Is the media the only one to blame?

I too was taken aback a bit by my numbness to the violence portrayed in “Tough Guise” and other videos and television shows. Despite this I cannot help but question the conclusion both “Tough Guise” and “Dreamworlds 2” presented. In both films it is suggested that the violence portrayed in the media and popular culture influence men to be aggressive and violent. This sounds like a very plausible conclusion, but it is incomplete.

In America this correlational conclusion would seem easily proven correct. However, in Europe for example the correlation does not exist. After viewing both “Tough Guise” and “Dreamworlds 2” I recalled a trip to Europe I took with my AP German class. We were part of one of those student tours, and as I would imagine most companies do, our class had a meeting with the tour leader once we arrived. Among the many things we were told the one thing that shocked all of us, especially us females, and that we didn’t believe at first, was that there was minimal violence and women could feel safe walking the city streets at night. Now I can only say this is true for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, but in those countries our tour leader was right. Women appeared comfortable walking the city streets alone, and in the morning when we watched the news there wasn’t a list of rapes, murders, and assaults as we have here in America. Instead their biggest crime was petty theft, usually bikes.

This recollection leaves me to ask, why are Americans seemingly more influenced by the same violent media that Europeans watch? Perhaps it is not the media. Perhaps our culture is simply more violent. Then a new question remains, what drives our culture's violence? Could it be that we are a young country founded upon the victory of war. Clearly war is a central focus of our history, education, and society. This is made clear by the Dept. of Defense, formally known as Dept. of War, being the most funded of all departments.

In my opinion “Tough Guise” and “Dreamworlds 2” are wrong. They only suggest one cause for violence and aggression, the media. The media may be a crucial part of the problem, but it by no means only part.