I believe that because of the way children are raised in today’s world they think that they live in a militaristic society where war is ordinary and that it will always be occurring somewhere in the world. Even though this may be true it is harmful for the children to think this because when they grow up they will do nothing in an attempt to end war. In examining the world as a whole it is obvious why people seem to have some quality, learned at a young age, which makes them clash. When people are growing up they quarrel with their siblings. When people get older they watch violent, war-like movies and play violent video games.
Recurrent sibling quarrels are part of the reason why people seem so inclined to be violent later in life. Children learn at a young age that fighting with siblings is reasonable and that being best friends with a sibling is abnormal. I can distinctly remember multiple occasions from my childhood where I got into fights of varying severities with my older brother. The most memorable aspect of these brief clashes is that my father would remark, “I understand that you guys are brothers and that you’re going to fight at some point”. In other words, my father was saying that he would tolerate my brother and me getting into these sibling struggles. Assuming that my father is not the only person who permits, to an extent, this sort of behavior, it is apparent how children develop warring instincts, which disrupt their desire for constant peace later in life.
Due to the graphic nature of some of the movies children watch and some of the video games children play they develop aggressive behavior at a young age. It is far-fetched that some people believe the behavior children display while killing and shooting innocent civilians in a video game does not carry over to the player’s real life. A child is going to be influenced in some way by performing these “virtual” acts. After the shooting at Columbine High School countless people spoke out against video game and movie violence. They claimed that the violence caused hostile behavior, which in turn was responsible for the terrible shooting incident. Not only does the easily accessed violence create hostile behavior, it shows children that they live in a society that appears to embrace brutality.
I believe that if there is no action taken to reduce or limit the amount of violence exposed to growing children the world will continue to be a warring place.