I tried to pray and beg him back to life. By this time another patrol had come to the side of the cliff. Chuck, a hospital corpsman from the Third Platoon saw my hysteria, that my frantic efforts were futile. He shook me hard and slapped me when I started crying that Big Man was alive. I stopped, comprehending finally he was dead… I watched, as I will always watch, until he disappeared.” It is saddening to realize how emotionally and mentally scarring this must still be for him to recall. However, it is clear that being involved in a program where he can tell this story, and share his writings about the story, is helpful to him.

It is quite the hardship to experience trauma on such a grand scale and to have so many stories to share with no means to share them. Without some sort of outlet for those experiencing or those who have experienced violent trauma to share their most powerful stories from their memories, they may face a whole host of other mental, and sometimes even physical illnesses. This is why it is important that we listen to these people, that we provide for them the programs and resources in which they can feel comfortable sharing their deepest, darkest, and most difficult secrets or experiences. Everyone should be able to take what is in their minds and release it to the world in some way, shape, or form that is comfortable and safe for themselves.

Works Cited

"Feature Story: Writing to Heal: Research Shows Writing about Emotional Experiences Can Have Tangible Health Benefits." Feature Story: Writing to Heal: Research Shows Writing about Emotional Experiences Can Have Tangible Health Benefits. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

"Mike Felker's Writing." Mike Felker's Writing. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

I can honestly say this Advanced Essay has been the most challenging one of the four we have received in this English class this year. Starting off the unit, I couldn't really get into the book we were reading because I just wasn't interested in it and when it was announced we were to do another advanced essay for our benchmark this quarter, that made me feel even worse about everything. I didn't know what I wanted my paper to be based off on at first, I was going in the direction of story-telling and the affects that had on people until I realized that was more of a personal piece. So, I finally came to conclusion of wanting to surround my paper on the media and with the help of my peers and Mr. Block, I am satisfied with what I produced. My goals were to have a clear, concise and controversial thesis which the reader could thoroughly understand which I do feel I've accomplished. I feel as though teens would be able to relate to this paper the most simply because we are living in the generation where media is booming.

Unconsciously and unknowingly, people’s behavior and aggression towards violence are influenced by the media. Majority of the youth is exposed to some sort of act of violence through the media before the age of ten years old. With the numerous and everlasting murders that have been occurring more frequently lately, school shootings, and fights going on it’s hard to ignore the violence factor that goes on in the world. Because children are still developing in their teenage years, seeing certain things such as inappropriate music, movies, television shows, etc. can affect their psychological development and views in the world.

Television can be a very powerful teacher to not only the youth, but adults as well. According to the BLS American Time Use Survey by A.C. Nielsen Co., approximately 99% of Americans own at least one television in their household. This shows just how accessible tv is and how common it is for people to be watching it. A new study in the Journal of Pediatrics says the average eight year old child spends eight hours a day on media, and teens more than 11 hours of media a day. This is more than a full day of school, which means the youth are being exposed the media and the inappropriate things it contains For example, they see things from funny memes to violent beatings and fights. With the youth being revealed to such at this young of an age, it’s already registered in their minds that this is common in society since it is praised and laughed at which can increase the likelihood of aggressive behavior at an older age without them even thinking much of it.

Kaj Björkqvist, a Professor of Developmental Psychology at Åbo Akademi University, randomly assigned one group of five- to six-year-old Finnish children to watch violent movies, another to watch nonviolent ones. Raters who did not know which type of movie the children had seen then observed them playing together in a room. Children who had just watched the violent movie were rated much higher on physical assault and other types of aggression. Other experiments have shown that exposure to media violence can increase aggressive thinking, aggressive emotions, and tolerance for aggression, all known risk factors for later aggressive and violent behavior. With the children being so young and naive, they had no clue how great of an impact the violent movie had on their actions and aggression. They were just following what they had seen in the movie and weren’t even incorporating the fact they were being violent which shows how unconscious people are with the influence violence in the media has.

The cartoon above is a perfect representation on how oblivious society is to the issues that we constantly encounter. There are constantly issues with violence in the world and we wonder where some of the root causes stem from, yet the answer is right in front of our eyes. The future is completely dependable upon how we bring up our children, which can either be a good or bad thing it’s all in the power of our hands. Allowing violence in the media to take over our children’s mindsets can only lead to even more violence and aggression, which this cartoon shows. It’s also shown above how the child is saying “Kill them! Kill them all!” With a huge smile on his face which shows he’s condoning the people who are being killed. Both the parents and the child are unaware of how violence is impacting and influencing their lives as shown in this cartoon.

On October 1, 2015 at Umpqua Community College located in Oregon, there was a mass shooting killing nine and wounding many others. The shooter, Christopher Harper- Mercer, after killing nine innocent people was shortly killed in gunfire with responding officers. After the shooting, the police investigated Harper- Mercer’s background and found that he was obsessed with violent gaming and would focus on this more than spending time with his family. His neighbors would say he was a nice young man, but was isolated majority of the time and only took interest in conversations when discussing video games and guns. While investigating, the police even found a secret chat room online which him and anonymous others were planning out exactly what he’d do. Before he had committed this tragic crime, he said “I’ve been waiting to do this for years”. Meanwhile, his companions were supporting him and even giving him ideas on when and where to do it. Recently, researchers at Ohio State University conducted a study and concluded that, "People who have a steady diet of playing these violent video games may come to see the world as a hostile and violent place”. Without even the slightest thought, one’s perception of the world can be altered just by constantly being exposed to violent video games.

In conclusion, the media can impact our daily life decisions unconsciously. Some solutions to reducing the influence violence in the media has on us are reducing the exposure to violent movies, television shows, videos games, etc. By doing this, it won’t place anyone in a specific and unhealthy mindset. Also, by increasing media that will have a positive effect on our lives and actually teach us something helpful both short and long-term will not only educate us, but place us in the right mindset that’ll benefit everyone in the world.

Citations

"Managing Media: We Need a Plan." Managing Media: We Need a Plan. 29 Oct. 13. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. <https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/pages/managing-media-we-need-a-plan.aspx>.

Eves, Christopher. "Television Watching Statistics." Static Brain Research Institute, 18 Feb. 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. <http://www.statisticbrain.com/television-watching-statistics/>.

Thoman, Elizabeth. "What Parents Can Do about Media Violence." Center for Media Literacy. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. <http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/what-parents-can-do-about-media-violence>.

Fletcher, Lyndee. "14 Mass Murders Linked to Violent Video Games." Charisma News. 15 Oct. 2015. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. <http://www.charismanews.com/culture/52651-14-mass-murders-linked-to-violent-video-games>.

Healy, Jack, and Ian Lovett. "Oregon Killer Described as Man of Few Words, Except on Topic of Guns." The New York Times. The New York Times, 2015. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/03/us/chris-harper-mercer-umpqua-community-college-shooting.html>.