Television programsthatportray violenceareaparamountconcernforparents
nowadays.Recentresearch hasshownthatchildrenmaycommitactsofviolence
becausetheywishtoemulatethebehaviorthattheyseeontelevision.Thisisespecially
truewhen violentactsarecommitted bywell-knownaction“heroes.”Inaddition,
television programsshow
cartoonfigures,aswellasactors,committing violentacts.Usingcomicsituationsto
depictviolentthemescausesfurtherproblemswiththewayinwhich young peopleview
violence.
Television programsthatcontain profane ordisrespectfullanguagealsoworry parents
with youngchildren.Becausecensorshiplawshaverelaxed overthepastfewdecades,
ithasbecomeverycommonfortelevision programsofeachandevery kindtoshow
charactersexpressingimpolite,rude,andinsulting utterancesto oneanother.Bearing
resemblancetothecaseofportrayalsofviolence,children unfortunately oftentryto
imitatetheseactionstheywatch ontheirtelevisionscreens.
Finally,someparentsareupsetaboutthe
moralbehaviordepicted ontelevision.Astheystruggletoteachtheirchildrenmoral
andethicalvalues, parentsmightdespairaboutthelack ofmoralsandethics
representedinsomeoftheso-calledrolemodelsontelevision.Forinstance,certain
charactersnotonly havenoremorsefortheirimmoralactions, butalsofrequently go
unpunished bylargersociety.
Becauseofthesefactors,many parents believethattelevision programssendtheir
youththewrong kindsofmessages.Theemulation ofthispoorbehaviorbytheir
childrenissomethingtheywishtoavoidatallcosts,andthey haveaccordingly
decidedto bantelevisionintheir householdsforthesereasons.
Sample 130
Televisionhashadasignificantinfluenceonthecultureofmanysocieties.To
whatextentwouldyousaythattelevisionhaspositively ornegatively affectedthe
culturaldevelopmentofyoursociety?
Youshouldwriteatleast 250 words.
Allowyourself 40 minutesforthistask.
modelanswer:
Ithasbeenaroundforty yearssincetelevisionwasfirstintroducedintoAustralian
householdsand peopletoday
stillhavemixed viewsonwhetherithasa positiveoranegativeinfluenceonthesociety.
Many peoplebelievethattelevision damagesculture.Itpromotesthestrongercultures
ofcountriessuchasBritainandNorthAmericaandweakensthecultures oflesswealthy
countries.Thisisbecausethestronger,wealthiercountriesareabletoasserttheirown
cultureby producingmoreprogramsthatareshownwidelyaroundtheworld.These