Through his experience with himself, his son, and kids whose stories he has cherry picked out of his time in Power Play, he shows a lot of anecdotal evidence which ultimately creates stories that make you feel good but hardly make an argument. In Paragraph fifteen he talks about a girl who supposedly handled a harsh family environment through the use of "gangsta rap". He solely attributes her success to the rap music carrying her through the tumultuous time in her life and helping her avoid falling into drugs. The idea that she would have gotten into drugs or completely broken from the pressure of her family life is unfounded because she didn't do it in the first place. She did not rise up out of a drug addiction through it and he met her after the fact so he can not say that the rap in particular is what kept her in control. Dr. Kahneman, a lecturer in psychology stated “Nothing is quite as important as you think it is while you’re thinking about it" . She recognizes the helpfulness of the rap music enough to present it when talking about her troubles because it is something tangible to think about, and Jones gets exactly what he wants in the form of someone who fits his narrative. Even though the rap could have been a factor in her coping ability, other attributes of her personality and ability to reason are being forsaken to make a point about violent media. He opposes the idea that violent media is harmful, but he is using tactics similar to the emotionally charged articles and videos the holders of that opinion present to the public.
Jones describes a situation in which his son was afraid to climb a tree with his friends in the first grade and claims reading Tarzan to him for two weeks is what pushed him to give it a try. Once again he shows that he is unable to believe anything but the violent media is helping when he observes these situations. Two weeks is a long time for a child in the first grade, and any number of events could have happened to change his mind and disregard his fears. A further understanding of the dangers present and peer pressure certainly would have been present at the time he decided to climb the tree, however no concessions to this line of thinking are made by Jones. He believes wholeheartedly that the violent media's message that Tarzan is undefeatable was internalized by his son and that he used this newfound persona to convince himself to climb the tree. This idea can also apply to the opposing argument. The recent florida school shooting was immediately blamed on video game violence by Kentucky governor Matt Bevin. The current narrative being told is that he internalized the point scoring system for killing people and went on a rampage in his school.
Gerard Jones makes a good argument for violent media by presenting a number of success stories, however, he defeats his message in some capacity by the solely emotional nature of his examples and his inability to make concessions about the nature of the people in the situations he uses for evidence. He uses the same tactics as the news and tabloids he disagrees with.
Sources:
https://www.rollingstone.com/glixel/news/kentucky-gov-blames-video-games-for-florida-school-shooting-w516826
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/we-have-no-idea-what-makes-us-happy-23252374/
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2000/06/violent-media-good-kids-0/
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