Brenda Rodriguez
Burlee Vang
English 1
March 26, 2014
Reading Response #10
In America Now: Is Society Becoming Less Violent? They talk about violence in the world. There's two sides to the topic the "is it declining?" and "is it increasing?". Both arguments are based upon the statistics and studies of Steven Pinker. Pinker claims that violence is at great decline.
I seriously don't know if I agree or agree with pinker. The reason is because I do see that there is way more violence than before. However, I think that I didn't noticed violence before because I was younger and wasn't old enough to understand. I don't know if the world is becoming more violent or i'm just becoming more aware. I do notice that there are more violent games and movies. Grand theft auto has increased its violence along with the graphics, making it worst. Also movies are getting gory as well. Maybe I'm just becoming aware of what violence really is.
In first essay Steven Pinker and the Question of Violence by Jacob Ewing he doesn't question the decline in violence. However, he questions Pinker's definition of violence. For example, just because there were a bunch of violent literature back then doesn't mean violence was at a peak. Literature such as Grimm Tales and Shakespeare are just a form of entertainment; violent entertainment, but still just entertainment.
The second essay Defusing Violence by Alex Kotlowitz, he argues violence is not at a decline. Something that really caught my attention is that he said that in Chicago cops can't respond to every gun shot because there are too many gunshots. If cops can't respond to all gunshots that's crazy because that means more violence is created than tamed. He also claims that in the last 10 years homicide has been the number one leading death of African American's between the ages of 15-24 years old. I believe because when they start young it's because of the violent video games and violent movies that they watch. He also claims...