Raised to Be Violent

“Behaviors like aggression can be learned by watching and imitating the behavior of others. A considerable amount of evidence suggests that watching violence on television increases the likelihood of short-term aggression in children [Aronson, Wilson & Akert 2005]... Adults may, be influenced by violent behavior as well. A longtime study of over 700 families found ‘a significant association’ between the amount of time spent watching violent television as a teenager and the likelihood of committing acts of aggression later in life. The results remain the same in spite of factors such as family income, parental education and neighborhood violence” [Aronson, Wilson & Akert, 2005]

Returning home on a long flight, I could not help but watch the TV monitor two rows ahead of me. My volume was shut off; however, my eyes were raised to the program intended to keep children from boredom. The main figure was a roly-poly panda. The entire world is entranced by their innocent beauty, but this animal was punched about by a variety of forest animals, and he in turn fought back. This is normal entertainment. We Americans are raised on inane violence. Think of Tom & Jerry, Roadrunner, Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny—the hunted and the hunters, the victims of punches who either outwit the aggressors and save themselves for another confrontation, or they turn the tables on their adversaries. This is America. Little has changed since I was a kid.

I reflected on other cultures. We had been visiting friends in a foreign land. They had a child just beginning to read. His primer was the Russian equivalent of Once Upon A Time (zhili bili) about a handsome young orphan lad who married the beauty of the country; however, she was spirited away by a cloud the very evening of their wedding during the marriage feast. The guests were a random assortment of types, but they all had idiosyncratic gifts; and every one of them volunteered to use his special talents while accompanying their friend in his quest to find and bring back his beautiful bride. It’s an exciting fairy tale intended to keep the reader turning the illustrated pages until he discovers how it will all end—which any adult could predict.

How different those two ways of raising a child! The American way is to expect unexpected aggression. To live in our society is to grow up fast and fight your way through whatever confronts you on the way to adulthood and old age. Fathers who reprimand their sons (and now daughters have gained equality in all ways masculine) harbor a secret smile to compliment the youngster for “showing what he’s made of.”

Notice also the rugged individualism inherent in the tales of our own land. Don’t expect help from others; don’t depend on anybody to stick up for you—you are on your own. Tweety Bird doesn’t call for assistance from other canaries; he fights his own battles using his survival skills to thwart Sylvester the pussy cat. It’s not politically correct any longer, and for at least a generation, to read Joel Chandler Harris’ classic Uncle Remus Tales. Yet I thrilled over the ways in which Brer Rabbit used his wiles to frustrate and defeat Brer Bear and Brer Fox in the swamp and woods—but that made sense. They were brought over by slaves from their homeland in Africa. They described the only way that the wits of the African Americans could possibly survive in this hostile environment, where it was hopeless and fruitless to try matching the overwhelming power of their white owners. Brer Rabbit was the hero of all slaves.

But that’s no longer the case. The pioneer days are long gone. The romance with the cowboy spirit should be behind us. We are in a new millennium when we ought to utilize these last years of our empire to join the rest of the world. Are there others who blush with shame because countries we consider less “civilized” than our own stand up to our mighty stature and refuse to extradite fugitives into our judicial system, lest they be executed according to our government’s laws? Are there others who are embarrassed by an administration that has not signed into agreement rules that ought to be common sense regarding treatment of prisoners of war? America must change its aggressive image.