Violence pervades our society. It is dramatized on television, the big screen, concert stages, video games and print magazines. Some say that all of this violence sparked the recent school shootings.

Some say we need censorship in our media, stricter gun laws, better parenting; the list of excuses goes on and on.

Last Tuesday, President Clinton said he wants a federal investigation into whether the entertainment industry markets violence to children. The investigation will focus on the marketing strategies of the television, film, music and video game industries (Des Moines Register, Wednesday, June 2, 1999).

In the news conference, Clinton held up advertisements for several video games. “I know this stuff sells,” he said, “but that doesn’t make it right.”

One of the advertisements claimed to be “more fun than shooting your neighbor’s cat.” And we all know what a good time that can be.

President Clinton could be biting the hand that fed him in 1992 and 1996. But then again, he’s never had a reputation for loyalty.

Presidential candidates for the 2000 race are the ones we need to watch. Their opinions on and plans for this issue are important as the weeding process begins. And as they begin to make more frequent visits to our fine state, we are lucky enough to get front row seats.

Pat Buchanan. This Republican, conservative commentator had a whole pile of mud to sling at Clinton on a visit to the state in April. He said Clinton failed to “use his bully pulpit to castigate his campaign contributors and political allies in Hollywood and the entertainment industry who have grown rich polluting and poisoning the popular culture from which we all, including the impressionable and the young, must drink.”

Wow, good one Pat. He went on to call Clinton a “draft dodger in the cultural war for the soul of America.” Excellent speech writers, but he’s got to do a little more than sling mud.

#Dan, “Mr. Potato,” Quayle. Quayle actually made a decent point in a May 19 speech to the Commonwealth Club of California. He said, “let’s be honest and recognize that the overriding issue isn’t gun-control, it’s self-control.”

He later alienated himself and his Christian Coalition toadies by saying that “a child who loves God, honors his parents and respects his neighbors won’t kill anyone.”

However true that may be, he can’t win with that narrow of a platform. But who am I kidding, he can’t win with a platform the size of Texas.

Which brings me to Texas Governor, #George Bush, Jr.

Whoops, he hasn’t said anything about violence in the entertainment industry. He hasn’t said much about anything, to tell you the truth. He signed a bill in Texas allowing people to carry handguns or something like that, so the word is that he’s been avoiding the issue altogether. He’ll be in Iowa Saturday, so we’ll see if he has anything to say.

Former U.S. Senator and NBA stand-out Bill Bradley spoke on the subject during a visit to Ames, April 26. He spoke of his concern for the culture of violence that is reflected on television and film screens.

Bradley acknowledged that we cannot pass a law bordering on censorship, but he said we can “appeal to those that are making the product … to fulfill a higher citizenship responsibility.” “YES! YES!” Do I hear Marv Albert?

Al Gore made the deciding vote in the Senate a couple weeks ago calling for stricter background checks at gun shows. He blames the gun lobby and the entertainment industry for contributing to the environment that led to the Colorado school shootings.

I like Al, but I hope he’s careful not to ride the bandwagon too much. It’s going to be very easy for him to talk about how he was the one who made the gun law happen.

He needs to recognize that we do not think entertainment violence directly caused anything. We recognize its role, but acknowledge that it is minimal.

The fact that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were big fans of “Doom” and Marilyn Manson does not mean that they were violent people because of it. They were violent people first, and so they searched out violent outlets for entertainment.

For example, I don’t like the news because it’s on television 24 hours a day or because I have a crush on Stone Phillips. I like the news, and so I’ll watch it on television and stalk Stone Phillips.

School murders have actually decreased from 55 to 40 in the past five years. I think the only reason that there is all of this attention on school violence is because the violence has moved into white suburbia, and these white middle-to-upper class kids aren’t screwing around. They aren’t coming to school wanting to shoot one kid or one teacher, they want to take out the whole group.

Is this because of the violence that is portrayed by the entertainment industry? Maybe in part, but not entirely. Bill Clinton’s move to spend the next year and $1 million investigating what practical people already know is a thinly-disguised political move in favor of his sidekick, Al Gore.

Anyone want to go see “The Matrix?”

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Sarah Leonard is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Lawler.