Killer Culture

The essay "Killer Culture" written by David Kupelian, systematically showed the effect of media influence on marketing "coolness" to kids. Adolesence struggle with self-esteem and finding their own identity. This is an age where children are most vulnerable and impressionable. Peer pressure and media play a big role in molding the youth of today. On simplest terms the media promotes the "cool" things to wear and buy. The power of the media can be extremely persuasive to adults, but especially to kids. On the other end of the spectrum the media plays a role in promoting extreme behavior such as self mutilation, suspension, and what some would term immoral behavior. The media cannot solely be blamed for the choices that people make; however it does contribute to influencing the decisions of impressionable individuals. Often times children look to the media for role models, and look up to the images they see on television. Violence, sex, drugs, and other deviant behavior is viewed as "cool," acceptable, and part of the norm. Values and integrity are often undermined and down played in the media, which causes even more problems for adolesence in their search for identity.