Jessica's Blog

How does Jones include and address counterarguments in his essay? Point out specific moments where he engages an opposing point of view. Is his response effective?

Jones addresses counterarguments by including them right after (or at times right before) his main points of his argument. For example, towards the end of his essay, Jones brings up the fact that while violence may encourage less passivity in children, he also recognizes the fact that violence in video games, TV shows, etc. is not always a positive thing. He also recognizes the fear of violence as a society. He presents his own argument, however, right after stating these counterarguments by saying that violence “has helped hundreds of people for every one it’s hurt, and it can help far more if we learn to use it well”.

While I appreciated Jone’s approach to dealing with counterarguments, I felt like he could have been more effective at including them throughout his essay. Instead of using only a few paragraphs out of a 5-page essay to recognize and deal with the views that don’t agree with his argument, I wish he would have tried to include more. Overall, though, I felt like his response was pretty effective.

Jones writes about the need -especially in childhood- for a “fantasy self”. How do you respond to his claim? Do you agree? What experiences do you have with vicarious “identification”, whether from comic book heroes or other sources?

I can see his point. Many children are taught from an early age that they need to hide or contain feelings of aggression. But when children are taught to mask their true emotions and feelings, many harmful effects can ensure. These effects can include diminished self-worth, especially after a moment of rage or anger has escaped, increased passivity, and others. I definitely see the appeal to his argument that there is a need for a “fantasy self” in childhood to help us feel better about ourselves and our emotions, as well as a way to find means to express ourselves better in a society that encourages us to bottle up our “negative” emotions. To be honest, I’m not sure if I ever really had “vicarious identification”. I was never really into superheroes or even TV for that matter. The only time that I ever felt like I identified with characters was through the books I read as a child.