It seems to be self-evident that the constant barrage of violence in movies and on television results in behavior that does incur some financial cost to society. Children have become desensitized to murder, rape and mayhem in general. The costs to treat them or to incarcerate them can be measured. That we are not doing enough to treat them is evidenced by the need for these children to find support in a gang environment. We need to do a lot more, but we can’t seem to find the money to do the job.
Here is a suggestion:
To fund the efforts needed to offset the damage done by violent entertainment, I suggest we tax the offenders. We could determine what is needed for counseling and other programs to correct the damage they do to their young and not-so-young viewers. Let them show all the violence they want but, for example, each time a gun is shown as a weapon of aggression, there is a tax of $1,000. Each time it is fired, an additional $2,000. If a person is shown murdered, $50,000. If someone is beaten, $4,000. We only ask that the purveyors of violence pay for the cure of the sickness they induce in our society.
The psychologists can determine the costs and the fees. These are things that can be measured. It is time we took the measure of the damage done by the carnage our children see every day in the movies and in their own homes.
