ARGUMENT153 by zephyrqq

zephyrqqUID: 2260290

ARGUMENT153 - The following is from an editorial in the Midvale Observer, a local newspaper.

"Ever since the 1950's, when television sets began to appear in the average home, the rate of crimes committed by teenagers in the country of Alta has steadily increased. This increase in teenage crime parallels the increase in violence shown on television. According to several national studies, even very young children who watch a great number of television shows featuring violent scenes display more violent behavior within their home environment than do children who do not watch violent shows. Furthermore, in a survey conducted by the Observer, over 90 percent of the respondents were parents who indicated that prime-time television-programs that are shown between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.-should show less violence. Therefore, in order to lower the rate of teenage crime in Alta, television viewers should demand that television programmers reduce the amount of violence shown during prime time."

作文：
In this argument, the author conclude that television viewers in Alta should demanded that television programs reduce the violence shown during prime time for the purpose of lowering the rate of teenage crime. In order to support this conclusion, the author points out that the rate of crimes committed by teenagers has increased in the country of Alta due to the advent of TV set. In addition, the author cites some relevant national studies and a survey conducted by the Observer. However, careful examination reveals several fallacies that make the author's conclusion unpersuasive.

To begin with, the author assumes that no factors other than the increase in violence shown on television is responsible for the increase in the rate of teenage crime. Actually, there may be other causes that have contributed to this undesirable result. It is entirely possible that those teenagers who committed crimes had not watched violence show. If the increase of teenage crime has nothing to do with television program, we cannot reduce it by taking the author’s advice.

Another problem of this argument involves the national studies which is also meaningless. First, there is no evidence to grantee the validity of these studies and commonsense tell us that what is true national wide can not necessarily apply to a certain district., so we have good reason to doubt their result. Second, even if we concede the reliability of these studies, the children’s behavior within their home environment does not necessarily imply that they will perform like that when they walk into the society. Moreover，it is unfair to draw conclusion about teenagers according to studies that focus on very young children.

Finally, the author based this argument on the survey conducted by the Observer. which show that over 90 percent of the respondents were parents who indicated that prime-time television-programs should show less violence. This convey, however, can not support the author’s conclusion. We can not evaluate the reliability of the survey, one must consider how the survey was conducted. What is more, we find no sign of such procedures for random sampling, and have good reason to doubt if the sample is representative enough to all the parents in Alta as a whole. It is entirely possible that parents who would like to see a decrease of violence show in prime time were more willing to respond to the survey than other people were.. Even if the result of this survey is true, it is equally possible that parents themselves do not enjoy programs that show a lot of violence and therefore their suggestion has nothing to do with the influence of television program on their children at all.


For all these reason, this argument is not convincing as it stands. Therefore, the author's conclusion, which suggest that  television viewers should demanded that television programs reduce the violence shown during prime time to  lower the rate of teenage crime, is open to doubt.

[ 本帖最后由 zephyrqq 于 2008-3-6 19:32 编辑 ]