<doc.id=2008.a3>
<title> Rambo as babysitter? </title>
In the last couple of years more and more parents are concerned with the huge amount of violence broadcast on television. Your children are able to watch Rambo, Lethal Weapon, Pulp fiction and other movies with a high rate of violence in daytime. Is this dangerous for the kids? Are we releasing an army of unstable, possible massmurderers when these children leave the TV? I don't think so. I don't even believe these movies are as dangerous as some people claim. The responsibility lies with the parents themselves, not the movies.

There has not been a single day without someone mentioning the horrible scenes shown on the newest movie or the violence shown on the news. Parents went for example to South Park - The Movie and were in complete uproar of the foul language and the amount of violence. The movie was rated far more dangerous to children than Pulp fiction, the former "leader" of the list. 
This has caused me some thinking. My conclusion is that you can't judge a movie by the amount of killings or of the amount of curses shown on the screen. Most violence in the most criticized movies are so absurd and unreal that not even children can fail to understand their fictional nature. It is the less violent but more realistic movies and shows that are more dangerous. I'm quite certain that someone beating his wife in soap operas is more dangerous to a childs mind, because the child can recognize himself much easier in that situation, than Rambo defeating an army in Afghanistan, killing thousands of soldiers by himself. But I must admit that many movies might have some bad impact on children, but those movies are overrepresented in the Art of fighting-genre, for example American Ninja, Kickboxer with others. The children watch the movie and may afterwards try the different kicks and punches at each other. But I don't think that even this is as bad as many parents believe.
And if I may come back to South Park it was, by the critics, considered to be the most dangerous movie ever produced. It is completely ridiculous even comparing the movie to Pulp fiction, which really is a quite horrible picture. I don't believe there is a single child who can't separate the comedy in South Park from the cruel and bloody scenes of Pulp fiction.

But no matter how much censorship and restriction there is on television the problems will not disappear. And why is that, you might ask? Because the problems is not caused by television in the first place. I believe parents who blame television for ruining their kids are irresponsible. If a child is loved and given time by its parents there will be no problem no matter how many violent movies the child watch. If the child watch some ninja-movie it will know what is wrong and what is right with the proper support from its parents. It still might try the fancy moves shown on the screen, but there will not be anything more than just trying.

The reason why the criticm has increased during the last couple of years is that parents often work more and spend less time with their children. They leave the child at the daycare center, pick it up after work and put it in front of the TV while making dinner. Parents lose more and more contact to their child but don't really see the problem. For example movies, paintball, role-playing games and other activities are attacked by angry parents, claiming that the activity is dangerous for their child without knowing anything about the activity itself. But they really just search for something to blame for their own ignorance.
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