Hey Kids, Don't Try This at Home

An article in yesterday's Chicago Tribune focused on whether exposure to comic books and movies and video games tends to make the youngsters have a proclivity towards violence. Interesting question.

What caught my eye was the graphic accompanying the article. It was a "Tribune Photo Illustration" and, since it doesn't appear to be available online, I will describe it to you. The upper one-third was a portion of the cover to 1938's Action Comics #1, the middle one-third was a close-up of Malcolm McDowell's despicable character from A Clockwork Orange, and the bottom one-third was video game screen capture of a pilot bombing a bridge.

Wait one minute, I said to myself. Did the Tribune Photo Illustrator really think that the Action #1 cover ever incited anybody to violence? Do kids these days make a practice of lifting cars and smashing them onto boulders like Superman was shown doing in that 73-year-old drawing? I just feel that the choice of that cover for inclusion in the Photo Illustration did not support the thesis and a better selection could have been made.

Here is the article in case you'd like to read it.