I'm not a violent person. In fact, I'm a very non-violent person. I don't even like to kill bugs. Sure, I have the occassional violent fantasy, such as wishing I could smack someone upside the head when they say something idiotic, but I don't act out those fantasies. I know better.

I'm also a person who has been regularly exposed to media violence since early childhood. Bugs Bunny cartoons were probably the worst offenders early on (using violence for humor is not a new concept; just look at the Three Stooges). I was four when I witnessed Obiwan Kenobi slice the arm off of a rude alien with his lightsaber. My parents allowed me to watch my first slasher flick, Halloween, at the tender age of 6. It scared the ever loving daylights out of me, but it gave me a taste for horror, and for movie violence. By the time I reached my teens I'd become a regular connoiseur of bloody, gorey, violent fare. Not just scary movies, but action flicks, TV shows, novels, games ... I liked violence in my entertainment. I still do.

Yet, according to a new study by four major U.S. health organizations, all of that exposure to media violence should have turned me into a sociopath. I wonder why it didn't?

Could it possibly be because my parents took the time to watch this stuff with me, and discuss it with me, making sure that I understood that what I was watching wasn't real, that it was merely actors and makeup and special effects, and that if that happened to a person in real life they would really get hurt and die? My parents took great pains to make sure I knew the difference between fantasy and real life, and that I understood the consequences of reenacting what I saw on screen. They made sure I understood that the bad guys were bad guys, and that even the heroes who resorted to violence were not to be emulated.

And they managed to raise a non-violent adult who knows from right and wrong, who just happens to enjoy watching dark red corn syrup explode on screen.

Just something to ponder.

Thanks to Eleni for the link.