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<title> TV Violence - an Overrated Problem? </title>
The issue about TV violence and its effect on children has been hotly debated ever since violent cartoons, like "Tom and Jerry", first made their appearance on the screen. However, despite numerous attempts to discover any correlation between violence on TV and violent behaviour in children, no conclusive evidence has been found (according to my boyfriend and his psychology books, which apparently deal with this subject to some extent). It is true that a link has been found between violence in children and the amount of TV violence they watch, but it is of course impossible to establish which of these is cause and which is effect.

Personally, I think that this problem has been vastly overrated. I mentioned the cartoon "Tom and Jerry" above and did so for a reason. This show was very popular when I was small and I loved watching it. We had quite a few episodes on video, and I could watch them for hours on end. Thinking back on it now, more than a decade later, I realise that the violence in this cartoon was extremely prominent. In fact, it was probably because of the violence that we kids liked it so much. I mean, there really was not much of a story. What little story line there was simply provided the duo with an excuse to attack each other with what ever kitchen or cleaning utilities that happened to be lying around. I laughed when Tom got his face bashed in with an iron. I smirked happily when he howled with pain and held his abused hand, already swollen to three times its usual size and pulsating. I was not alone in laughing at this; my friends did too. And yet none of us is, to my knowledge, a homicidal lunatic. So maybe something else is at play here. Violent cartoons cannot be the one solitary reason for violent behaviour in children and, later on, adults. 

I do, however, agree that certain programs are unsuitable for children. For instance, I would never let any child under the age of twelve watch "Terror on Elm Street" or "8 millimeters". The first since it might cause nightmares, the second since there are things that children should be unaware of for as long as possible in order to enjoy their childhood. Of course, these movies are quite a long way from the violent but loveable antics of "Tom and Jerry", and this is a distinction that I think it is important that parents make, which, unfortunately, many do not. I have two main reasons for thinking "Tom and Jerry" harmless:
1. They are not human. 
2. They do not bleed.

To elaborate further on these points, they both lead to the cartoon being perceived as fiction, something unreal. Any child above the age of six knows that the family cat cannot run on its hind legs or wield a frying pan. Had the characters been human, I think that the violence would have been more real to the child, perhaps even frightening. I also think that the total absence of blood is significant, as is the fact that Tom and Jerry - no matter how mangled, burnt, sliced up or deformed - always instantaneously pop back to their normal selves, no scars or wounds in sight. Again, I think this is a "non-reality" marker to the child. Films featuring humans and human violence, like the two movies mentioned above, lack these markers to the child. As adults, we know that everything is fake, that the people are only acting and that they did not really hurt themselves. Small children do not know this, and when they get old enough to understand that the events depicted are not real, they can still be, and often are, scared.

If I ever have a child, I know that I too will protect my offspring from what I consider to be unsuitable movies for a child of a certain age. I too will be a stern parent and will probably overreact sometimes. But I will do this, not because I believe that violent TV shows will incite my child to similar behaviour, but because I do not want him or her to be plagued by nightmares and fears as I was myself after having seen "Gremlins" at age five. For, frankly, I do not think that TV violence alone can turn any normal child into a blood-thirsty, manic jailbird.
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