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<title> The Harmful Effects of Cartoons </title>
There is a debate about violence on TV being harmful for children to watch. In the United States there has been a discussion about introducing a chip that would select the programs with a certain level of violence and delete them. The programs that most parents are concerned about their children watching, are mainly movies for adults with a high rate of "entertainment violence". What they do not reflect on is the high rate of violence in the cartoons their children often are viewing which I see as an increasing problem.

This is not only an American phenomenon, but the problem has also been growing rapidly in Sweden during the past few years. This is partly due to American influences with their new cartoons starring he-man type of men who are supposed to shoot down the bad guys. Although this is meant for older children to watch, does not mean younger ones are exposed to it aswell. Parents might not bother to watch the show with their children, because it is an innocent cartoon, or they watch it together with an older brother or sister.

This might not be the worst kind of cartoon violence, since at least older children can understand that it is pure fiction. What I see as even worse are the kind of cartoons that have been shown for a long time and that I too watched when I was younger; for example Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny and some of the Donald Duck cartoons. These usually do not show any guns or heavy shooting, but have another kind of violence which is harder for the children to dissociate from. Tom and Jerry are always fighting in one way or another; they run into walls, get flattened by pianos and fall down steep slopes and they always come back alive and well. This might have the impact on young viewers that one can do various dangerous actions without getting hurt. Maybe not the extreme things such as getting a piano in the head and walk away without a scratch, but simpler actions like dropping or throwing a small stone into someone's head. This is a very minor event in these cartoons, if the character survives the impact of a thousand-kilo-rock, a small stone has no affect on this character at all. In real life it can hurt a lot, it can even kill a person if it is an unfortunate hit. This is when parents have to explain to young children that this is not something you do, and that it is dangerous to others.

In these cases it could be difficult for children to distinguish between fiction and reality, since throwing a stone into someone's head is something they are able to do, while they are not able to shoot anyone with a machine gun.
I am not saying that it is better to watch a cartoon where they are shooting eachother than to watch Tom and Jerry, I am simply stating that children easier can identify themselves with this "smaller" violence.

I strongly disapprove of these new macho cartoons too, because they make children even more used to see weapons on TV, as they do on movies and other shows aswell. I do not think it is good for them to get into the habit of seeing guns everyday, since that might get them to lose respect for weapons. Arms should be frightening and distant to children, not a casual thing which eventually can lead to guns becoming an ordinary thing that all teenagers are familiar with.

Another thing about these new cartoons is the quality of the drawings. They are very badly made compared to the old classics such as Snow White and the Jungle Book. They put far too much emphasis on quantity instead of quality.

The best thing parents can do to prevent their children from watching too much violence on TV is to sit and watch the cartoons together with them to see what it is they are watching. It would also be a good idea for the broadcasters to show more quality cartoons, for example Winnie the Pooh and Lowly Worm for the younger children and the Lion King and the Smurfs for the older ones. Maybe it would be best to play a peaceful board-game instead.
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