Essay Paragraphs

Moral Panics are becoming increasingly more used and abused by the media, Kenneth Thompson calls this 'the age of the moral panics', Cohen agrees, stating 'moral panics are endemic because society will continue to produce the deviants which it them condemns'


DEMONISATION OF YOUTH IN THE MEDIA, SPECIFICALLY VIDEO GAME VIOLENCE ARTICLES AND FRONT COVERS.

Youth are commonly demonised in the media, this is especially more relevant in recent media, in which "the activities of 'youth' in particular have often been presented as immoral and a threat to the established way of life"[1]. This can be seen in the Daily Mail article [2] stating that 'Violent video games make children lose self-control'. This article is a direct threat on videogames as a medium and 'gamers', information such as 'U.S. soldiers are encouraged to play such games to make them more accustomed to killing in combat' is used to amplify videogame's effects on children, this demonises videogamers by directly linking them to military killing machines. It also makes claims like 'playing violent videogames 'trains' the mind to react aggressively in real-life situations', this gives the impression that videogame players are out of control and act irrationally, this too demonises videogamers, specifically youth.

[1] 'Moral Panics' by Kenneth Thompson, published by Routledge in 1998
[2] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-420218/Violent-video-games-make-children-lose-self-control.html