Can violence be healthy?

I agree with Gerard Jones because violence in the media can be beneficial in ways most parents might not notice. Bloody video games and horror films can be an outlet for young children to explore their natural feelings that are usually suppressed. The need to act violently is a natural feeling in every human being. Suppressing those feelings, especially among children, can be damaging later in life. Children are given the outlet of playing violent video games or reenacting a scene from their favorite action movie so they can learn how to keep those emotions under control. By depriving children the opportunity to control these certain emotions, they will not understand how to regulate them for future development. Emotions of any kind that are being suppressed are unhealthy. By allowing children to view some violence, parents can take the opportunity to teach their children violence can be wrong. Parents should not use violent media as an excuse for their child’s behavior, but as an opportunity to teach their child how to express those emotions in a non-negative way.
Gerard Jones has constructed a well written essay which includes his personal experiences to strengthen his credibility towards his argument. Although Jones argument is well written, he lacks evidence to support his claim that violent media is good for kids. In the beginning of the essay, Jones uses his personal experience as a child to help take the audience back to their own childhood. After reading throughout his essay, it is clear that Jones’ audience is middle class parents. He uses simple language that the average adult can easily comprehend, and discusses childhood action figures that were popular for many of today’s parents. I appreciated how he mentioned the other side of his argument towards the end of his essay. This helped create an inspirational tone for the essay, and may sway his audience towards his side of the argument. Overall, Jones’ argument was very well organized, but it weak from his lack of supporting evidence.