David Link

Most criticism of television violence, notes David Link in the following viewpoint, has been directed at fictional violence rather than the real-life violence shown in news or sports programs. Link, a writer who lives in Los Angeles, defends the fictional violence found on television, contending that it is almost always presented in a moral context that condemns rather than glorifies violence. Violence has been an important theme of storytelling in art and literature since the time of the ancient Greek tragedies, he asserts, because people share a fundamental need to explore all aspects of the human condition. Link criticizes political efforts to censor or limit violence on television, arguing that adults should not be treated as helpless children unable to cope with or learn from television violence.

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