In little more than a year, seven teenage boys in five states have taken 18 lives. Their average age was 14. Seeing this scene periodically play out on TV both deadens its impact and diminishes the desire for inquiry. The fatal shooting of a teacher by a student after a graduation dance in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, disappeared between the prior shootings in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and the subsequent ones in Springfield, Oregon. The central question is no longer why, but where and when.
Television is an effective medium for turning mayhem into tedium.
A recent study conducted at four major research universities found a 14 percent increase in violent content on prime-time programming from 1994 to 1997. Even more disturbing is the study's finding that nearly 75 percent of the violent scenes portrayed show no criticism of, and no remorse or penalty for, violent behavior. But this explanation doesn't seem entirely sufficient. Previously unimaginable juvenile violence is currently plaguing even those countries that don't have the obscenely easy access to firearms that we do. French teenagers have assaulted bus drivers, police officers, firefighters, and even elderly bystanders with knives, stones, and guns.