When the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary completely turned the nation upside down, the small town of Southington, Conn., scheduled a public violent video game burning, in which local citizens could contribute to the fire with video games.

There are many factors that can contribute to a person becoming violent. The person could have been affected by his/her upbringing as a child or he/she might be inherently aggressive.

If a child is inherently violent, parents should monitor how much violent media they expose their child to. Violent media could influence these kids to become aggressive, but the parents should be blamed, not the media itself.

No issue is incredibly concrete. Other factors should be brought into consideration.

If violent media were to blame, then we would have seen an increase in overall violent criminal activity because movies and video games are becoming increasingly bloody and brutal.

But the exact opposite has happened. Violent crime has decreased dramatically in the United States over the past 20 years.

If people were so influenced by violent media, this trend would not make any sense.

Some of my best memories as a young kid were of my friends and I playing make-believe and pretending to shoot each other, wrestling with my brother after watching a match on TV or reenacting war scenes we saw in the movies with Nerf guns. These kinds of memories are common in childhood, and these memories involve violence.

Violence is a part of human nature. It is all around us, whether we like it or not. Humans use violence to show their dominance over others, which is a primal instinct we all share. Humans even use violence in sports. Football, boxing, rugby and many other sports are built upon a foundation of violence.

If people believe violent media is to blame for people’s actions, then wouldn’t sports such as the ones mentioned above also contribute to violent behavior? Should they be blamed as well? Like I said, no issue is so painstakingly concrete.

It confuses me that people argue the other side. These media creations are used as an escape outlet for people. Sometimes, it feels good to watch a mindless action movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

People understand that it is make-believe, which is why people enjoy it so much. It creates an unrealistic world that somebody could easily get lost in, and that world serves as a way for people to vent their frustrations or forget about their day.

I do admit that some media has gone overboard in their portrayal of violence. For example, some horror movies are just “gore-porn” and show people getting tortured for two hours on screen. Even with the so-called “gore-porn” out there, it’s not creating a bunch of violent psychopaths wanting to kill anything that moves.

Although the media might be over-saturated with violence, is does not create an increasingly violent society. To blame violent media for increased violent crime in our society is ignorant.

Chris is a sophomore English major. Questions or comments regarding his column can be sent to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .