[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 60 (Thursday, April 29, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S4465]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. McCAIN (for himself, Mr. Lieberman, and Mr. Conrad):
  S.J. Res. 23. A joint resolution expressing the sense of the Congress 
regarding the need for a Surgeon General's report on media and 
violence; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.


              surgeon general's media violence report act

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, an entire nation was stunned this past 
week with the shocking violence that unfolded in Littleton, Colorado. 
Perhaps, if this had been an isolated incident, we could have written 
it off as two crazed individuals. However, the tragic reality is that 
it was not an isolated incident, but another in an increasing pattern 
of violence in our schools. Even more disturbing is that these 
schoolyard shootings are occurring against the backdrop of ever-
escalating youth violence, and suicide.
  This is an extraordinarily complex problem, with many contributing 
factors. However, what this comes down to is responsibility, and the 
most basic and profound responsibility that our culture--any culture--
has, is raising its children. We are failing that responsibility, and 
the extent of our failure is being measured in the deaths, and injuries 
of our kids in the schoolyard and on the streets of our neighborhoods 
and communities.
  Primary responsibility lies with families. As a country, we are not 
parenting our children. We are not adequately involving ourselves in 
our children's lives, the friends they hang out with, what they do with 
their time, the problems they are struggling with. This is our job, our 
paramount responsibility, and most unfortunately, we are failing. We 
must get our priorities straight, and that means putting our kids 
first.
  However, parents need help. They need help because our homes and our 
families--our children's minds, are being flooded by a tide of 
violence. This dehumanizing violence pervades our society: our movies 
depict graphic violence; our children are taught to kill and maim by 
interactive video games; the Internet, which holds such tremendous 
potential in so many ways, is tragically used by some to communicate 
unimaginable hatred, images and descriptions of violence, and ``how-
to'' manuals on everything from bomb construction to drugs. Our culture 
is dominated by media, and our children, more-so than any generation 
before them, is vulnerable to the images of violence and hate that, 
unfortunately, are dominant themes in so much of what they see, and 
hear.
  Thus, today I rise to introduce, calling upon the Surgeon General to 
conduct a comprehensive study of media violence, in all its forms, and 
to issue a report on its effects, and recommendations on how we can 
turn this tragic tide of youth violence.
  As I have said, this is a complex challenge. Certainly, working with 
the media industry, we can come to some consensus on immediate measures 
that can be taken to curb our children's access to the types of 
excessive and gratuitous violence that is currently flooding our homes 
and families. However, the crisis we are currently facing did not occur 
overnight, and we must take time to achieve a comprehensive 
understanding of how media violence affects childhood development, and 
what children are most at risk to its impact.
  Again, I urge all Americans to get involved in their kids' lives. Ask 
questions, listen to their fears and concerns, their hopes and their 
dreams. Children are not simply small adults.
  Childhood is a time of innocence, a time to teach discipline and 
values. Our children are our most precious gift, they are full of 
innocence and hope. We must work together to preserve the sanctity of 
childhood.

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