We all have our articles of faith.
Some people believe in the quasi-sacredness of guns, that they are more often the solution than the problem and, besides, like the poor, they will be with us always and forever.
And other people — like me — believe that the artifacts of our culture — movies, cable shout shows, pop songs — may be symptoms of a sick culture, but not the cause.
I believe this because I want to, because I am entertained by dark stories and murder ballads. Because I would not take it upon myself to deny any artist the expression of their ideas or dictate what form this expression should take. And because the free market is governor enough on the excessive appetites of would-be artists. Shock draws a crowd, but unless it’s underpinned by some quality of grace — unless it tells us something about who we are and how we got here — it dissipates quickly and is forgotten.
Good art lasts, and that which is cheap and tawdry and anti-human doesn’t, though it might create a sensation for a while. That’s my faith.
But think of how many murders you’ve seen committed in your lifetime. According to a 2020 report by the American Psychological Association, the average American child will witness 200,000 violent acts on television before age 18. A lot of this — 46% — is cartoon violence, which we might think shouldn’t count. After all, Wile E. Coyote is remarkably resilient and seems to suffer no effects that hold over from scene to scene.
But that’s part of the problem, some health-care professionals argue. Cartoons, they point out, are more likely to juxtapose violence with humor and less likely to show the long-term consequences of violence than live-action programs. While there are those who argue that cartoon violence doesn’t have the same effect on children as “real” apprehended violence, some studies have shown exposure to violent cartoons increases the likelihood of aggressive antisocial behavior in youth.
And television, once the prevailing form…