For years there have been groups protesting music, movies, and video games. But their arguments seem to break down over time.

Remember
how AC/DC was supposed to mean Anti-Christ/Devil’s Child, and the band
was indoctrinating children into devil worship? Madonna’s famous onstage
simulated masturbation clearly led to a rash of adolescent
self-discovery. Marilyn Manson’s loud, nonconformist, screaming social
satire has been mislabeled as demon rock, and Lady Gaga, with her
pro-gay stance, is on a mission to turn all your children Queer as Folk.

Of course, that’s complete hyperbole.

No musician has ever created a Satanist pervert anti-establishment homosexual.

Popular video games such as Doom, Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty are all M-rated games which wouldn’t be in the hands of children without parent complicity.

Movies like Dirty Harry, Death Wish and Saw have
glorified violence for decades, but like video games, the caveat is
that the rating system fails impressionable children when a parent
allows.

So what’s behind our overwhelming desire to pin
the blame on entertainment? Could it be that parents know that violent
children are more likely the result of lax parenting and this is just a
pathetic attempt to shift blame? After Columbine, no one really
questioned how children acquired automatic weapons, bomb-making
materials, or where the parents were when all this was happening. But
there was great pressure to illegitimately castigate the video game and
music industries.

During a recent commencement speech,
historian David McCullough flat-out told graduating students in Boston
they weren’t “special.” This harsh reality could be the crux of the
problem.

Those young individuals who take up violence
after they’ve left home could be clambering to control an existence that
feels out of control. Many will get degrees in fields that are hard to
get work in and resign themselves to a life of mediocre income to pay
back thousands of dollars of student debt — essentially becoming a
slave.

Our media’s mentality is “if it bleeds, it
leads.” If one’s goal is to be the person everyone knows instantly, you
can accomplish this easier with five minutes of senseless violence than
years of good deeds.

Unfortunately, as our population
continues to grow and people endeavor to be relevant in a world that
considers all life trivial, we may find greater instances of this type
of violence. As long as the press glorifies it on Page One, there will
always be incentive to be evil.

—Brandon Wertz, Oklahoma City

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