Violence on the rise, or is it?
Adam Krause
Staff/contributing columnist?
Turn on your local news program sometime; perhaps you already do so on a regular basis. I’m sorry if you have to grin and bear it for a minute, but you’ll see what I mean: murders, fires, rapes, robberies, and any other story that’s bloody enough for our local stations to sensationalize. Save for the occasional investigative report that actually helps out the community, the news on television is a scourge to our society.
In our dynamic society, culture is always changing, and hopefully evolving. Society sees changes in all types of behavior, whether you’re looking at group or individual behavior. Just as our economy will inevitably start chugging away with its former steam, social behavior often exhibits spikes and dips when you look at statistics.
Take murder for example: your local news program wants you to believe that violent crime is out of control in Detroit since the new year. Certainly there have been many major crimes in the news lately, but would you still think that violent crime was on the rise if the news didn’t focus on it so much? Not taking into account all the people who blindly believe news sources, I would assume that most people put some trust in hard facts. Unfortunately, hard facts are often omitted from news programs these days, and one must often times investigate for themselves in order to get the whole picture.
One must realize that a temporary spike in violence is not indicative of a snowball effect. If that were the case with all trends, then our economy would have already spiraled us down into a Depression. In fact, if one were to really look at the facts provided by our own law enforcement agencies, they would see that violent crime in America is lower than the media projects. The only thing that’s been steadily rising is news programs’ tendency to obsess over violence, giving it disproportionate amounts of air time.
Taking a look at statistics on the Bureau of Justice Web site, one can see obvious contradictions with the alarmist rubbish which is passed off as good journalism on TV in Detroit and elsewhere. Guns are the most common weapon used in violent crimes, which causes many people to fear our Second Amendment rights. However disturbing that may seem on the surface, one must take note that violent crimes with guns have been steadily decreasing since 1995, with minor spikes during that period. Does this agree with the fear-mongering reports by news programs that violent crimes are on the rise? Not a bit.
Taking a deeper look at the statistics provided by the Bureau of Justice, one can find proof that American society is not much more violent than it was in other periods of history. As I said before, there are spikes and dips, but overall America is experiencing a downswing in homicides. In fact, we’re coming out of a very violent period, and overall, homicides are decreasing.
The period of time from the 1970’s up until the mid 1990’s exhibited a major increase in homicides; from that point on, homicide rates have been dropping in our country. If they continue to fall, we will eventually experience a homicide rate that rivals the comparatively peaceful era that lasted from the mid 1950’s until the homicide spike in the 1970’s. Though it may surprise some folks, homicide rates in this country were just about as alarming in the 1920’s and 1930’s as they were in the past two and a half decades.
Now, one might have to look at sociological statistics to figure out why there were such drastic spikes and dips during those periods, but that’s for you to investigate: the statistics don’t lie in proving that our homicide rate is falling each year. And yet our television news programs--namely local news stations--are trying to give the impression that homicide is on the rise. Something is wrong there, and one can think of various reasons.
First, network stations lose ratings to their cable competitors more and more each year, and so each year we see an increase in violence and sex on network television. These things draw upon basic human curiosity, and as a result, leave folks with the impression that what they read or watch is reality. Never mind the personal responsibility to inform ourselves; that can be saved for a future column.
Second, one could subscribe to the similarly alarmist conspiracy theories, some of which propose that the media is just a puppet for Big Brother to control their ‘cattle’. Well, since it’s a bit hard to prove that notion, it’s hard to put your whole belief in it. It isn’t a wholly inaccurate assumption though; the media has always been an appendage of the government, whether covertly or overtly. That’s the way it goes.
If you raise a child to think that they are a troublemaker and a problem child, there’s a chance that they may fulfill that label. Likewise, if you consistently warn a culture that violence is spiraling out of control, then people will go on thinking and acting in such a way. Criminals will find it easier to murder when they can point at the next guy and say, "Well, violence is on the rise! Can you blame me?" After all, criminals aren’t immune to the fears that are often imposed on our society, and many crimes are committed out of fear itself.
Hell, even war indirectly condones all forms of violence and aggression, and reinforces the false claim that violence is worse than it ever was. War makes many young men fear their 18th birthday; no doubt George W. Bush joined the Air National Guard out of fear of going to Vietnam. He understands the effects of that instinct as well as you or I, though I hate to compare myself to him. Violence may beget violence, but fear of violence isn’t any more productive.
How healthy is a country that is perpetually afraid? Not very healthy at all, and until there are reforms to inaccurate and alarmist journalism, our populace is going to continue thinking that our nation is falling into shambles. It may well end up being a self-fulfilling prophecy in the end.
It also comes down to personal responsibility; reading the news paper and watching the nightly news does not make one an ‘informed’ person. It takes curiosity and a healthy skepticism, perhaps even a little investigation. Many of us citizens are just as ignorant for believing what we are told without questioning or confirming it first; that may be due, in part, to our lifelong indoctrination to never question ‘authority’.
In reality, society today is better than it ever was; violence has been with humans and all other animals since the dawn of time. Our society is perpetually advancing, even though crime levels may go up and down over time. It’s plain foolish to believe that taking guns off the street or cracking down on gangs will magically make crime disappear. Sure, we should always make greater efforts to prevent violent crimes, but taking away the instruments of crime won't stop criminals from being the way they are.
Likewise, preventing law-abiding citizens from owning weapons legally will only make it easier for criminals to attack them; criminals will still find weapons, even if a law-abiding person is restricted by the law and their conscience. Criminals will still find ways to commit murder, whether it’s with a gun, a knife, or a pen; in all brutal honesty, we can only hope that we are not the targets of such senseless crime.
Gauging a society’s worth on its crime rates and its other ills is a bit close-minded and biased. Gauging a society’s worth by its advancements is a much more effective way to evaluate the state of a culture, and it gives our younger generations a much more hopeful and realistic outlook on the future. Of course, realism would also mean that we acknowledge the horrors of violence, but not any more than is necessary. We still have to be patient to see how the senseless promotion of violence in the media will effect our children and the future.
Are you interested in browsing over Bureau of Justice statistics? Then please take a look at the following Web site: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/homtrnd.htm
Put those brilliant minds to work, or else the news may just rot them away.