Thanksgiving dinner is supposed to be a time for a family to come together peacefully and give thanks for all they have been blessed with. In my family, the peacefulness ends when one walks into the family room, where the younger cousins are watching the Power Rangers television program. That unfortunate soul is likely to be kicked, punched, hit, and bludgeoned until he leaves the room. The cousins, ages three to twelve, are not normally violent children. In fact, they are some of the most docile children I have ever known, but the intense fighting scenes and violent acts in the Power Rangers program turns them into miniature fighting machines. This is a clear and immediate example of how violence on television can have a negative impact on children and their behavior. Even though most parents TV violence does not have an effect on their kids, there have been many cases that show an increase in temper and violent activites from watching violence on televison.
             It is an undisputed fact that violence is a prominent theme in many television programs. From cartoons to documentaries, violence is used to catch and maintain the attention of viewers, many of whom are impressionable children. Despite the claims of media officials that they are censoring violence during times when children watch television most often, the American Psychological Association warns that by the time average children graduate from elementary school, they have seen 8,000 televised murders and 100,000 acts of violence (Sherrow, 1996). This includes televised movies, which are heavy contributors to the amount of violence seen on television. For instance, Robocop2shows 106 deaths, while Total Recall shows 81, and Rambo 3 shows 264 killings (Sherrow, 1996). These facts demonstrate the extent to which the children in our society are exposed to televised acts of violence. The extent to which these levels of violence affect them is another issue.
             The effects o...