Essay Sample on Violent Media

What is the true definition of violent media? Is violent media a good way to encourage moral values, stimulate ideas and emotions of desensitization to violence, and present an outlet to improve problem-solving amongst youth? As a writer for Marvel Comics, in 2000 Gerard Jones appealed to parents in Mother Jones, a liberal progressive magazine of its time, with the featured article “Violent Media is Good for Kids”. Throughout the essay, Jones uses persuasive appeals to demonstrate his truth and assertion. In presenting the claim, Jones’s use of ethos, logos, and pathos was unsuccessful in effectively persuading a sound argument as he failed to flesh out logical appeals, establish his character and credibility, and elicit feelings to support his impassioned claim to connect with his audience. To begin, the language and tone of the argument itself are presented very aggressively and he presents claims to the audience that are very hyperbolic and juxtaposed. In doing so, Jones’s support to his argument loses a sense of credibility and presents vague knowledge of his publication. In looking to earn credibility in appealing to a counterargument, Jones explains “I’m not going to argue that violent entertainment is harmless. I think it has helped inspire some people to real-life violence. I am going to argue that it’s helped hundreds of people for every one it’s hurt, and that it can help far more if we learn to use it well” (Jones 201). There is an attempt made to present the counterargument that violent media can be harmful to children and seen as a murderous idea. In looking to establish ethos on both sides of his argument, Jones never defines what violent media is or gives more definition to how it isn’t harmless, but rather continues on to argue that it does more good than harm. Jones' perspective is not treated fairly, and in presenting such a counterargument speaks to parents more than to his entire audience. He also creates a conflict of self-interest altogether in writing the piece as he is extensively known as a comic book writer, thus he is biased to the argument. Thus, Jones’ does not use his persuasion of ethos to establish his character, but rather puts forth his own opinion, and continues to do so without any logic to support his claims. Following, there is very limited evidence and intellect Jones appeals to, and where he does so presents a weak expert testimony. He presents the testimony “Fear, greed, power-hungry, rage: these are aspects of our selves that we try not to experience in our lives but often want, even need, to experience vicariously through stories of others,” writes Melanie Moore, Ph.D., a psychologist who works with urban teens” (Jones 200). The evidence used in this example is not effective as Moore is a psychologist who works with teens presenting a limitation as his argument is that it’s not bad for kids to engage with violent media, not teenagers. Moore doesn’t work with young children to have extensive knowledge on such a topic. Thus, Jones lacks the use of data and statistics in various places throughout the essay to enrich anecdotes and deductions. He lacks successfully achieving the goal of convincing his audience of this truth as he does not make convincing claims or judgments and correspondingly then does not elicit the convincing emotion and feelings of the audience. Jones' goal to elicit strong and sympathetic feelings to his argument isn’t persuasively successful and thus leaves the reader feeling dissatisfied and confused. Whether the audience has children or not, Jones’ claims should have an emotional pull. Jones presents a situation saying “I knew one little girl who went around exploding with fantasies so violent that other moms would draw her mother aside to whisper, “I think you should know something about Emily….” Her parents were separating, and she was small, an only child, a tomboy at an age when her classmates were dividing sharply along gender lines” (Jones 201). Jones seeks his audience with the example explaining how this girl used her emotion to empower something larger within herself and become a leader but doesn’t manipulate the audience’s feelings correctly. More of the audience’s sympathy is directed towards the story centering around the separation and divorce of the parents rather than the focus of passionate feelings of violent media is good for her. In conclusion, Gerard Jones claims media violence helps children overcome challenges and problems they may be facing in their lives. The takeaway he creates is that children often need to experience traits that correspond with violence to condition themselves to develop who they are going to become, and not just violence itself. In appealing to the persuasive appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos, he fails to effectively call upon readers’ feelings to make a sound argument and present reasonable support of claims with logic and credibility. From the beginning of the piece, there is no clear thesis established about the argument, and the title itself does not effectively provide clarification about this essay. This argument was focused persuasively to parents and fails to speak to the general population.