Television is renowned for images of violence and sexuality, often breaking the boundaries of what is considered appropriate, and then recreating them. In many cases, images of violence are attributed to Blacks, Hispanics, the poor, and the mentally ill. Though there is crime amongst these groups, television's portrayal of it skews society's views. One way in which this is accomplished is through the time constraints of television. In addition, when show after show after show portrays Black teens and the mentally ill killing four or five people an hour, while the homeless are drunk and dirty and dangerous, this imagery sinks in.
News shows offer a similar portrayal.
While the frequency of such violence is considerable, it is less than the publicity about it would suggest. Nevertheless, fear of it is so pervasive that it has become an urban phenomena in its own right. Television also reduces the viewers ability to sort through these images by offering everything at such an accelerated pace and with such variety that one easily loses the ability to actively participate in the shows, taking on the role of a passive viewer, accepting the images as they tumble off the screen into your lap. Everything offered in this way is totally ripped out of any context which might help to explain it, forcing the viewer to construct their own privatized opinions. However, the accelerated pace does not allow time enough to deconstruct what is being shown, and the images are taken into the viewers head decontextualized and unprocessed.