Television has become the babysitter of millions of children, and the scapegoat for their parents. It riddles academic studies with the "how" when something goes a-rye. How could this happen to a child? How can we stop this from happening? How could the television industry not want to protect the innocent? How? How? How? "Everyone now knows that 'studies show' that media violence causes the real thing. Studies show no such thing. As human beings, we live in symbolic universes where words and images stimulate our thoughts and arouse our feelings" (Chatelle). In this paper I will argue that the issue of violence on television is not an issue of "protecting the innocent", but rather an issue of freedom.
             Millions of people watch violent Television without becoming violent or enraged. To say that the effects of violence on Television will breed a generation of miscreants is to say that ice cream causes rape. It is a fallacy of logic, literally the conclusion "does not follow" the evidence and the warrant. Despite the fact that rape increases as the consumption of ice cream increases, nobody would ever make this claim. Yes, there is a correlation between the two, ice cream and rape as well as Television and violence. But it cannot be logically deduced that ice cream or television cause rape or violence. This type of behavior is not uncommon to Americans though. "...[I]n the 50s, 'liberals' waged holy war against E.C. [sic] comic books, which were imaginatively written and beautifully drawn, because 'studies showed' that they caused 'juvenile delinquency.' The comics were banned but crime continued unabated" (Chatelle).
             Because children learn in a monkey see monkey do style, known as the Modeling Theory, one can no more blame television than parents for violent behavior. Children who witness the constant abuse of the mother by the father w...